Future Readying your IT Infrastructure
I recently interviewed Joe Cropper, a senior technical staff member at IBM supporting Power Systems and Hybrid Multicloud Solutions, to share his insights on a recent enterprise hybrid multicloud study that was commissioned by IBM Systems and conducted by Forrester Consulting.
Register to get the full study.
One of the key findings mentioned in the report is that 70% of businesses surveyed delayed an infrastructure refresh more than once, within the last 5 years. Doing so puts your business at risk for security vulnerabilities and businesses cannot afford the risk of using outdated infrastructure.
Another key finding of the report is that the global pandemic put our current IT infrastructure to the test. It highlighted the fact that now, more than ever, we need to prioritize infrastructure refreshes over other IT initiatives.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Joe: Hey Avrohom, I’m really glad to be here with you today.
Avrohom: I’m really excited to be speaking with you today about Hybrid Multi-Cloud and IT Infrastructure solutions.
The global pandemic put our current IT infrastructure to the test. It highlighted the fact that now, more than ever, we need to prioritize infrastructure refreshes. IBM just published the findings of an IT Infrastructure study conducted by Forrester Consulting, which addresses this topic in great detail. What challenges are you witnessing as businesses determine where to invest, and do you have any tips you have to overcome them?
Joe: That’s actually very reflective of what I hear continuously as I’m talking with clients. It’s independent of geography or industry vertical. I think the reality is that clients, with our new reality, is that they’ve been really pressed to take a look at their IT investment strategies and really accelerate their digital transformation efforts. And I think the biggest thing that I’ve witnessed is that companies are trying to figure out where to invest, how they can get that competitive edge to accelerate what they’re doing. And I think there are so many avenues. And I think that’s one of the biggest things; the sheer number of things to explore. Whether that’s public cloud, private cloud, automation, cloud-native, infrastructure composition. So many things and people are really trying to figure out what they can do and where to invest.
And the things where we’ve really seen clients excel in this space, are people that have found a way to strike that healthy balance between all of these initiatives. And I think it’s really imperative that we’ve seen many of our clients trying to embrace this hybrid strategy and give them this flexibility. Certainly, public cloud is helping, but we need to be able to have a good strong on-prem infrastructure and refresh cycles, etc. there.
And so, if clients along the way need assistance, we’ve got a number of people that we can engage. We’ve got the IBM Garage teams, which is a worldwide set of experts that can help people figure out how to strike that healthy balance going forward. We’ve seen them actually help many clients in these dire times; help them from where they’re at today, to where they want to go with their enterprise.
Avrohom: There has been such a push to talk about the cloud and public cloud, and as you said, there are so many different components, and it’s really about getting that balance and understanding what is right for YOU. There really isn’t a one size fits all solution.
Joe: That’s right. You need to strike that healthy balance of what you’re doing on-premises and in the public cloud, and certainly, there are lots of benefits there. Finding that balance really is key.
Avrohom: Let’s talk a little bit about that. The Forrester Consulting study talks about some of the inherent challenges with public cloud, where 46% of those surveyed stated that public cloud doesn’t meet security needs, and 56% of those surveyed stated that data resiliency is challenging for certain applications. What are you seeing in the market with your clients?
Joe: Public cloud was originally viewed as the place to go for quick access to resources and flexible OPEX-style pricing, data center consolidation, getting more advanced automation capabilities. And certainly, public cloud remains to be a key ingredient of people’s enterprise strategies. However, what we’re witnessing here, and what we’ve been doing with our IBM Systems technologies as well, is that we’re taking many of those concepts and capabilities that were once thought of only with public cloud, and we’re bringing them with major advances to on-prem infrastructure. For example, we’ve actually started to provide capabilities where clients can have that attractive OPEX-style pricing for on-premises as well because there are a number of concerns when you think about things like data sovereignty and privacy, and so forth. There are a lot of things people really need to consider when they’re making these decisions.
Another thing that we’ve done, sort of in that same vein, is something called Power Private Cloud with Dynamic Capacity. Cloud isn’t necessarily just a place, where I can then bring those sets of capabilities and behaviors back to my on-premises infrastructure. So, if you think of the flexible pay-per-use spending paired with technologies like Red Hat OpenShift for Application Modernization Initiatives, or Red Hat Ansible for things like Enterprise Automation. I can get a lot of those same characteristics and traits, that many people were thinking are only available on public cloud context and bring those right at home to my on-prem private cloud datacenters. We’re seeing a lot of great success in that, and a lot of clients are very excited about having a good balance between those two; the on-prem and off-prem solutions.
Avrohom: Where can people go to learn more about the 2021 Forrester Consulting thought leadership paper commissioned by IBM on the “Importance of On-Premises Infrastructure For A Future-Ready Hybrid Cloud Strategy”?
Joe: Please visit: http://ibm.biz/asktheceoforresterstudy2021. That URL is case-sensitive, so be sure it is all lower-case. On that webpage, you can download the full study, view an on-demand webinar, read a blog recap from an external thought leader, and discover more hybrid cloud solutions and resources.
Avrohom: Joe, how do people connect with you?
Joe: People can contact me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-cropper/. I’m always happy to connect with people and answer any questions.
About the Author
Avrohom Gottheil is the founder of #AskTheCEO Media, where he helps global brands get heard over the noise on social media, by presenting their corporate message using language people understand.
Avrohom presents his clients as Thought Leaders, which challenges his audience to reimagine their own mission and vision, delivering actionable insights, and leaving them passionate, motivated, and with the necessary tools to take immediate action.
Avrohom comes from a 20+ year career in IT and Telecom, where he helped businesses around the world install and maintain their communication systems and contact centers. He is a Top-ranked global expert in IoT, AI, Cloud, and Cybersecurity, followed worldwide on Twitter, and a frequent speaker on leveraging technology to accelerate revenue growth.
Listen to him share the latest technology trends, tools, and best practices for IoT, AI, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and more, on the #AskTheCEO podcast — voted as the #1 Channel Friendly Podcast 2019 by Forrester.
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WATCH this interview: https://youtu.be/q71xWwW1I9Q
Listen to the interview on Soundcloud: https://bit.ly/3dTtnSi
