After yet another cloud outage yesterday (see AWS’s S3 outage was so bad Amazon couldn’t get into its own dashboard to warn the world) the world (or at least its North American part) once again went crazy how dangerous the cloud is and how you should go build your own data center because you know […]

read more

Opinion As digital transformation continues to dominate the IT landscape, cloud computing has helped a wealth of organisations to evolve. So true is the fact that Gartner predicts that by 2020, a corporate “no-cloud” policy will be as rare as a “no-internet” policy is today. The CIO of 2017 undoubtedly needs to embrace the cloud, but the transition is still a sizeable task without adequate help and guidance.

Managed service providers have been around for a while and can provide any manner of services – virtual desktops, security, storage – you name it and there is a company out there who will provide it ‘as a service’. Enter managed cloud providers – the new breed of MSP – with expertise in everything cloud.

But what exactly should a CIO look for in a managed cloud provider? What responsibilities remain at the executive level or with the internal IT team? Should the CIO be looking for a ‘trusted advisor’ or an ‘outsourced partner CIO’?

The changing role of the CIO

These questions can only be answered by first looking at the role of the CIO and how this – alongside, but also independently of IT – is changing. The role of the traditional CIO was technical oversight of day-to-day IT operations. The CIO was a seasoned IT pro with the desire to step away from his desk overwhelmed with computer screens and walk into a position that controlled IT spending. 

But who does the CIO turn to for expertise and guidance? Finding trusted partners has always been a great option for IT teams looking to expand on the knowledge and capabilities they have in-house. With experts now owning the title of ‘managed cloud providers’ it is a game changer for a CIO looking for a cloud strategy.

Holding up their side of the bargain

When entering into an outsourced partnership there are expectations on both sides. If a managed cloud provider is entrusted with propelling a company into the era of cloud, harnessing a company’s dependency on data to find a competitive advantage and being a trusted partner to the CIO then they have to bring something a bit special to the table.

A truly great managed cloud provider looks at the situation from every level –  they are a trusted ‘outsourced CIO’ who can provide guidance about strategy and part of the IT team who can roll up its sleeves and get into the weeds of combining the existing IT infrastructure with the innovative benefits of the cloud. But this is always easier said than done.

Meeting C-level expectations 

A managed cloud provider’s job is to juggle balls, anticipate needs, provide guidance and be one step ahead of any issues that might arise – to be an extra set of eyes and ears for the CIO.

It may seem basic, but if a managed cloud provider cannot deliver constant availability and isn’t always on the lookout for things that could cause an outage, then the rest is all pointless. Availability is an managed cloud provider’s bread and butter providing the performance a CIO expects and depends on.

As important as availability is, sometimes it’s not enough. In a world always demanding faster and better, performance must be a priority. Always honing in on performance bottlenecks and how to resolve them should be an everyday thing for a managed cloud provider. This is especially true when AWS-like cloud instances can be set up instantaneously and over-used resources and auto-scaling can get out of control.

Compliance – although not a factor for every company or industry – should still be part of a managed cloud provider’s repertoire. Regulations, including the US-EU Privacy Shield and GDPR, mean storing data can be complex and that not all data at a company can be stored in the cloud. As a managed cloud provider, deep knowledge and understanding of any regulation that could impact a customer is vital. As a CIO, the responsibility to comply with all regulations can be daunting, but if a managed cloud provider can provide insight, guidance and most importantly compliance, it can make a huge difference.

Compliance goes hand in hand with security. As public cloud begins to play a larger part in IT strategy, CIO’s can often feel like the control of security is slipping away. A seasoned managed cloud provider has security experts on hand to continuously protect against the latest iteration of attacks and provide proactive security policies.

In the face of all these fundamentals, managed cloud providers have to bring opportunities, innovation and creativity to their work. As workloads expand and change how are those handled differently? What strategic choices can be made around the combination of public, private and hybrid cloud?

And if any of this goes wrong – which is hopefully something you don’t experience as a CIO, but let’s pretend – a great managed cloud provider will have noticed and be on the phone before the customer has realised anything is wrong. An action plan must be in place, issues must be escalated in an efficient manner and solutions, or at least personnel working on a solution, must be available to jump. This is the service portion of a managed cloud provider, but in the eyes of a CIO it can be the critical safety net to the cloud.

It is all about trust

As individual areas, these are all important, but the biggest thing a CIO should expect from their managed cloud provider is trust. There is always a risk in handing over the keys to the IT castle, but through a built-up track record and thoughtful guidance, a managed cloud provider should instil confidence in any CIO and be a trusted partner no matter the journey a company is taking through digital transformation and into the cloud. 

Opinion As digital transformation continues to dominate the IT landscape, cloud computing has helped a wealth of organisations to evolve. So true is the fact that Gartner predicts that by 2020, a corporate “no-cloud” policy will be as rare as a “no-internet” policy is today. The CIO of 2017 undoubtedly needs to embrace the cloud, but the transition is still a sizeable task without adequate help and guidance.

Managed service providers have been around for a while and can provide any manner of services – virtual desktops, security, storage – you name it and there is a company out there who will provide it ‘as a service’. Enter managed cloud providers – the new breed of MSP – with expertise in everything cloud.

But what exactly should a CIO look for in a managed cloud provider? What responsibilities remain at the executive level or with the internal IT team? Should the CIO be looking for a ‘trusted advisor’ or an ‘outsourced partner CIO’?

The changing role of the CIO

These questions can only be answered by first looking at the role of the CIO and how this – alongside, but also independently of IT – is changing. The role of the traditional CIO was technical oversight of day-to-day IT operations. The CIO was a seasoned IT pro with the desire to step away from his desk overwhelmed with computer screens and walk into a position that controlled IT spending. 

But who does the CIO turn to for expertise and guidance? Finding trusted partners has always been a great option for IT teams looking to expand on the knowledge and capabilities they have in-house. With experts now owning the title of ‘managed cloud providers’ it is a game changer for a CIO looking for a cloud strategy.

Holding up their side of the bargain

When entering into an outsourced partnership there are expectations on both sides. If a managed cloud provider is entrusted with propelling a company into the era of cloud, harnessing a company’s dependency on data to find a competitive advantage and being a trusted partner to the CIO then they have to bring something a bit special to the table.

A truly great managed cloud provider looks at the situation from every level –  they are a trusted ‘outsourced CIO’ who can provide guidance about strategy and part of the IT team who can roll up its sleeves and get into the weeds of combining the existing IT infrastructure with the innovative benefits of the cloud. But this is always easier said than done.

Meeting C-level expectations 

A managed cloud provider’s job is to juggle balls, anticipate needs, provide guidance and be one step ahead of any issues that might arise – to be an extra set of eyes and ears for the CIO.

It may seem basic, but if a managed cloud provider cannot deliver constant availability and isn’t always on the lookout for things that could cause an outage, then the rest is all pointless. Availability is an managed cloud provider’s bread and butter providing the performance a CIO expects and depends on.

As important as availability is, sometimes it’s not enough. In a world always demanding faster and better, performance must be a priority. Always honing in on performance bottlenecks and how to resolve them should be an everyday thing for a managed cloud provider. This is especially true when AWS-like cloud instances can be set up instantaneously and over-used resources and auto-scaling can get out of control.

Compliance – although not a factor for every company or industry – should still be part of a managed cloud provider’s repertoire. Regulations, including the US-EU Privacy Shield and GDPR, mean storing data can be complex and that not all data at a company can be stored in the cloud. As a managed cloud provider, deep knowledge and understanding of any regulation that could impact a customer is vital. As a CIO, the responsibility to comply with all regulations can be daunting, but if a managed cloud provider can provide insight, guidance and most importantly compliance, it can make a huge difference.

Compliance goes hand in hand with security. As public cloud begins to play a larger part in IT strategy, CIO’s can often feel like the control of security is slipping away. A seasoned managed cloud provider has security experts on hand to continuously protect against the latest iteration of attacks and provide proactive security policies.

In the face of all these fundamentals, managed cloud providers have to bring opportunities, innovation and creativity to their work. As workloads expand and change how are those handled differently? What strategic choices can be made around the combination of public, private and hybrid cloud?

And if any of this goes wrong – which is hopefully something you don’t experience as a CIO, but let’s pretend – a great managed cloud provider will have noticed and be on the phone before the customer has realised anything is wrong. An action plan must be in place, issues must be escalated in an efficient manner and solutions, or at least personnel working on a solution, must be available to jump. This is the service portion of a managed cloud provider, but in the eyes of a CIO it can be the critical safety net to the cloud.

It is all about trust

As individual areas, these are all important, but the biggest thing a CIO should expect from their managed cloud provider is trust. There is always a risk in handing over the keys to the IT castle, but through a built-up track record and thoughtful guidance, a managed cloud provider should instil confidence in any CIO and be a trusted partner no matter the journey a company is taking through digital transformation and into the cloud. 

This year more CIOs will have their bonuses tied to how many new business models they help create with existing and planned IT platforms than ever before. This trend will accelerate over the next three years. CIOs and IT staffs need to start thinking about how they can become business strategists first, technicians and enablers of IT second.

CIOs must create and launch new business models faster to keep their companies competitive. APIs are the fuel helping to make this happen.

The urgency to create new business models is driving API proliferation

APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) are the components that enable diverse platforms, apps, and systems to connect and share data with each other.  Think of APIs as a set of software modules, tools, and protocols that enable two or more platforms, systems and most commonly, applications to communicate with each other and initiate tasks or processes. APIs are essential for defining and customizing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) too. Cloud platform providers all have extensive APIs defined and work in close collaboration with development partners to fine-tune app performance using them. Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Google, Marketo, Salesforce, SAP Hybris, Twitter and thousands of other companies have APIs available. As of today, the Programmable Web lists 16,590 APIs in its database.

Removing the hype by benchmarking API maturity

Senior management teams need to de-hype the entire issue of APIs as part of their broader business strategies before jumping in to create some of their own. In reality, many APIs are still nascent, emerging from a regular series of test and development cycles with developer partners. APIs also vary drastically regarding stability, reliability, and quality. The majority are aggregations of binary, relatively straightforward commands as they are the easiest to create.

Customer needs are driving the most efficient API development programs. Having a strong focus on the customer and being accountable for how the API’s quality turns out is essential. Customer-centric development is also forcing APIs to scale up faster, providing contextual intelligence and insight over completing simple tasks. These customer-centric APIs are driving greater maturity into development cycles, enabling quicker maturity of API code bases across the board. The following Cloud Platform API Maturity Model provides the context of how APIs must progress to provide greater contextual intelligence to enable prescriptive and cognitive workflows.

What is driving 2017’s ascent to year of the API economy?

The factors driving 2017 to be the year of the API economy are larger than any pending IPO, recent acquisition or merger. They’re the shifts occurring in how APIs are consumed, integrated into platforms and enriched with greater potential to provide contextual intelligence for customers.  The following factors are contributing to APIs rapidly maturing in 2017:

• Organizations and their IT teams are starting to focus more on unique API consumption strategies first. Being able to orchestrate different APIs together and enable entirely new business processes and models fast is what matters most. Orchestrating APIs and create real-time integration is a challenging task, however, especially between on-premise, legacy systems and cloud platforms and apps.enosiX and others are all delivering real-time integration solutions based on their expertise in APIs, legacy systems including ERP and cloud platform and app integration.

• APIs are becoming enablers of omnichannel selling and service business models quickly. The most complex APIs are being built within B2B companies who have the goal of providing a contextually intelligent real-time experience across all the channels they sell through. This is a daunting task and one that would be more efficient if each channel’s unique needs to the persona level were taken into account first.

• The best APIs are starting to reflect requirements to the persona and customer journey level. Individual persona needs must drive API development, and this encompasses the device(s) they use, apps they regularly work with and the workflows across all apps on a platform. When an app or platform provider has anticipated the persona needs and charted customer journeys, it shows in the APIs created. The APIs reflect customer preferences much more clearly and are more efficient in delivering great apps as a result. Providing an API code base that has these features accelerates new app development and opens entirely new channels for selling.

Bottom line: APIs are most valuable for creating new business models and streamlining selling strategies across all channels. The greatest revenue potential they provide is removing barriers to growing revenue by integrating platforms and apps so organizations can quickly launch new business models and scale fast.

This year more CIOs will have their bonuses tied to how many new business models they help create with existing and planned IT platforms than ever before. This trend will accelerate over the next three years. CIOs and IT staffs need to start thinking about how they can become business strategists first, technicians and enablers of IT second.

CIOs must create and launch new business models faster to keep their companies competitive. APIs are the fuel helping to make this happen.

The urgency to create new business models is driving API proliferation

APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) are the components that enable diverse platforms, apps, and systems to connect and share data with each other.  Think of APIs as a set of software modules, tools, and protocols that enable two or more platforms, systems and most commonly, applications to communicate with each other and initiate tasks or processes. APIs are essential for defining and customizing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) too. Cloud platform providers all have extensive APIs defined and work in close collaboration with development partners to fine-tune app performance using them. Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Google, Marketo, Salesforce, SAP Hybris, Twitter and thousands of other companies have APIs available. As of today, the Programmable Web lists 16,590 APIs in its database.

Removing the hype by benchmarking API maturity

Senior management teams need to de-hype the entire issue of APIs as part of their broader business strategies before jumping in to create some of their own. In reality, many APIs are still nascent, emerging from a regular series of test and development cycles with developer partners. APIs also vary drastically regarding stability, reliability, and quality. The majority are aggregations of binary, relatively straightforward commands as they are the easiest to create.

Customer needs are driving the most efficient API development programs. Having a strong focus on the customer and being accountable for how the API’s quality turns out is essential. Customer-centric development is also forcing APIs to scale up faster, providing contextual intelligence and insight over completing simple tasks. These customer-centric APIs are driving greater maturity into development cycles, enabling quicker maturity of API code bases across the board. The following Cloud Platform API Maturity Model provides the context of how APIs must progress to provide greater contextual intelligence to enable prescriptive and cognitive workflows.

What is driving 2017’s ascent to year of the API economy?

The factors driving 2017 to be the year of the API economy are larger than any pending IPO, recent acquisition or merger. They’re the shifts occurring in how APIs are consumed, integrated into platforms and enriched with greater potential to provide contextual intelligence for customers.  The following factors are contributing to APIs rapidly maturing in 2017:

• Organizations and their IT teams are starting to focus more on unique API consumption strategies first. Being able to orchestrate different APIs together and enable entirely new business processes and models fast is what matters most. Orchestrating APIs and create real-time integration is a challenging task, however, especially between on-premise, legacy systems and cloud platforms and apps.enosiX and others are all delivering real-time integration solutions based on their expertise in APIs, legacy systems including ERP and cloud platform and app integration.

• APIs are becoming enablers of omnichannel selling and service business models quickly. The most complex APIs are being built within B2B companies who have the goal of providing a contextually intelligent real-time experience across all the channels they sell through. This is a daunting task and one that would be more efficient if each channel’s unique needs to the persona level were taken into account first.

• The best APIs are starting to reflect requirements to the persona and customer journey level. Individual persona needs must drive API development, and this encompasses the device(s) they use, apps they regularly work with and the workflows across all apps on a platform. When an app or platform provider has anticipated the persona needs and charted customer journeys, it shows in the APIs created. The APIs reflect customer preferences much more clearly and are more efficient in delivering great apps as a result. Providing an API code base that has these features accelerates new app development and opens entirely new channels for selling.

Bottom line: APIs are most valuable for creating new business models and streamlining selling strategies across all channels. The greatest revenue potential they provide is removing barriers to growing revenue by integrating platforms and apps so organizations can quickly launch new business models and scale fast.

SYS-CON Events announced today that Tintri, Inc, a leading provider of enterprise cloud infrastructure, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Tintri offers an enterprise cloud platform built with public cloud-like web services and RESTful APIs. Organizations use Tintri all-flash storage with scale-out and automation as a foundation for their own clouds – to build agile development environments for cloud native applications and to run mission-critical enterprise applications. Only Tintri enables organizations to guarantee the performance of their applications, automate common IT tasks to reduce operating expenses, troubleshoot across their infrastructure, and predict their needs to scale – the underpinnings of a modern data center.

read more

20th Cloud Expo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday’s debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy.

read more

Building custom add-ons does not need to be limited to the ideas you see on a marketplace.
In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Sukhbir Dhillon, CEO and founder of Addteq, will go over some adventures they faced in developing integrations using Atlassian SDK and other technologies/platforms and how it has enabled development teams to experiment with newer paradigms like Serverless and newer features of Atlassian SDKs. In this presentation, you will be taken on a journey of Add-On and Integration development using popular tools.

read more