FEATURE: HYBRID CLOUD
Digital transformation also
requires a change in the way the
IT department, and the wider
business, is structured. This is
critical, as the rules don’t change
with digital transformation or
new characteristics of modern
applications and infrastructure;
instead, the delivery and
implementation do. The argument
could be made that there are
even more rules now due to the
heightened expectations on
critical services. Businesses must
strengthen controls and deliver
complete visibility in a new way to
meet these needs, opening up the
opportunity for innovation in the
data center.
While digital transformation
comes with its challenges,
businesses should remember
that leading this transformation
shouldn’t fall to any one
individual within the organization;
it should become a conversation
between those providing IT
services, and those who consume
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it. IT can no longer operate as a
silo, and instead should operate
as an internal service. Internal
IT groups providing critical
applications to a business unit
should have a discussion on how
an application is implemented,
as well as considering what
could happen in the event that
something doesn’t go to plan. In
preparation, businesses should
agree to a 15 minute recovery
time and point objective for
their critical applications. But
even planned SLAs for recovery
time objectives can falter with
businesses setting these at 1.6
hours, when in reality, recoveries
have taken 5 hours. This can
have a significant impact on the
availability decisions that must be
made in order to meet the needs
of the Always-On Enterprise.
Neglecting digital transformation
can lead to loss of business, loss
of revenue and possibly most
damaging, the loss of business
reputation, with 73 percent
of businesses feeling that
application downtime or data loss
will negatively impact customer
confidence and brand integrity.
As such, many organizations will
benefit from a strategic approach
to digital transformation, and the
key is to spend time gathering
information, priorities and
capabilities of all stakeholders
before making any decisions.
The back-end IT infrastructure
also needs to change in order to
embrace digital transformation.
This digital transformation, and
the ability to meet the needs of
the Always-On Enterprise, can
only be met when the modern
data center has the capabilities
to meet the demand. Is the data
center highly virtualized? Does the
data center have investments in
modern storage systems? Is the
data center capable of extending
functionality to cloud and service
providers? These needs can only
be met if the modern data center
has these essential characteristics.
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