919RA – Cloud Control Requires Thinking Differently

What Is Happening? — Saugatuck SVP and Head of Research Bruce GuptilI had the privilege of chairing this week’s Cloud Control conference in Boston. The two-day event provided great insights and guidance from a mix of providers and users regarding what has worked, and why, when it comes to integrating and managing Cloud with enterprise data center strategies and operations.

Saugatuck readers and clients would not be surprised to find that the core, recurring theme, from Saugatuck’s opening keynote through user and vendor presentations to the ending panel session, was this:

• Whether you are a data center manager, software developer, IT executive, or IT vendor/service provider, Cloud success requires thinking differently. Regardless of how “mainstream” Cloud IT is becoming, traditional approaches and attitudes toward managing IT currently cause more harm than good. Established “best practices” in IT and business management need to be re-examined and revised to reflect changing Cloud realities.

Why Is It Happening? — Our discussions with event participants indicated that most Cloud problems are management problems, and most of these (real and potential) stem from the inabilities of traditional procurement, security, asset management, development, and deployment practices to adapt to the emerging reality of hybrid business and IT environments, an accelerating pace of technology and business change.

Presentations and side discussions with conference participants again and again surfaced the complaint or observation that management and operational practices that worked effectively in traditional environments constantly need to be adapted anyway – but too frequently are not.

Once practices are in place, they tend to stay in place as they originally were developed. And practices designed to control IT, providers, and users are increasingly seen as inadequate and counter-productive in the Cloud-enabled enterprise. “Free range” IT and workers, like free range chickens, do not fare well in tightly-controlled environments (803MKT Free-Range Knowledge Work Spotlights IT Dissociation and Future, 30 Oct. 2010). It should be obvious by now – but it seems not yet to be – that Cloud IT requires new, adaptive, and different management practices. . . Click Here to Read the Full RA

Most research firms can explain what happened; some can explain what is happening. Saugatuck Technology excels at understanding both in order to explain what else is likely to occur, and to guide its clients toward the actions that deliver them the greatest business value while enabling the safest business path.
To accomplish this, and to continually improve the value of Saugatuck’s work to clients in a Cloud-obscured marketplace, Saugatuck SVP and Head of Research Bruce Guptill pushes his team to continually re-examine and re-invent the company’s research programs to focus more on the costs, benefits, effects, and value of an ever-changing mix of technologies and providers in different markets.
Guptill’s own technology and business background laid a solid foundation for such a flexible, yet stable, approach to IT research value for clients. His technology research work includes mobility, collaborative IT, telecom, data networking, web commerce, and electronic marketplaces; his research work for enterprise IT and business clients includes return on IT investment, total cost of IT ownership, and business planning for IT. His research and guidance on vendor channel management, market identification and development, and buyer behavior analysis has enabled hundreds of established and startup IT providers to find, enter, and profit from new and traditional markets, while helping to guide user enterprise leaders toward optimal IT procurement and vendor management.
Guptill’s research background includes several years as a VP and research director with Gartner, senior positions with TeleChoice and Robert Frances Group, and editorial work within the IDG companies, including four years as a writer and editor with NetworkWorld. His marketing business focus was honed as VP of marketing for firms ranging from custom development providers to non-IT firms in aviation and other industries. His sales and channel experience started by traveling with a sample bag, then working for IT VARs, then advising telecom and wireless carriers on partner choices, to developing partner programs for traditional and Cloud-based software development firms and ISVs.
Guptill holds an MBA in marketing and finance, and a BA in the psychology and business of mass media communication. He is licensed to fly airplanes, drive boats, and sell houses; he is also a certified baseball coach, serves on the boards of regional civic groups, and is a serial home renovator. Married with three children, Guptill resides on Cape Cod in southeastern Massachusetts, and is a lifelong fan of the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and the University of Connecticut Huskies.

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