Why CIOs need their head in the cloud

The cloud presents one of the biggest industry disruptions in years. And while you may be sick of talking about it, CIOs need to get their heads in the cloud in order to help their company safely and successfully navigate the journey.

The cloud is a great equalizer. The trick is that not all companies are startups; few enterprises can simply move everything into a cloud system without concern for security or privacy. But the reality is, sooner or later, we will all be in a situation with one foot in both private and public cloud. Hybrid cloud is the new reality.

So the primary question for a CIO becomes, how do you help transition to this hybrid cloud world?

The most common concerns I hear from customers are:

• “I’m struggling to make my private clouds easy and innovation-friendly for the business.”
• “I’m not confident that all the public clouds I’m already using are enterprise-ready.”
• “I need to find a way to manage all of those clouds in a holistic way, so I’m not surprised by costs, security challenges, or other unexpected outcomes.”

Executing a successful integration among the various cloud platforms begins with having the right people. Cloud capabilities are not merely a push toward automation; with tech permeating almost all points in our daily schedules, IT departments are now charged with delivering positive user experiences.

Cloud offers a growth and learning opportunity for all. The most effective teams will comprise people who embrace the business as a whole, rather than attempting to delegate strategy, and lead by example. Yet at the same time, IT must keep focus on operations. Systems still need to work – regardless of where they’re based.

Instead of constantly questioning “why” a cloud strategy is necessary, today’s IT teams need to embrace, “Why not?” along with a willingness to take some risks is inherent with greater understanding of the technical workings of the cloud.

Consider implementing an employee-first approach.

At VMware, we pushed for IT alignment and collaboration with Research and Development. This enables an approach for increased accountability and responsibility – as key programs and products undergo a test-drive before being released to third-party customers. When employees are the first consumers of new products or upgrades of existing products, they can provide feedback and report bugs, with a goal of improving the end-customer’s user experience.

Ultimately, IT, software, and applications are being infused into every aspect of business, which can make complexity appear invisible. In today’s hybrid cloud world, enterprises need both choice and control in the cloud.