OMEN
03-09-2011, 12:56 PM
IT managers adapt to mobile and other changes ahead
Computerworld - PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Insurance companies are always trying to peer into the future to determine risks. That's an approach that Frank Wander, CIO and senior vice president at Guardian Life Insurance, has also found useful when it comes to planning his company's IT direction.
Wander has looked ahead and sums up his belief about preparing for the future this way: Travel with as little baggage as possible and be ready for rapid transitions, particularly in the mobile era.
The world he sees coming is one that will be saturated with mobile devices, ubiquitous computing, technologies that give rise to new competitors that meet all their IT needs through services, and employees who can and do work outside the office from anywhere in the world.
Wander's response to these trends has been to reduce the number of data centers Guardian uses from six to two -- one that's owned by the company and one that's maintained by an outsourcer. He has also shifted to cloud-based systems for storage and other needs, using both internal cloud setups and hosted offerings provided by vendors, and he has eliminated platforms and deployed Linux on x86 systems "in a very large way." "We have been working for the last few years to actually eliminate as much technology as we can," said Wander, explaining that the goal is, in part, to free up resources to invest in other areas.
The transition could involve eliminating Unix systems, but Wander said that may not happen because the vendors may change the economics of Unix deployment. But the goal, said Wander, is clear: "We are going to unclutter the environment and lower the cost of delivering services."
But that need to "unclutter" IT environments is colliding with the widespread embrace of mobile devices and the advent of ubiquitous computing -- two trends that, on the surface, seem complicate, rather than unclutter, IT operations. The adoption of mobile devices was a leading theme at Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders conference here.
IT managers, in panels and in interviews, say they have little choice but to embrace and adopt the multitude of devices that are arriving.
When Whirlpool CIO Kevin Summers looks at the way some of his company's executives have taken to using multiple devices, he sees that it's apparent that the groundswell of demand for every new gadget that hits the market is unrelenting.
"I realized as a CIO this is something I couldn't stop -- that I had to embrace it and make sure that we had the right technology in our organization to support it," Summers said, " Whirlpool employees can use their own devices as long as they access them through client virtualization. "If you agree to use my VDI [virtual desktop infrastructure] then I'm fine with it," said Summers. Employees also have to agree to company procedures, which include giving IT the ability to wipe data if a device is lost.
Gary Schwartz, CIO at USAA, a company that offers financial products and services to the military and their families, said USAA's policy on the use of devices stems from its approach to customer service.
The company has developed applications that its customers can use on various devices, such as the iPad, and Schwartz said IT's feeling was that "if our employees are developing applications [for these devices], we have to enable them to use all these devices as well."
Wander sees mobile and ubiquitous computing taking hold, particularly with the next wave of devices. It will mean that everything will be delivered as a service, and employees will work where they want, especially younger the younger ones. The millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) "don't want to work in [corporate] buildings," he said.
Computerworld - PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Insurance companies are always trying to peer into the future to determine risks. That's an approach that Frank Wander, CIO and senior vice president at Guardian Life Insurance, has also found useful when it comes to planning his company's IT direction.
Wander has looked ahead and sums up his belief about preparing for the future this way: Travel with as little baggage as possible and be ready for rapid transitions, particularly in the mobile era.
The world he sees coming is one that will be saturated with mobile devices, ubiquitous computing, technologies that give rise to new competitors that meet all their IT needs through services, and employees who can and do work outside the office from anywhere in the world.
Wander's response to these trends has been to reduce the number of data centers Guardian uses from six to two -- one that's owned by the company and one that's maintained by an outsourcer. He has also shifted to cloud-based systems for storage and other needs, using both internal cloud setups and hosted offerings provided by vendors, and he has eliminated platforms and deployed Linux on x86 systems "in a very large way." "We have been working for the last few years to actually eliminate as much technology as we can," said Wander, explaining that the goal is, in part, to free up resources to invest in other areas.
The transition could involve eliminating Unix systems, but Wander said that may not happen because the vendors may change the economics of Unix deployment. But the goal, said Wander, is clear: "We are going to unclutter the environment and lower the cost of delivering services."
But that need to "unclutter" IT environments is colliding with the widespread embrace of mobile devices and the advent of ubiquitous computing -- two trends that, on the surface, seem complicate, rather than unclutter, IT operations. The adoption of mobile devices was a leading theme at Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders conference here.
IT managers, in panels and in interviews, say they have little choice but to embrace and adopt the multitude of devices that are arriving.
When Whirlpool CIO Kevin Summers looks at the way some of his company's executives have taken to using multiple devices, he sees that it's apparent that the groundswell of demand for every new gadget that hits the market is unrelenting.
"I realized as a CIO this is something I couldn't stop -- that I had to embrace it and make sure that we had the right technology in our organization to support it," Summers said, " Whirlpool employees can use their own devices as long as they access them through client virtualization. "If you agree to use my VDI [virtual desktop infrastructure] then I'm fine with it," said Summers. Employees also have to agree to company procedures, which include giving IT the ability to wipe data if a device is lost.
Gary Schwartz, CIO at USAA, a company that offers financial products and services to the military and their families, said USAA's policy on the use of devices stems from its approach to customer service.
The company has developed applications that its customers can use on various devices, such as the iPad, and Schwartz said IT's feeling was that "if our employees are developing applications [for these devices], we have to enable them to use all these devices as well."
Wander sees mobile and ubiquitous computing taking hold, particularly with the next wave of devices. It will mean that everything will be delivered as a service, and employees will work where they want, especially younger the younger ones. The millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) "don't want to work in [corporate] buildings," he said.