2009년에 제안하는 9가지 Top IT 해법

The top tech resolutions for 2009


http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/01/01/3885898.htm

 
1. IT 모드에서 벗어나시오.
   - 모든 IT 프로젝트를 없애십시오. 이제 IT 프로젝트는 없습니다. 모든 프로젝트는
     현업의 업무를  얼마나 향상시킬 수 있느냐와 관련된 것입니다.

2. 제물로 쓰일 소을 죽이세요.
   - 올해는 MS오피스와 오라클로 대표되는 쓸데없이 복잡하면서 비용을 높게
     만드는 제품들을  갈아엎기에 좋은 기회입니다. (음. 전반적으로 쓴 사람이
     오픈소스에 더 우호적인 뉘앙스 입니다)

3. IT 비용과 서비스 제공에 있어서 더 똑똑해지세요.
   - 이것은 영구적인 해법인데도 최신/최고 신기술과 사랑에 빠지는 기술인력과 
     현업인력들에 의해서 쉽게 단념되는 해법입니다. 우리는 품질에 대한 우리의
     주장을 보강할 필요가 있습니다. 예산삭감에 따라서 사람들은 더 적은 예산
     으로 더 많은 일을 하기를 요구받습니다.
     하지만 대부분 결과는 제공되는 서비스의 품질저하로 이어집니다.
     이것은 IT 조직의 신뢰성에 심각한 타격을 주고, 악순환을 시작하게 합니다.
     차라리 (더 적은 예산에서는) 같은 일을 하거나 더 적은 일에 대해서,
     그 일을 더 잘하는 것이 낫습니다
     그래야 CEO도 (IT조직에 대해서) 신뢰를 가질 것이고, 향후에 예산을 추가했을
     때 추가적인 서비스를 성공적으로 인도할 것이라고 기대할 것이니까요.

4. 구름(클라우드 컴퓨팅)에 대비하세요.

   - 올해는 여러분이 속한 IT 조직의 예산이 분명 삭감될 겁니다.
     (이젠 비밀이 아니죠)
     하지만 현재 각광받고 있는 클라우딩 컴퓨팅을 준비함으로써 그런 상황을
     해결할 수 있을 겁니다. 클라우딩 컴퓨팅을 준비하기 위해서는 많은 IT 업체에서
     기본 마인드를 바꿀 필요가 있습니다.
     비즈니스 프로세스가 여타 다른 곳으로 나가는 것을 내버려 둘 수 있어야 합니다.
     비즈니스 프로세스가 기업 자체 데이터센터 밖으로 나가는 것을 감수함으로써
     클라우딩 컴퓨팅의 장점을 취해야 합니다.

    
     역주) 클라우딩 컴퓨팅은 인터넷 기반 개발을 말합니다. 여기서 클라우드
     (구름)란 인터넷의 은유입니다. 이것은 기업 정보를 인터넷 상의 서버에
     영구적으로 저장해 두고 클라이언트 (사용자 PC, 기업 서버 등) 에서 임시로
     캐쉬하는 패러다임 을 말합니다. 이는 Software as a Service (SaaS)와 Web 2.0
     과 협력하는 일반적인개념입니다. 예를 들어 구글 애플리케이션들은 웹 브라우져
     를  통해서 온라인 상으로 접근할 수 있지만 소프트웨어와 데이터는 서버에
     저장되어 있는 식입니다.

5. 최종 OS 목적지를 결정하세요. (Win / Linux / OSX)

6. 그린 Tech를 주도하세요.

7. 아키텍처를 좀더 진지하게 대하세요

   - EA와 거버넌스에 집중하십시오. 좋은 시절에는 너무나 바빠서 현재 조직의
     상태나 미래 로드맵,프로젝트 우선순위의 결정, IT 예산등을 걱정할 새가 없었을
     수 있습니다.
     이제, EA 실체가 쓸데없이 장황하지 않고, 시스템 변환이 쉽고 빠르게
     이루어지며, 프로젝트 우선순위를 명확하게 만들어 주기를 희망합니다.

8. 비즈니스 연속성에 대해서 좀더 진지하게 대하세요.

9. 보안 문제에 좀더 진지하게 대하세요.

   - 2009년 동안 완전한 정보보안감사를 가질 수 있도록 처리해야 합니다. 감사는
     모든  응용체계, 업무 기능, 중요 데이터를 다루는 개인, 모두를 포함해야 합니다.
     인터넷은 거의 모든 현업을 다룰 수 있도록 커지고 있습니다. 하지만 인터넷 상의
     범죄에 대한 대응은 그렇지 못합니다. 이제 그것들을 인터넷에서 없애도록 선
     긋기를 시작할 시점입니다.

 

오호라, 제가 몸 담고 있는 분야가 두 가지나 언급되서 기분이 좋은데요.
하긴 언제 아키텍처와 보안이 중요하지 않다고 한적이 있었나요..

항목별로 InFoWorlds 에서 제공하는 자료들의 태그가 첨부되어 있습니다. 
관심있으신 분들은 구글에서 검색해 보셔도 좋을 듯 합니다.
전 Enterprise Architecture virtual conference 란 곳을 들어가 보려고 했는데
올 1월 1일에 끝나 있네요.
(1일에 끝난 행사를 1일 글에 올리면 어쩌란거여...)


(InfoWorld Daily Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) New Year's is a great occasion for taking pause to reassess priorities, needs, and wants. As we enter what looks to be a trying 2009, such a pause is even more critical. IT resources will be limited and business pressures higher. But that doesn't mean you withdraw or go into reactive mode. In tough times, being clear on your priorities is even more important, as everything you do is more critical. So InfoWorld asked its CTO Council member and its cadre of expert contributors for their top New Year's resolutions to give the tech industry a list that we hope will help you make the most of your 2009 priorities.

 

 
1. Get out of IT mode.

For IT managers, now is a time when the classical management skills and priorities may need to outweigh

IT considerations. "Your opinions need to be part of the mix in order for your business to survive and

thrive -- so put them out there," advises CTO Council member Gene Rogers, chief technologist for

advanced network and space systems at Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems group.

Bob Lewis, InfoWorld Advice Line blogger and author of Keep the Joint Running: A Manifesto for 21st

Century Information Technology, seconds Rogers' sentiments: "Eliminate any and all IT projects: There

are no IT projects. Every project is about improving how the business operates, or what's the point?"

What does that mean? Lewis explains it thusly: "If the project is considered complete when the software

has been put into production, it's an IT project and needs to be redefined. If it's considered complete

when the users have been trained in how to operate the new software, it's an IT project. It's a business

improvement project only if it includes redefinition of how the business is supposed to run, if users

are trained in how to perform their new responsibilities using the new software, and if the project

isn't finished until the business is successfully operating differently and better."

 

2. Slay sacred cows.

The difficulties projected for 2009 present a rare opportunity to attack situations that are off-limits

during good times. CTO Council member Igor Shindel, an independent consultant, suggests that this year

is the time to replace Microsoft Office, swap out Microsoft Exchange, or replace Oracle Database as part

of an effort to reduce long-term costs. These complex technologies are hard to get rid of because

organizations must accept reduced feature sets and will perceive a higher risk in letting them go. But

the payoff is worth it, he says, so "this is the year to tackle these projects."

IT will also face a monetary objection to such changes, notes Jon Williams, CTO of NBC Universal's

iVillage unit. That objection: The company has invested a lot in these systems, so you can't just toss

them. In fact, Williams notes, IT will be under pressure to stick with such complex systems, even if

they are the wrong long-term option.

3. Get smarter about IT spend and delivery.
This is a perennial resolution, but it easily falls by the wayside as both technologists and business

users fall in love with new capabilities from the latest and greatest whatever.

"We need to bolster our emphasis on quality," notes CTO Council member Glenn Ricart, managing director

of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Center for Advanced Technology.

"With the budgetary cutbacks, people are being asked to do more with less, and too often the result is

lower quality of delivery.

That really hurts the IT organization's credibility and can start a downward spiral.

It's better to do the same or slightly less but do it very well,

then top management will have
confidence that they'll get additional top-notch service if they add to your budget," he says.

 

InfoWorld Tech's Bottom Line blogger Bill Snyder has advice on two ways to accomplish this resolution.

First, squeeze every IT dollar. "Make sure that any business unit or employee requesting a purchase can

explain how it will contribute to profitability. Demand specifics, not generalizations," he says.

Second, "hire slowly, fire even slower. It's tempting to cut costs by cutting personnel, and sometimes

that's necessary. But remember that losing experienced personnel can cost a business in the long run.

Institutional memory is precious."

One specific way to save money smartly is to be open to open source, advises InfoWorld Open Sources

blogger Zach Urlocker.

"In many cases, organizations just default to certain closed source applications or infrastructure

decisions because they are not familiar with other options," he notes. Yet, open source approaches can

reduce total cost by as much as 90 percent over traditional offerings. There's another benefit for

staffers: "Even if the decision is made to go with closed source, staff will appreciate getting exposure

to new technologies."

And whatever you do, remember that interpersonal relationships are especially key to succeeding in tough

times, advises Advice Line blogger Lewis. "No matter what you're trying to accomplish, the interpersonal

relationships have to work before anything useful will happen. If it's ITIL, for example, everyone with

a hand in your new processes has to trust everyone else with a hand in the process, or they'll second-

guess each other's work to death. This will turn even the most efficient process design into sludge. If

it's offshore development, to take a second example, it won't work unless the onshore analysts and

offshore developers have confidence in each others' abilities."

InfoWorld resources: A strategy for IT in tough times, cost-saving tips, recession-proof technologies,

best open source software, Open Sources blog, and InfoWorld open source topic center.

 

4. Be ready for the cloud.

You're going to need to cut costs this year -- that's no secret.

But you can do so in a way that prepares you for the cloud computing platforms now emerging, argues NBC

Universal's Williams.

"What if all IT departments cut their datacenter capacity by 20 percent in 2009 and expand back into the

cloud in 2010?" he poses.

Getting ready for cloud computing will require a change in mind-set at many IT shops:

letting business processes go elsewhere. So, as part of preparing to take advantage of the cloud,

InfoWorld Real World SOA blogger David Linthicum recommends you promise yourself the following: "I

resolve that I will not fight the movement of business processes outside of the my datacenter, as it

makes sense."

InfoWorld resources: Cloud computing special report, cloud computing platform comparison, analysis of

Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, and cloud computing primer.

 

5. Make a final decision on which OS to go forward with -- Mac OS X, Windows, or Ubuntu Linux -- then do

it.

Windows Vista was coldly received when it debuted, and for good reason. But with SP2, Vista is as stable

as it will ever be, notes InfoWorld Enterprise Windows blogger J. Peter Bruzzese. So, if you're going to

stick with Microsoft's OS, "start upgrading the hardware to prepare for Windows 7 eventually but get

Vista going now," he advises, so you can learn the under-the-hood changes and techniques that Vista

brings to Windows, and that will be the underpinnings of Windows 7.

If you're not going to stick with Windows, then jump ship in 2009 -- after all, it's now clear that

Windows 7 won't be a brand-new OS but simply a better Vista, so what are you waiting for? Plus, the next

Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, will also be a continuation of the current OS, so there's no reason to delay

your journey down that path. Linux's stability also argues for not waiting.

Plus, Bruzzese notes, spending the money on new hardware and apps will be good for the economy: "Spend

the money in 2009 when it can really help."

InfoWorld resources: Windows 7 benchmarks, Windows Vista SP2 benchmarks, tips for Macs in business, Mac

OS X Snow Leopard preview, Ubuntu switching tips, Enterprise Desktop blog, Windows Sentinel tool, and

Enterprise Windows blog.

6. Lead on green.

Green techniques -- from energy reduction to reducing the use of toxic materials -- save both the

environment and money. So what's good for the planet is good for the business, and that's a string

motivator in 2009.

"IT energy costs continue to grow without a corresponding increase in business value. There is a lot of

pressure to reduce IT costs in 2009, and it's an easy choice between paying less to a utility and laying

off experienced employees," says CTO Council member Marvin Richardson, managing director of Trexin

Consulting.

Rein in energy waste. "There are plenty of steps companies can take to reduce power costs," notes Ted

Samson, InfoWorld's Sustainable IT blogger. Utilities are sweetening the deal by giving rebates to aid

in implementation of energy-saving technologies. "This is a real opportunity for the CTO to provide

visible, popular leadership that will be appreciated by his or her company, employees, and customers.

Oh, and it's the right thing to do for both ecological and economic reasons," Richardson adds.

Among the steps you can take are virtualizing your datacenter and pushing suppliers for nontoxic

manufacturing methods. "Reduce travel by 20 percent and increase the videoconferencing budget by 20

percent," suggests PricewaterhouseCoopers' Ricart. Recycle your old equipment properly, such as through

sales or donations to employees and charities and hiring recyclers that won't ship the materials

overseas, where they end up being disassembled by hand, poisoning the people there.

At the University of Hawaii, InfoWorld contributing editor Brian Chee shows how it's done: "My first New

Year's resolution is to dramatically reduce the energy footprint of my lab by retiring my older, less-

efficient servers in favor of blades. Future blades will be cheaper than stand-alone servers, and the

power supplies are much more efficient. Overall, I think I can cut my server rack power usage in half,

especially since I'm virtualizing everything now."

InfoWorld resources: Energy-saving strategies, Sustainable IT blog, power-saving myths, InfoWorld green

-tech topic center, InfoWorld virtualization topic center, and facilities management techniques.

7. Get serious about architecture.

"Focus on enterprise architecture and governance," advises CTO Council member Jeff Gleason, enterprise

architect at Aegon USA Investment Management.

"During good times, we're usually too busy to worry about things like current state architecture,

future-state road maps, and governance of project priorities and IT spend. Yet it's always tough times

like now when we wish our enterprise architecture practice were more mature, that we didn't have so much

redundancy, that system changes were easier and faster, and that project priorities are more clear. The

architecture group is always talking about this stuff, but it's never until we have to cut costs that

anyone pays attention."

InfoWorld resources: Real World SOA blog, relationship between SOA and enterprise architecture,

Enterprise Architecture virtual conference, and InfoWorld SOA topic center.

8. Get serious about business continuity. "Resolve to have a business continuity plan in place and to

have at least one full disaster prep drill during 2009," advises InfoWorld Test Center editor Curtis

Franklin. "There's no reason not to have a fully developed plan, and no reason to think that your plan

will work if you haven't tried it."

9. Get serious about security. "Resolve to have a full information security audit during 2009," Franklin

also advises. The audit should include every application, job function, and individual that touches

sensitive data, with special attention given to those touching sensitive customer data.

While IT focuses on its security, the industry as a whole needs to fix the security problems of the

Internet, adds Security Adviser blogger Roger A. Grimes. "The Internet is quickly growing into the way

the world works, and the criminals control much too much of it. It's time to start drawing a line in the

sand and say, 'Enough is enough!' And take back our Internet."

 

InfoWorld resources: Top security land mines, tips for educating employees on security, Security Adviser

blog, and data protection topic center.

Copyright  2009 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.