Digital transformation is no longer a way of gaining a competitive edge. Rather, it’s necessary for survival. Businesses must adapt – quickly – if they’re going to succeed.
However, while many have the will to digitise, the way may be blocked by legacy IT. This means new or evolved technology cannot be delivered as the right infrastructure just isn’t in place. As a result, businesses are missing out on the ability to reap the benefits of business-critical tools.
At the heart of this is the data center – the cornerstone of business IT. A modern enterprise needs a modern data center. Yet even now, with digitisation in sharp focus, we find many established organisations lack a modern data center that can form the bedrock of their digital vision.
To that end, we’ve decided to take a deeper look at what large-scale technological operations need to do in order to digitise, survive and, ultimately, thrive.
In this new podcast series, Rory Choudhuri, EMEA Solutions Marketing Director at VMware, will host guests to pick apart several elements of what it means to deliver technology in the 21st century. From the different types of cloud to managing varying teams of people, networking and security to the technologies of the future, they’ll discuss what enterprises need to consider in their digital journey.
Session 1: From physical to digital: your new private cloud
Your company is digitally transforming. To support this, you must modernise your data center and transform it into a private cloud. But what does this really mean? Rory welcomes two people that know exactly what that requires: Lee Dilworth, Principal Systems Engineer Storage and Availability, and Rob Hayden, vSAN & CM Systems Engineering Manager. They’ll be covering the management, public cloud integration and the need to virtualise the component parts. How do you get a data center that supports your digital vision?
Session 2: The (virtualised) network, providing a new approach to security
The second fastest growing cost in IT is security. The fastest? The financial impact of breaches. Something isn’t working, which means a new approach is needed. Hear from VMware’s Scott McKinnon and Garry Owen as they talk about the end of castle walls, the beginning of app defence, and what you need to do to secure your business in the era of ever-evolving threats.
Session 3: The radically changing world of DevOps
The way we write apps is radically changing. That means developers and IT Ops need to work together and speak each other’s language. Rory invites Ed Hoppitt, Director of Modern Application Platforms, and experienced translator of dev-to-ops, to explore the new technologies available in this area and how VMware helps both sides get the conversation flowing.
Session 4: A people-led approach to technology
Every IT-related discussion is, at its heart, about people. Whether that’s addressing the future state of jobs and how change is managed, or how we can break down silos and help people acquire the right skills, or how we better recruit and retain – the key to technology success is to take a people-led approach. Someone who knows exactly what it is to build operations that enable, rather that restrict, people is Neil Mitchell, Operations Architect. He explains more.
Session 5: Simplifying multi-cloud complexity
There is no silver bullet when it comes to cloud. Every organisation will need to use multiple clouds (if they aren’t already) to meet their requirements. In this episode, Rory is joined by two senior cloud evangelists: Matthew Steiner and Martijn Baecke. They take a look at how this challenge is navigated without inventing new silos.
Session 6: Looking towards the future
Joe Baguley, VP and CTO EMEA, peers into his crystal ball for this last, future-gazing episode. There’s a lot written and said about AI, machine learning, Blockchain and IoT – but how much of this is real, how much of this is a new name for old technology, and what’s going to be genuinely transformative?
Session 7: Cloud: Let’s agree some definitions
In this short episode, we will outline the definitions we adopt for cloud, to inform our future discussions in other episodes where we refer to private, hybrid and public cloud, edge, modernised and software-defined data center.
Session 8: Creating a cloud platform for your applications
Why do I need a Cloud Management Platform? Can I truly manage all my resources and infrastructure from one point? Will I be able to keep my users, suppliers, partners, customers and developers happy? In this episode, we look at how to select, deploy and manage a Cloud Management Platform to enable us to meet business objectives and satisfy all stakeholders.
Session 9: People, processes and change
Every discussion about technology eventually turns to the subject of change. At the root of the challenge we face with change is people. In this episode, we discuss how to involve people upfront, implement processes that acknowledge the fear of change, and ultimately achieve successful outcomes.
There you have it. Nine episodes with nine opportunities to hear about how your organisation can position itself for a successful digital transformation.
You’ll be able to hear each episode here, with new sessions available every other Tuesday, from Tuesday 29th January until Tuesday 7th May 2019.
