Everything Changes At Once, and Does It Twice

The shift away from 19th-century business organizations and 20th century IT is a shift toward boundary-free enterprises that requires significant change, fundamental change, in IT and business architectures and models. As we move from the pre-Cloud era into and through a relatively short transitory period that emphasizes a blending, hybridized IT environment, we have to consider the massive impact this shift has and will have on enterprise IT organizations. It will change the mission, roles, and goals of IT organizations not only as they transition now, but again in a few years as they shift toward even more, new, Cloud IT.

IT organizations will be challenged by the need for Cloud speed versus the need to avoid the stumbles that come with an accelerated approach. Starting with a comprehensive vision of enterprise Cloud use is key to achieving this balance, and to enabling the scale of guidance that business orgs and users will require to understand what they have, how to use it, and how to work with IT to achieve that.

Focusing on guidance first helps to underscore the greatest change for IT organizations as we move toward the Cloud Future: The change from being a “control” organization to being an “enabling and guiding” organization. We have published a series of CIO/CTO interviews and insights for our CLS clients on how this is being accomplished in the real world, and will be publishing more throughout the rest of this year (944CLR, Cloud Business Summit Leadership Report: Key Insights and Best Practices, 31Aug2011).

And of course we will be incorporating all of this with our second annual Cloud Business Summit, to be held Nov. 17 in New York City. Saugatuck clients will receive personal email notice of the conference details over the coming weeks.

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Bruce Guptill

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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