IT Innovators: What IT Capitalism Really Means For You

In yesterday’s blog, Transforming IT from Communism to Capitalism with Software Defined, I talked about an interesting perspective on software-defined technology from Jack Poller, a lab analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. In his opinion, software-defined technology is having a transformative effect on IT—one in which IT will no longer be in control of the resources because that authority, responsibility, control, and decision-making will be passed on to the people actually using those resources. In other words, IT will become less like Communism and more like Capitalism.

It’s an interesting point of view, but it brings up one critical question. What does this mean for IT professionals and their software-defined data centers (SDDCs)? Poller says it means IT professionals will need a change in attitude to understand where they will make their money in this new world.

But what exactly does the IT professional’s job turn into? In one sense, as Poller explains, “You can say that IT’s job becomes managing a pile of dumb hardware servers, whatever, but that’s not really the job.” Instead, the job becomes - “How to look at a higher level and build a system for your particular user set that meets their needs as efficiently as possible, because at the end of the day we are all in business, ultimately, to make money.”

IT professionals are continually asked to do more with less. Software-defined data centers, with all of the automation and distribution of administrative authority and operations it entails, allows IT professionals to do just that. They can do more with less and save more money.

A perfect example of this is the case of a company having excess computing power or storage. IT wants to make that excess available to users, but having to physically go in and do that means time and money. With software-defined, users can just grab the excess as they need it, without having to ask for it from IT. In other words, IT’s responsibility becomes looking at the higher level of building the most efficient platform to meet a particular community’s needs, rather than focusing on, ‘I need 3 servers or 128 gig of memory.’

The software defined revolution will also require IT professionals to expand their knowledge and grow their skills. According to Poller, some IT people have tunnel vision when it comes to their particular area of specialty and don’t really understand their company’s business. Because of that, they can’t build the best systems for their companies. “If an IT professional becomes a certified network engineer, that has value in their everyday job, but it doesn’t have value in the company’s overall day-to-day business. What does have value for the company is that the IT professional helps the company solve its problems.”

Fortunately, this is where software defined can help. The other area where software-defined technology can be impactful, as Poller explains it is that, “The more and more it automates things, the less important it becomes for IT professionals to know the nuances and intricacies of a Cisco router or Microsoft server, because a lot of it is becoming automated and taken care of. Instead, IT professionals need to invest in learning more about how all of these things works together to build their systems more efficiently and effectively to do the things they need it to do.”

For more information on this topic check out, “Software Defined: Transforming IT from Communism to Capitalism.” In the meantime, don’t forget to check back here for future blog posts on a range of IT-related issues.

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.