BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here
Edit Story

IT Complexity: Why Businesses Hate It More Than Ever

Oracle

A survey of SAP customers shows they have little appetite for switching to the vendor’s HANA in-memory analytics platform. That shouldn’t be surprising, given the challenges of adopting large analytic platforms, particularly in the cloud. These range from changing how technology is financed to organizational issues such as the role of the IT department itself. Challenging as they may be, however, the disruption to business from new digital technologies demands that customers move forward (with the right partner) or risk being left behind.

According to a survey of 377 members of the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group, 40% of SAP customers have purchased the company’s flagship product, but more than half (55%) hadn’t and 5% didn’t know. Of potentially greater concern, “three quarters of the customers who hadn’t purchased a HANA product said they couldn’t identify a business case that justifies the cost. Other reasons for not buying: skillset, roadmap and upgrade issues,” according to The Wall Street Journal’s Steven Norton.

Indeed, the very factors driving customers to cloud computing and analytics – the increased pace of competition, stringent budgetary constraints, the need to find innovation through technology – are the same ones that could hold back customers in many cases, particularly when they haven’t found the right strategic partner.

But in order for businesses to compete more effectively – to avoid being disrupted by more nimble competitors – they’ll have to make these adjustments. “IT organizations want to move towards the innovation side of the spectrum,” says Robert Shimp, Group Vice President, Technology Business Group at Oracle.

To successfully lead this transformation, IT leaders need to develop a holistic strategy that takes the various elements of cloud into account. “You can’t just pull on one thread and say that’s your cloud strategy. There’s a mobile strategy and Internet of Things and social networks that come into play. Big data is also an important part of that. Those are just some of the various dimensions that CIOs have to grapple with – if they want to go from being disrupted to being the disruptor. And of course, the business demands a rapid ROI along the way,” says Shimp.

The transition from on-premise infrastructure to cloud also needs to be as simple as possible – something that requires customers to work closely with their strategic vendors (making the choice of vendor all the more important.

Mobile devices, sensors, and social networks all generate different kinds of data that need to be handled differently. “Cloud and Big Data infrastructure connect with those things for the collection of the data into a reservoir, rapid and flexible analysis, and then the dissemination of information when and where it’s needed,” says Shimp.

Transforming an IT organization into a more responsive and innovative unit also requires a huge cultural shift, and one that cannot be undertaken if the transformation itself represents added complexity and cost.

Moreover, customers can’t simply pull the plug on their existing IT infrastructure and operating model. In addition to readjusting or winding down relationships with vendors and consultants, corporate IT leaders have to rebalance OPEX and CAPEX budgets to match their new operating model.

“The technology per se almost becomes a secondary conversation. There are regulatory issues, and cultural and financial considerations that come into play,” says Shimp.

CIOs also have to retool their organizations to accommodate these changes. They’ll need a greater number of people with analytic and business skills to help line of business managers choose the services they need, and to help make use of the scads of data they’ll be analyzing.

“For some IT organizations, it’s almost an identity crisis -- what is our role in this new world. Some find it easier to navigate than others,” says Shimp.

Most large, successful organizations are already somewhere on the road to this transformation, but roadblocks including cultural adaptation, skills gaps, and financial considerations loom. Cloud computing offers a way for IT organizations to go from being service providers to service brokers and innovation leaders, but few can manage it without a technology partner that understands those issues.