Melbourne Uni Adopts Robotic Process Automation

The adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming more common with the example of Melbourne University looking at enriching…

Melbourne Uni connects +700 apps in smart campus drive

Strategic Directions has been providing specialist data centre knowledge and support to Melbourne University for a number of years and was delighted to be involved in the recent Data Centre Project. Involved throughout the project from design to implementation and final witness testing, Strategic Directions is proud to be a trusted partner of the University.

We are exciting with the future of what this means for the university.

Uniting IoT and app platforms to boost engagement.

Source: Melbourne Uni connects +700 apps in smart campus drive

Five Bold Predictions for the Data Centre in 2019

Data Centre White Paper – 2019

These provocative predictions are meant to challenge the thinking of anyone responsible for data center planning and strategy—because data center success requires us to get ahead of these changes, rather than constantly playing catch-up with the world around us.

The only predictable aspect of data center technology is its unpredictability. Change is often rapid, evolutionary and disruptive. For IT and data center professionals, staying ahead of the curve could easily mean the difference between
an organization’s success or failure. And for nearly four decades, AFCOM has stressed to its members the importance of remaining proactive and always moving forward. To accomplish that, we must be visionaries, capable of anticipating near- and long-term changes and acting to ensure data centers and businesses they support are prepared.

Summary:

Prediction #1: Hyperscale Data Center Growth Hits a Wall
Prediction #2: Cloud Consumption Model Finally Forces Major IT Restructuring
Prediction #3: Dynamically Optimizing the New Cost-Model Portfolio
Prediction #4: Data Center Leaders Become Full Partners in Security and Compliance
Prediction #5: The Renaissance of Liquid Cooling

Download Full White Paper:

Authors

Mike Andrea, Director, GAICD,
The Strategic Directions Group

Tad Davies, Sr. Vice President,
Bick Consulting Services

Hector Diaz, Sr. Partner,
iDiaz Advisors

Bill Doty, I.T. General Manager,
CH Robinson

Carrie Goetz, Global Director, of Technology,
Paige Electric

Hector Diaz, Sr. Partner,
iDiaz Advisors

Brad Mohler, Director of Global
Data Center Strategy and Portfolio Management, Oracle

Mark Monroe, President,
Energetic Consulting, Inc.

John Parker, Global Data
Center Operations and Disaster Recovery, Esri

DCW18 – Conference Programme

The 2018 Data Centre World conference program look at the following key topics. Power & Energy efficiency Design & Build Robotics automation Edge Computing Physical Security Fire & Security Source: Conference Programme 2018 – Data Centre World London 2018 – Data Centre World, the world’s largest, most influential gathering of data centre expertise

The 2018 Data Centre World conference program look at the following key topics.

Power & Energy efficiency

Design & Build

Robotics automation

Edge Computing

Physical Security

Fire & Security

Source: Conference Programme 2018 – Data Centre World London 2018 – Data Centre World, the world’s largest, most influential gathering of data centre expertise

DCW Event Preview – Data Centre World London 2018

The largest and best attended data centre event for business returns in March 2018 for a 10th year edition. 2017 brought 19,926 (BPA number) senior decision makers from across the technology ecosystem together, alongside 500 leading suppliers and 600 world-class speakers from across the globe. 2018 is already on its way to exceed all previous […]

The largest and best attended data centre event for business returns in March 2018 for a 10th year edition. 2017 brought 19,926 (BPA number) senior decision makers from across the technology ecosystem together, alongside 500 leading suppliers and 600 world-class speakers from across the globe. 2018 is already on its way to exceed all previous years figures.

Source: DCW Event Preview – Data Centre World London 2018 – Data Centre World, the world’s largest, most influential gathering of data centre expertise

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

#DisasterRecovery

Holidays are just around the corner
How is your Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Plan?

The importance for organisations to ensure they have appropriate recovery provisions for not only natural disasters but Power Failures, IT Software Failure, Human Error and Hardware Failure is critical – you need to have a plan to deal with all levels of disruption.

All organisations have experienced some form of disaster, but it is those organisations that have a current DR/BC plan in place that deal with these effectively, reducing the impact to business operations, staff and customers.

In such an event, companies need to not just look at the loss of data, revenue, IT services but reputation with employees, suppliers and customers.

The cost to business caused by potential disasters can be devastating, but worse is having to explain how this has happened to people affected, your staff, business partners and most importantly customers.

Five Questions to Ask Yourself?

1. Can you locate your DR/BC Plan?
2. What are your aspects of critical service and how quickly must they be recovered?
– Customer Services (Phone, Email)
– Employee Services (Distribution, File Access)
3. Team Responsibilities (Who is in your DR Team)
4. Communication Assets (What is your plan dealing with media?)
5. Are you certain your data is protected, recoverable, assessable and what is your data recovery time?

Vendor Independent with local skills and global knowledge Strategic Directions are happy to discuss your DR/BC plan to see if it will ensure the impact on your business is acceptable in the event of a disaster.

Get the skill to execute your ICT Strategy

Strategic Directions ICT Advisory Service

Speak to one of our specialist advisors with best practices in ICT Strategies, Business Processes and Project Management Methodologies to assist you in achieving your ICT plan.

Speak with us

Complimentary IT Services

External CIO Advisory Service

Support and complement your ICT Strategic Plan

Strategic Direction’s External CIO Service allows a Client access to skills and experience from multiple disciplines including telecommunications, IT service delivery, risk management, security, contract management and disaster recovery planning.

External Business Analyst Service

Enhance business efficiencies and deliver outcomes whilst allowing you to focus on core business with a Business Analyst only when You need them

The IT needs and requirements within Australian businesses are growing, mainly due to the increased focus on IT service and performance.

Strategic Directions Managed Business Analyst Services can provide clients with an increased capability to assess business projects whilst maintaining a core business focus.

Technology Trends Impacting ICT Strategies

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AFCOM’s DATA CENTER WORLD

Outstanding Educational Opportunities in a Vendor- Neutral Environment March 12 – 15, 2018, San Antonio, Texas, USA

With more than 3500 professionals worldwide, and member organisations that include many Fortune 500 Companies and other Multinationals around the globe, AFCOM has gained a reputation for hosting one of the world’s best annual Data Center Educational Forums – “DATA CENTER WORLD”.

Founded many years ago as a vendor independent group of data centre professionals – AFCOM now has Chapters in many cities in North America and in other Countries (including Australia.)

Any professional Manager, with responsibilities relating to data centres, should seriously consider attending this blue ribbon IT Event at least once. More than 30% of attendees are Directors, while most attendees have very senior status in their organisations.

The conference has several vertical channels including:-

Infrastructure Technologies
Data Centre Design and Development
Data Centre Management and Operation
Data Centre Strategies and Trends
Security, Data Sovereignty and Risk Management
What’s next – future issue to consider

The Conference also hosts an outstanding Vendors Exhibition, where many of the world’s leading Data Centre Suppliers show their current and future offerings. There are also many opportunities to network with other data centre executives (who not surprisingly have the same problems or issues confronting them.) Many contacts remain long after you get back – in some cases can become life-long friends.

The key words for this Conference are “vendor – neutral”, guaranteeing an environment free of vendor influences (although most vendors are exhibitors – allowing you time to chat with them and see what they have to offer, if you so wish!) AFCOM goes to extraordinary lengths to maintain an independent stance and many of the presentations / learning sessions are given by end users, who are able to share their experiences with other users. There are some vendors invited to present – however, they are engaged to talk about specific technologies, rather than making a straight out sales pitch. Any vendor who abuses this privelidge is prohibited from further presentations.

Strategic Directions has been an active member of AFCOM for several years and established the Group in Australia in the mid 90’s. Our Director, Mike Andrea has for several years been a Director of the prestigious AFCOM DATA CENTER Institute, (the only Director outside North America.) The Board consists or several of the most senior data centre executives from major companies such as HP, and BICK, and provides thought leadership to the data centre industry through a series of white papers and other research.

Strategic Directions Executives attend every Conference and have presented on many occasions. The Company has been a Strategic Partner of AFCOM, here in the Asia Pacific Region for some years.

The company is often accompanied by senior representatives of Australian Companies, Federal and State Agencies. We are able to guide the attendees to the presentations that are of particular interest to them, and the “aussie contingent” regularly catch up for meals and networking opportunities.

If you or anyone from your team would like to attend, contact Strategic Directions at :-www.strategicdirections.com.au or log on to the Data Center World website at :-http://global.datacenterworld.com/dcwg18/Public/Enter.aspx

Cloud Computing Challenges

Cloud Computing Challenges – the experts all agree – plan carefully and avoid unnecessary pain!

A recent look at Cloud commentators around the world – confirmed what we at Strategic Directions already knew. (Eureka!!)

3 Internationally respected (but totally unrelated) Cloud Forum Organisations all agreed that one of the major concerns to customers when moving to the cloud was:-

Lack of resources and expertise (Open Cirrus :- www.opencirrus.org )

Lack of resources and expertise (Cloud Tweaks :- www.cloudtweaks.com )

People and Processes (Forbes Technology Council :- www.forbes.com )

The internationally regarded Forbes Technology Council comments “it’s critical not to get caught up in the hype….do proper planning.” Forbes offers firsthand insights on technology and business from elite CIOs, CTOs and other executives. They asked some of their senior members to identify challenges they thought a business might have to overcome when moving its operations to the cloud. This is what the executives (all from different organisations) had to say:-

Getting the solution right from a myriad of options
People and processes
Having a defined Strategy and associated Business Objectives
Getting over the psychological barriers (trusting your decision)
Time, cost and security challenges
Not getting caught up in the hype
Change Management issues (as with any major IT Project)
Dependable technological infrastructure
Accurately estimating the true costs of service
Avoid too much modification or customisation
One of the biggest challenges is translating your security posture to the cloud environment
The financial model – plan wisely!
Connecting legacy systems – they are most often not “cloud ready”

We note a very interesting point here ! The vast majority of the concerns identified have nothing to do with the actual technology!

This is not to demean Cloud solutions – the benefits are well known – merely to emphasise the “associated” issues that any organisation needs to be aware of, but which are often “lost in the translation.”

Other challenges identified by Open Cirrus included the lack of standards, different terminologies between vendors, lack of clear guidelines regarding the operations of cloud providers. Also, they note, bringing hybrid cloud infrastructure into the mix has made it even harder for organisations to determine the best choice.

The bottom line is – get objective advice and guidance before “setting sail” upon uncharted waters!

Data Breaches

Mandatory Disclosure and Statutory Notification a wakeup call for Business – November 2017

Recent news articles have highlighted the seriousness with which the Federal Government is treating Data Breaches affecting Australian organisations.

This follows hot on the heels of the recent announcement that the Federal Government is planning to invest up to $140 m into an “industry led” cooperative research centre focussing on cybersecurity. https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-industry-invest-140m-for-cybersecurity-crc-473948

The government has just released a draft of the statement it expects organisations to file if they suffer a data breach after February 2018. Under laws passed last year, organisations will have to report a data breach as soon as practicable, including its severity, the type of breach (financials, government and tax details and other “sensitive” information), and the estimated harm to those impacted. The OAIC (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) will collect and publish statistics in connection with the scheme, with a view to reviewing this approach 12 months after the scheme’s commencement. Comment on the draft statement is accepted until 23^rd October this year. https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-reveals-data-breach-notification-format-474360?utm_source=mobile&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=share

AGC Networks Australia recently hosted a group of C-Level executives to discuss the upcoming requirements. Concerns that were identified relating to this new Legislation included:-

What to do to comply with the new requirements
The extent of the data they are expected to collect
Defining “breach vs compromise” and what exactly constitutes “serious harm”
Agreement that Cyber Security is not just an IT risk – it is a Business risk and a Board risk

In the end, the discussion group agreed that the following actions needed attention in the future:-

While focus on the notification process is important, organisations need to focus on prevention in the first place….
Contracts and Service Agreements need review in consideration of the legislation….
Incident management plans are vital, but this is part of the cyber security strategy and prevention is still the first step…..

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-breach-mandatory-disclosure-your-organisation-ready-heywood/?trackingId=xCohzCdujy2Fo7rBjwZaag%3D%3D

These recent initiatives underline the fact that cyber security is no longer associated only with military, government or large corporate targets. All organisations are at risk, and must proactively consider the security and privacy of their ICT services and the customer / supplier information they manage.

A crucial part of any organisation’s strategic plan MUST recognise the very real threat of cyber-attack, including prevention in the first instance, ongoing management and monitoring, and recovery once a legitimate breach has been identified.

CLOUD REVERSAL – who would have thought……..?

A few years ago, the cloud was touted as the answer to our prayers. A handful of Public Cloud Hyperscale firms like Microsoft, Google and Amazon were going to take the world by storm, with all other providers left to pick up the scraps.

A recent survey by CRN however, shows that all is not what it seems.

While Australian organisations willing to be named are very thin on the ground – the survey reveals an alarming number of early adopters of public cloud services, who have backed away from the public cloud for a variety of reasons. What is clear is that in earlier times, some businesses jumped headlong into cloud services, in a classic “me too” trend setting, before understanding all the ramifications of the new technology. They implemented a “Cloud First” policy, without understanding the business benefits and risks.

The same is still true today, but at least most organisations are a bit better informed, and the smart ones get advice from independent specialists (like Strategic Directions may we say!) to develop a cloud strategy that is aligned to their business goals.

The main reasons for this reversal of public cloud usage include the following:-

a. Bill Shock (or Sticker Shock as some people call it) was by far the biggest reason for disconnecting from the public cloud systems. Most often, this is attributable to organisations not accurately estimating or understanding the entry, operations and exit costs involved in running services in the public cloud.

b. A realisation by customers that there is no “one size fits all” solution for ICT services (no magic bullet as usual!), which is why there is a strong movement towards a hybrid or private cloud approach.

c. In some circumstances, cloud benefits can dissipate as volumes and scale increase, the result often being reflected in dramatically escalating costs.

d. In a classic understatement by an Industry heavyweight – “not all workloads are ready for the cloud…” . As with any other IT solution – a customer needs to know and understand what they are buying and how the service will support their business priorities. In other words, don’t believe all the sales hype!

e. Retrieval of and movement of vast amounts of data has caught a lot of users off guard, some having to pay enormous fees to get access to their own data…? Organisations now know how quickly a few cents per hour or per gigabyte can add up! As the old saying goes – “it doesn’t sound much if you say it quickly…”

f. Other reasons given for reversal of cloud services include:- internet problems, access to cost effective and resilient bandwidth, underwhelming performance, project failures, a general lack of full functionality in the cloud, and the old hoary chestnut – data sovereignty.

Summary

The CRN survey included varying statements from Australian organisations, including “we are reviewing our approach to cloud services” – to “some of our customers have moved assets to the cloud, found it uneconomical and moved back to their own infrastructure.”

As one senior professional commented – “depending on scale and requirements, putting internal infrastructure in the cloud may not be as cost effective as running it in house.”

The bottom line is that any organisation considering a move to cloud based services, MUST first develop a CLOUD Strategy that aligns with the Corporate Business and ICT Plans.

A Cloud Readiness Assessment is a key component of the cloud strategy process. This approach should provide the same degree of diligence as would be required if you were looking to purchase and implement a completely new hardware and software solution, because in the cold hard light of day – the business impact of the wrong decision(s) is exactly the same.

Talk to specialists who are completely independent of any vendors you are considering for your cloud migration plans, and make sure you clearly understand the entry, operations and exit costs and services involved (not always an easy task!!)