Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 12 | Page 33

INTELLIGENT CLOUD Holistically designing technology architecture required by a business will ensure that it grows in a planned manner says Nidal C Azba at IBM Global Technology Services. Nidal C Azba, Chief Technology Architect and Infrastructure Services Solution Leader, IBM Global Technology Services Middle East, Pakistan and Egypt. Building agile businesses using enterprise IT O ver the last few years, the IT industry has been facing simultaneous disruptions in the areas of mobile, cloud, big data and social. These rapid changes have proved increasingly difficult for people-centric processes to catch up with, as the volume and speed of data continues to accelerate. In response to this challenge, ICT experts have pointed to the need for increased automation and analytics solutions, to deliver much needed high-quality, agile and cost-effective services. This has increased pressure on technology leaders, who now are expected to play a critical role in creating business value. Technology leaders must navigate the large number of new services available and rethink how IT can further enhance the business. A paramount approach to creating business value is through next-generation digital IT infrastructure that is capable of supporting the complex workload demands of a modern business enterprise. This is no easy task, and there is no superficial approach to simplify the creation of business value through IT investment. To enable the aspiring organisation to accomplish value-added goals, an enterprise IT redesign is now a necessity, in order to provide a modular, open and an integrated way to design, build and run digital solutions. Enterprise IT is the holistic view of the entire IT ecosystem architecture to support all business requirements, initiatives and innovation plans within the enterprise. Enterprise IT is the holistic view of the entire IT ecosystem architecture to support all business requirements, initiatives and innovation plans within the enterprise. The target enterprise IT must cater for flexible, hybrid and fully integrated target IT architecture. Regardless of the industry, whether it is financial, healthcare or public sectors, a new IT operation model is required to support the business. According to Gartner, by 2020, a corporate no-cloud policy will be as rare as a no-Internet policy is today. Hybrid will also be the most common use of the cloud and by 2019, more than 30% of the 100 largest vendors’ new software investments will have shifted from cloud- first to cloud-only. Every business stakeholder needs their application up and running quickly. They expect the application to be secured and functional, with the most efficient operation model. This has become an increasingly pivotal need, as customers will go elsewhere if an ICT adviser is not prepared to supply their demand, with the flexibility they need. Business leaders will 33