The end of the year is coming and in the latest edition of our HUB we would like to resume the main topics and innovations of the last months so we can also project the next challenges.
The IT Culture War: The Struggle to Adopt DevOps
DevOps is better defined as an ideology, a culture of collaboration and sharing aimed at bringing the software development and operations teams together to help eliminate constraints and decrease time-to-market. But, there’s a clash happening inside of organizations today that is preventing the full adoption of this culture to be realized.
There’s a shift taking place within companies — a change that impacts IT. The culture of IT is moving in lock step with the changes happening in the larger workplace, but the discussions around this change are harder to find than those discussions about the overall transformation of the modern worker. The culture within IT is shifting dramatically, positively, and that has everything to do with DevOps.
DevOps represents cultural change. Whether it’s the change of resistant engineers that don’t want to be on-call or the change of Operations teams to have more empathy towards their counterparts writing code, to the willingness of executives to embrace a culture of automation, measurement and sharing. Organizations must overcome the culture war to be able to approach the agility and productivity that organizations following a DevOps model gain. The faster they can get there, the faster these organizations can take the competitive edge away from traditional enterprises.
A Thing or Two About IoT Security
The continued progression toward the Internet of Things (IoT) is undeniable. After all, fully automated production facilities are now a reality, and we’re even seeing real-world applications such as connected automobiles that can automatically apply the brakes because sensors receive information about an accident around the next curve.
Despite the massive numbers, the steps to IoT security are actually quite simple. Since resources are limited, organizations need to focus on where they are most likely to begin their IoT journey. This often means being at the table when IoT project discussions get started – to help solidify the organization’s definition of IoT and help determine which projects take priority. What’s more, being an active participant in the IoT discussions enables IT to plug into the innovators. Fortunately, most people are open to having those security conversations, because attacks are so widespread and publicized. There is no turning a blind eye to the problem.
Properly handled, securing IoT could help transition cybersecurity from its traditional role of gatekeeper to being an enabler. IoT is already driving speed to market in manufacturing, mining and utilities. Aptly secured, IoT can enable the organization to try new things, including chasing new revenue opportunities.
Clouds ahead: What an IT career will look like five years out
Don’t get it wrong: In today’s quickly evolving tech world, it’s easy to get lost chasing the turbulent present moment. The pace of change can be dizzying, and keeping up on everything that’s emerging in IT today can drive even the most devoted tech worker to distraction.
But IT pros who don’t take the time to lift their heads and assess the likely IT landscape five years out may be asking for career trouble. Because one fact is clear: Organizations of all stripes are increasingly moving IT infrastructure to the cloud. In fact, most IT pros who’ve pulled all-nighters, swapping in hard drives or upgrading systems while co-workers slept, probably won’t recognize their offices’ IT architecture — or the lack thereof — in five years.
Cutting the wires – When you step off the elevator at the office or data center five years from now, what will you see? Fewer servers and fewer co-workers, most likely. Maintaining on-premises data centers is a costly endeavor, much more so than connecting to the cloud. If the current trend toward moving infrastructure to the cloud is any indication, organizations that haven’t already done so will carefully consider those expenses — and many will ultimately decide to trim them over the next five years.
IT roles in flux – As the cloud continues to gain traction, will companies need a fully staffed IT department? As you may have guessed, few believe the IT department will disappear. Companies will still require talented staff who can — at the very least — manage systems integration. But an IT department five years from now will need to keep pace with nearly constant change.
Projecting the future – Some experts see the cloud benefiting the IT department by paving the way for staffers to expand their roles, doing more development work, coding, tying systems together, and creating flexible applications that resemble platforms.
Potential hangups – Some see the cloud presenting the same hurdles as any other early-adopted technology. Some tough questions remain when we’re talking about more than shadow IT, more than communications and backup, but rather the core applications that the business needs to exist.