subject: Challenges Before Cios Today And The Solutions [print this page] Major challenges faced by CIOs today are budget, efficiency, information growth and security threats. Theyve to find ways to tide over these challenges. Read on to know how CIOs can do that. Find out how cloud computing can help CIOs attain their objectives.
For many, the CIOs role is over, thanks to the rapid changes the industry has witnessed in the past few years. The term CIO, according to them, stands for Career is Over! However, their view is far from truth. The role of CIO has evolved over the years from a technologist to a practitioner.
Technology has kept on changing and this has influenced the profile of CIOs. They face several challenges today such as budget, efficiency, information growth and security threats.
A recent study suggests that 73 percent of the companies IT budget is spent on maintaining the old infrastructure, which means that they have little resources left for innovations. This translates into a major challenge for the CIOs as they have to ensure innovation to keep pace with competition, while providing for the maintenance of the existing infrastructure.
Another challenge for the CIOs is to keep IT wing of a company well-toned and efficient, despite the budget constraints. In fact, this is the ability which makes or fails a CIO. Theyll be expected by the top brass to deliver within their limited resources and theyll have no option, but to find ways to ensure that the things fit the expectations, more or less.
Information growth makes the third trial for the CIOs. The findings of the Digital Universe study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) suggests that digital information reached 0.8 zettabytes (one Zettabyte equals a trillion gigabytes) in 2010 and is expected to grow 44 fold to 35 Zettabytes by 2020. The only way CIOs can tackle the situation is by innovation and cloud computing is one of them.
Ask any CIO what theyre most wary of and theyll spell security concerns. Viruses and spyware have always been there, but the biggest problem for CIOs is to create balance between providing adequate access to the database on various devices used by employees to work when away from office (laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.) and the security wall. More security will hamper access, while more access may be like giving a walkover to the hackers. The threat has become larger as malicious programmers keep innovating to penetrate security.
Cloud computing is being seen as the solution that enables CIOs and indirectly the companies to tide over all the four major challenges facing them. For medium-sized and large organizations, hybrid cloud is often the perfect solution. It enables their IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze information, their most valuable asset, in a more agile, cost-efficient and secure manner.
The path the CIOs advice for a companys transformation to private cloud has a bearing on the final result. A common mistake CIOs do is to rewrite their infrastructure. What they must do is to first move to the cloud, then optimize and rewrite. The three phases of the transformation to the cloud is virtualization of servers, adaptation of applications and client satisfaction.
Cloud computing trends today suggest that most companies today have recognized hybrid as the best model. However, it is also necessary that they take the right approach to transform. The three tenets of hybrid cloud computing are efficiency, control and choice, which drive business agility. If youve taken the steps towards the hybrid cloud factoring in your specific needs, youre likely to make up that objective.
