Will the shift to clouds be more about technology, or more about people and their roles?

Interesting question, no?

To keep things simple, I’ve fallen into the habit of saying that clouds (private or otherwise) have three fundamental aspects:

– they’re built differently (dynamic pools of resources)

– they’re operated differently (low-touch and zero-touch service-oriented models)

– and they’re consumed differently (convenient consumption, pay for what you use)

As I talk to various IT groups, I’ve found that they can intellectually agree with these statements.

But very few IT people have grasped what this might really mean for their roles as IT professionals.

Can I Do A Quick Flashback?

It’s 1986.  I was in my mid-20’s, and working in Silicon Valley at a mid-sized technology company whose name is long since forgotten.

I get to know Steve, who — among other things — was responsible for telecommunications at our company of 1000+ people.  Steve had basically built our internal phone system: he selected the vendors, made sure it was all integrated, and fixed problems when they happened.

Steve was very proud of the fact that he had gotten a good deal on various aspects of the technology, and that it all was working reasonably well.  I distinctly remember the day he acquired a voice mail system, and spent several months making that beast work.

Frankly speaking, I think Steve had a lot to be proud of.

But all was not well with the people who used Steve’s homegrown phone system.

For one thing, when it had a bad day, people couldn’t make a phone call.  Worse yet, it took a while to figure out that no one could call in.  As a result, Steve had a pager (very exotic at the time), that was connected to — yes — an outside phone line.

If you were a new employee and needed a phone line, you’d get one — eventually.  The voice mail system would work well, until it didn’t, and then you’d lose everything.

Certain parts of the business that depended heavily on phone services (customer support, sales, etc.) had broken away from Steve’s “service”, and made their own arrangements with their own providers.

Steve’s response was that he needed more staff to solve the problems.

Instead, the CFO listened carefully to a new pitch from the phone company around a new service called Centrex — where all the phone services were delivered as, well, a service!

Steve was still very much needed — his role shifted into managing the new service — and its vendor — and teaching people how to use it effectively.  Sure, he didn’t get to hand-craft the phone system as he used to, but I think he was getting tired of making it all work, and falling further and further behind.

Besides, he soon started wearing suits, and got a promotion along the way.  Not too bad.

Flash Forward To 2009

I know, that story sounds quaint and funny now.

We all just pick up the phone, and it works as advertised.  When there’s a problem, we don’t have to do anything, because we know it will be fixed soon by the people providing the service.

Our companies own little, if any, of the telephony assets.  Most pricing is per user (or per line).  Convenient consumption, pay for what you use.

Sound a little cloud-like to you?  It does to me.

As we look at the IT landscape, sure, there are portions that demand a hands-on, hand-built approach to IT infrastructure.  But I’d argue that the vast majority of the IT landscape today doesn’t demand it, and it’ll be less so in the future.

So, if we get serious about “IT as a service” (and who isn’t), how many individual dramas will play out with people in very similar situations to Steve, as above?

Far too many, I’d argue.

We Have Met The Enemy … And He Is Us

We have an entire generation of IT professionals who have learned how to practice their craft in a traditional and physical IT world.  They have figured out the best way to take what vendors offer them, and deliver it to users in some reasonable fashion.

And, all things considered, they have collectively done a damn fine job.

Now, the underlying technologies — and how they can be delivered — have started to fundamentally shift.  Call it cloud, call it whatever you like.

All of the sudden, the lines around IT’s function get subtly and importantly redrawn.  It’s more about delivering a great service, and less obsession around how it’s built.

Yes, costs are important, but quality of service — as well as flexibility and responsiveness to new requriements — become important as well.

IT now focused more on enabling the business: understanding the new options available, and how to use them to achieve business objectives in new ways.

Yes, understanding the technology will always be important.

In some ways, it’s almost like Steve got a promotion.

I hope most people see it that way.