The biggest barrier to progress in businesses today is the inefficiency of IT. Many enterprises are losing time and money because valuable content is separated by a sprawling mass of incompatible legacy systems that require individual expertise and resources. This technological chaos is the equivalent of keeping money in your mattress. Enter the cloud. And, the cloud offered CIOs the option to consolidate resources and drive greater mobility. Cloud computing effectively provides on-demand access to a wide range of configurable resources – networks, storage, computers/servers and applications. It’s faster because an outsourced network is much wider than a company one, and it’s cheaper because they are only paying for what they are using.
Many CIOs are still hardwired towards internal control
However, many CIOs are still hardwired to want to control all company data internally. They are nervous about moving physical assets and data storage out of the company firewall, citing the same concerns of data security, compliance and cost they cited some years ago. But, a lot of this hinges on a lack of understanding of the cloud and its benefits. With the right cloud provider CIOs will have the security they need, alongside the on-demand flexibility that enables them to scale usage up and down at will and host data in a location that suits their needs.
Cloud computing can either be a blessing or a curse to CIOs – this is determined by how open-minded they are about their technology. Those that want more flexible working and cost effective technologies are laughing. The cloud has set them free from the drudgery of legacy technologies and helped them provide real changes to the enterprise. The secret to unlocking the cloud is to understand it and what it can do for you.
With lost control comes opportunity
When employees started bringing their own devices to work, CIOs battled to control the smartphone within the enterprise walls. It was smart CIOs who quickly realised that this battle would never be won and that they needed to refocus. Once CIOs understand that they can gain a different type of control – enablement – they quickly start to carve out new possibilities for their business. The fact is, their role is turning into that of a mini service provider. So, instead of retrenching, CIOs need to define what’s useful and what’s critical for them to control. It is an interesting moment for a CIO, where their role becomes about enabling the company to do what it wants to do. In a way, becoming the digital equivalent of the CEO.
Watch the webinar: “Cloud — How to take back control of your ICT” here.
This article was first published in CCI.
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