CIO Summit 2014: SMAC 'em

Chances are that as you read this, you are connecting with your business partners over your smartphone, writing a review on social media about a product you like, and maybe switching between an app tracking a shipment you are expecting. That is the power of the connected world we live in today. And your business and customers are expecting you to think of innovative ways in which IT can enhance this engagement.   “There is a huge need for personalization, relationship sensitivity, service orientation, and redefining service levels across all channels. Organizations need to revisit their offerings, services, and processes to encash the potential of four pillars: Social, mobility, cloud and analytics,” says Shalil Gupta, director, Insights and Consulting, IDC. Challenging? Hardly. Think about it. Yes, these new technologies are creating disruptions. But what happens when you scale these disruptive technologies? Gupta refers to a platform called Panoptix from Johnson Controls which is an open, cloud-based building platform which simplifies the complex process of collecting real-time data from disparate systems and creates a single integrated view. With the internet of things, big data and mobility, companies are finding newer ways to make smart systems that are relevant to the business.  New technologies like these can help CIOs elevate from talking about servers and processors to talking about business imperatives. Today, infrastructure doesn’t mean datacenters but systems that are self-repairing and self-configuring. Systems are always connected and cater to non-stop demand for products, services and systems. Technologies like the cloud can finally help CIOs give the business the kind of elasticity and scalability that they have been looking for.