IT Innovators: Bi-Modal IT What?

If you’ve been an IT Innovators’ reader for any length of time, you’ve likely figured out by now that a big topic of conversation for us around here is the hybrid cloud. With my weekly blogs, I try to keep you up to date on the latest hybrid cloud trends and technologies, and even dispel a few misconceptions along the way. I also want to make sure you understand some of the approaches your peers are employing to mitigate the pain points as they migrate to the hybrid cloud. One such approach is Bi-Modal IT. And in case you don’t know what that is, it’s about time you learned.

According to Gartner, who by all accounts coined this term, Bi-Modal IT is “the practice of managing two separate, coherent modes of IT delivery; one focused on stability and the other on agility. Mode 1 is traditional and sequential, emphasizing safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is exploratory and nonlinear, emphasizing agility and speed.”

That’s a lengthy way of saying that Bi-Modal IT is a means for enterprises to piece together old and new modes of IT delivery to help them get over the difficulties associated with moving to the hybrid cloud. Using this approach, enterprises are better able to plan a migration path that works for them. In any given enterprise, for example, some departments will be happy to continue using mature or legacy technologies, while others will want to adopt newer technologies. Bi-Modal IT allows both to be managed simultaneously—the legacy systems, which constitute the traditional IT, and the newer cloud-based services and solutions.

It’s an interesting approach and one that has both its advocates and naysayers. But that hasn’t stopped organizations from adopting it. In fact, Gartner's Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research was quoted in a Computerworld article last September as saying, "We predict that 75% of IT organizations will be bimodal in some way by 2017."

In future blogs I’ll delve a little deeper into the ins and outs of a Bi-Modal IT approach, but in the meantime, it’s important to remember that any approach, no matter how good or advantageous, comes with its own set of challenges—one of which is just implementing it. Enterprise Architect Dinesh Chandrasekhar suggests that one way to mitigate the challenge of implementing Bi-Modal IT is with API management. Check out his blog here to learn more about leveraging an API management solution for Bi-Modal IT and its benefits. You might also take a look at a blog by Brian Mirise, which lays outs the 5 important lessons you should know about Bi-Modal IT.

If you’ve implemented a Bi-Modal IT approach and have any information you’d like to share for a future blog, drop me a line at [email protected]. And don’t forget to check back here each week for more information on the hybrid cloud and other important IT-related topics.

This blog is sponsored by Microsoft.

Cheryl J. Ajluni is a freelance writer and editor based in California. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Wireless Systems Design and served as the EDA/Advanced Technology editor for Electronic Design for over 10 years. She is also a published book author and patented engineer. Her work regularly appears in print and online publications. Contact her at [email protected] with your comments or story ideas.