IT conferences aim to bring together engineers, systems administrators, business leaders, developers, and many more in the industry, to share knowledge, expertise and their experience. Not only do these events act as a platform to promote fellowship and opportunities for networking amongst like-minded peers, but they provide access to the newest concepts and research as well. Not to mention, they’re also an excellent opportunity for growth on a personal and professional level.
But, the only thing is that there are hundreds of tech and IT conferences around the globe each year, so it could become a strain on your time and energy when trying to find the correct one for you (or your company) to sign up for.
Fortunately, whether you’re looking to stay up-to-date with emerging trends in the industry, wanting to stay on top of the newest technologies, or are looking to discuss ongoing digital transformation topics, there is one event that will fit any of your areas of specialty.
Computer Measurement Group’s Executive Insights Event Delivers Thought-Provoking Information on Digital Transformation
The name of this event? Computer Measurement Group’s (CMG) Executive Insights conference.
As DataCore’s Online Technical Community Lead, I had the pleasure of joining the 2018 CMG’s – the world’s leading high-performance computing association – Executive Insights conference last weekend. And quite frankly, I’m still amazed over the mind-blowing revelations of future-tech, its implications for the business, and why IT is more important than ever (for far more than just keeping the email flowing).
Presentations at this event centered around the coming digital transformation of business. If you haven’t heard the term “digital transformation” before, let me offer up a synopsis from The Enterpriser’s Project: “Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.”
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Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business…
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First Speaker: Predicting the Future of the Business Landscape
The first presentation was from Mariano Maluf, who’s served as Board President and Senior Management of VMWare and Coca Cola, respectively. Mariano talked about predicting the future of the business landscape, and why it is a dangerous exercise. Often, getting wrapped up in keeping up with tomorrow’s advancements, we miss the innovations happening in the present. Given as an example was a certain video rental chain being overtaken by a budding DVD rental-by-mail service. But the disruption of that industry did not end there – that same organization that disrupted the movie rental industry then realized there was a shift happening in the mediums in which people consumed their product. That organization disrupted its own industry, and in doing so enabled them to become the one of the earliest adopters of streaming movies.
Mariano was making a point about digital transformation. The video rental chain was looking for new ways to capitalize on their product, instead of innovating new ways to serve their product to their customers. This is a key reason that business failed – instead of focusing on delivering better and faster to their customer, they chose, instead, to deliver the same-old in a more difficult way. At the core, that’s what digital transformation is about: delivering efficiency, speed, and value to your customers.
Second Speaker: The Three New Transformations Driving IT Today
It makes sense that you want to deliver value to your customer, because that’s who keeps the lights on. However, delivering value to your customer is quickly becoming more than just features or specs. It should be a no-brainer then that delivering value through digital transformation is the most effective way to impact your customer’s loyalty. However, Varma Kunaparaju (co-founder and CEO of OpsRamp) says that 57% of organizations have not found a starting point for digital transformation.
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By 2020, 80% of Infrastructure and Operations organizations will restructure for digital transformation, and 60% will fail to deliver the expected value.
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Varma goes on to offer in his presentation that there are three different transformations that are driving IT today – infrastructure, DevOps, and tools. He lays down a sobering prediction: “By 2020, 80% of Infrastructure and Operations organizations will restructure for digital transformation, and 60% will fail to deliver the expected value.” This means that even after taking steps towards transforming their infrastructure, 60% of organizations will get it wrong. Varma goes on to say that “modern IT presents a challenge for legacy tools that were designed to work on the idea of a largely static IT infrastructure with minimal changes.”
Third Speaker: What to do When Machines do Everything
This is where things get interesting. We know we need to deliver better value through digital transformation, we know that, even in embarking upon that journey there’s a large chance we’re going to get it wrong. So how can you avoid such a pitfall?
According to Ben Pring, who had served as VP of Gartner for almost 15 years, what makes the difference is the Budding Effect.
True or false: Edwin Budding, inventor of the lawnmower, created football, cricket, and croquet? The answer is “maybe.” You see, through Budding’s invention of the lawnmower, he had made it quick and easy to cut the grass, allowing the field sports industry to flourish. So without Budding’s invention, such efficient upkeep would not be possible, ensuring no space for the first of these sports to be tried and tried again – experimented and perfected into the games and industry around those games that we know today. Unfortunately, Budding is not credited with the creation of those sports – but he was able to create an entire new industry through his innovation.
Ben is making a point about machines, and how they will enable us to do far more than is humanly possible. AI and ML tech (kind of like the learning our software does with auto-tiering) are among the new lawnmowers creating vacuums that will underpin new industries. This technology is out there and ready to use – you must reach out and utilize it in order to deliver that value to your customers that they expect. There have been many recent examples of organizations that have failed to listen to their customers turning belly-up, and every time it is simply because that organization is too set in its ways to change.
Soon, that transformation will not only be expected, but necessary. Consumers continue to demand the convenience, security, and speed the top companies are providing. If there’s any doubt of that, take a look at brick and mortar retail, who are red in profits all the way down. Online shopping is not only here to stay, it’s quickly vindicating companies like the online DVD rental service who adopted the model early on as the most important way to deliver value to their customers in this generation.
Digital Transformation Delivering Value
Utilizing digital transformation to deliver value to your customers by figuring out the tech that they’re on and delivering the best experience possible, is, in a lot of ways, here to stay.
So will your organization be a leader and create the de facto experience that defines the gold standard for your customer? Or will your organization watch and see, waiting to replicate the success of early adopters?
Interested in reading more on digital transformation?!
Get your copy of our free whitepaper, Ultimate Guide to Digital Transformation in Data Storage Environments, to discover how to digitally transform by enabling easier access and management of data growth with software-defined storage today!
