An increasing number of IT organisations are leveraging cloud technology to unlock resources to fuel innovation.
So says NETCB's CEO, Cobus Burgers, who is of the view that businesses today depend upon IT to drive innovation and accelerate past competitors. While each organisation may have its own unique definition of innovation, many of the elements remain common, Burgers notes.
"Businesses today depend upon IT to drive innovation and accelerate past competitors; maintaining existing IT systems consumes the majority of budgets, leaving little to reinvest in growing the business."
According to Burges, those organisations most successfully leveraging cloud technology have transformed two major areas of IT - the technology required to build a cloud infrastructure and the core operating model needed to gain the greatest benefit from this new technology foundation.
"These businesses have embraced cloud as a cohesive strategy, examining how to build and operate or rent their cloud environments, while measuring the efficiency, agility and reliability improvements of cloud computing. Across the African continent, successes are growing," he says.
"For many established businesses and new start-ups, IT has become a driving force for business results, unlocking vital revenue streams, rapidly capitalising on new business opportunities, disrupting markets and recasting competitive landscapes. It has moved on from being a cost centre to become a clear strategic partner to the business, delivering clear value and differentiation - and aligning with key business objectives."
Burges notes, however, that burdened with brittle infrastructures and outdated approaches to systems management, other IT organisations are struggling to find this same kind of success.
"They find themselves working hard just to support existing systems. With resources and budgets dedicated to maintaining the status quo, IT finds itself continually running to keep up with a growing backlog of requests from the business for new services," he says.
"Those caught in this reactive mode find it all but impossible to invest in the kinds of systems and services that would grow the business and deliver innovative new ways of operating. In these organisations, there is a growing tension between IT and the business," he says.
"Continued delays in delivering the services that drive revenue and operations are putting organisations at a serious competitive disadvantage."
Also, observes Burges, line of business stakeholders, frustrated with IT's ability to deliver the capabilities they require, often go out and acquire IT services and business applications themselves, outside of traditional IT procurement channels.
Increasingly, he notes, IT is looking to cloud computing as a way to break this cycle and form new partnerships with business stakeholders based upon the ability to deliver innovation and build business value, adding that it empowers IT to redefine the way services are produced and delivered for the business.
"The goal isn't to merely become a more efficient, reliable and agile IT organisation - although cloud certainly delivers that. Rather, the goal is to operate in a fundamentally different way - more flexible and responsive to business needs," he concludes.
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