Technology Decisions Feb 2016

IT leadership & innovation

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Management’s new challenge 100,000-person IT skills shortage Aussie SMBs driving cloud adoption FEB 2016 VO L .4 NO. 2 PP100009359

Kubernetes the next killer tech?

A 100,000-person IT skills shortage. That’s the situation

f e b r u a r y

over the next five years (see Moheb Moses’ article in this issue). Perhaps it’s no wonder — given the apparent decline in STEM education in recent times (although some new initiatives will hopefully help stem that decline, pun intended), plus the current turmoil in the higher education sector — that we don’t have enough skilled IT workers.

And yet, most children these days grow up being ‘tech savvy’ to a degree that earlier generations could not have imagined. Why isn’t this being translated into them pursuing training and careers in information technology?

It’s a quandary.

2 0 1 6

INSIDE

Australia is potentially facing

12 | 14 | 16 | 20 |

Scalable storage powers cloud services provider IT trends require an upskilled workforce Management in the 2040s When the PDF will be a thing of the past

30 | Innovation the key to success 40 | Out of the box — is Kubernetes the key to the

There’s also the problem of the pace of technological

cloud’s future?

change and the need to retrain extant staff for new skills

42 | How Aussie SMBs are driving cloud adoption

and to new standards.

It’s a particular concern for certain sectors of the industry.

Our cover story discusses the importance of enterprises seeking out appropriately skilled knowledge workers to tackle the opportunities presented by ‘business intelligence’. As the article makes clear, perhaps the best place to look for those skills could be right under our noses.

Jonathan Nally, Editor jonathan@technologydecisions.com.au

F E A T U R E S 04 | Business intelligence in the middle

cover image: © Sergey Nivens/Dollar Photo Club

Much of the trouble that organisations are having with business intelligence comes down simply to a lack of skills, analysts say.

28 | The virtualisation journey Where the revolution will have taken us by 2020.

24 | Different strokes The rise of the cloud has seen a variety of solutions developed to suit the needs of many different kinds of enterprises.

36| Changing mindsets key to competition With big data analytics, the trick is to persuade as well as predict, using real-time, holistic intelligence.

3

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Business intelligence in the middle Andrew Collins

Mu c h o f t h e t r o u b l e t h a t organisations are having with business intelligence comes down simply to a lack of skills, analysts say.

4

W

hile some mid-sized or-

Mid-sized organisations in Australia

ganisations in Australia are

don’t seem to be doing too well with BI,

successfully implementing

according to local analysts. IBRS analysts

business intelligence (BI)

Joe Sweeney and Guy Cranswick said that

programs, most are failing to capitalise on

in general, “most Australian mid-sized

its potential, with analysts blaming a lack of

[organisations] are not using BI in any

data-related skills for this failure.

sophisticated way�.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

The majority of mid-market organisations

reporting services. Some solutions (eg,

using BI tend to fall into two categories,

Microsoft Dynamics, Sitecore, etc) will

the IBRS analysts said. The first of these

call upon cloud-based Machine Learning

involves extracting and massaging sales

services (eg, Azure Machine Learning)

data in Excel. “This aligns to the ad hoc/

to provide predictive analytics, especially

data visualisation use case,” they said.

in the areas of customer churn, product

“Basically, mid-sized organisations tend to

recommendations, forecasting, preventa-

be using such data in a manner which is

tive maintenance, etc,” they said.

similar to reporting, but easier to consume: they wish to understand how well their

As a result of the mid-market latching

business is performing.”

onto these cloud-based, BI-loaded tools, BI will increasingly become “just a part

The second category involves the use of

of doing business”.

built-in analytics dashboards/reporting within the organisation’s CRM, financial

“However, use of specialised BI to iden-

or productivity solutions. “The use of

tify then answer the questions that drive

the ever-growing BI tools (customisable

deep innovation will remain rare among

dashboards, KPIs meters, custom visualisa-

mid-sized organisations. This is due less

tions) embedded in mainstream business

to technology and more to a lack of

“Only by asking the right questions, and then finding the

© Sergey Nivens/Dollar Photo Club

appropriate data sources, and applying the required tools and techniques, can value be generated from BI investments.” systems is often overlooked. However, a

skills in data science, lack of awareness

quick glance at the user interface of to-

of the business potential,” Sweeney and

day’s modern accounting or CRM suites

Cranswick added.

(eg, JCurve NetSuite, Sage 300, Salesforce, Saasu, etc) clearly shows how BI is

Ian Bertram, managing VP at Gartner,

To get an idea of how medium-sized

now baked into day-to-day operations,”

said that the state of BI in the Australian

organisations are using BI tools, we must

Sweeney and Cranswick added. “Certainly,

mid-market “all depends on what you

take a closer look at what BI actually com-

such sophistication of capabilities were

call a BI tool”.

prises. According to Sweeney, BI should

not readily available to the mid-market

be viewed as four separate but interlinked

10 years ago.”

services, each of which addresses a dif-

He noted that some people consider Microsoft Excel a BI tool, adding that “the

ferent business need. Specifically, these

Many mid-sized organisations are migrat-

older versions of Excel, I would argue, are

needs are: reporting, self-direct data

ing to cloud-based software solutions for

a bit of a duct tape solution”.

exploration, operational decision support

various business functions (such as CRM,

and data science.

sales, customer channel management and

“However, Microsoft themselves have

so on), and these tools already include

been investing in more data-governed,

With this definition in mind, Sweeney

BI functionality like the ability to create

data-discovery environments. So even with

and Cranswick say that some individuals

performance dashboards and KPI meters,

the Microsoft products — which many

within SMEs are using standalone data

the IBRS analysts said.

of the medium-sized organisations have

visualisation tools — such as Microsoft’s

available to them — I would suggest many

PowerBI — to analyse data for niche use

“Over the next few years these solutions

have a lot of the BI capabilities available

cases, “but these are few and far between”.

will move beyond visualisation and

to them,” Bertram said.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

5

on data that may be of questionable quality (not complete, selection biased, or simply wrong),” the analysts said.

© Sergey Nivens/Dollar Photo Club

Bertram reckons that when it comes to business intelligence, people often consider an investment in a particular tool or technology as “the silver bullet that’ll fix all of our problems”. However, he said, “quite often it’s more the investment in the capabilities of the people that is the silver bullet” that

Have tools, won’t necessarily travel

“Only by asking the right questions, and then

fixes many of an organisation’s problems.

finding the appropriate data sources, and

“Investment in the skills and capabilities

But the fact that an organisation has some

applying the required tools and techniques,

is far more important than just the tools

BI-capable tools in its arsenal doesn’t mean

can value be generated from BI investments.

themselves.”

they’re being used properly.

So the secret is to ask not what value can

“Whilst they might have … Power BI and

be generated from BI, but rather, what value

Note that Bertram isn’t just referring to a

do you need?” they said.

person’s ability to use BI tools — to click

PowerPivot, are they using them to their

the buttons in the required order and pro-

full potential? I suspect not. Just because

The role of skills

someone has downloaded something doesn’t

Much of the trouble that Australian organisa-

of a more abstract understanding of issues

mean they’re actually going to use it,”

tions are having with business intelligence

surrounding the analysis of data: “the

Gartner’s Bertram said.

seems to come down to a lack of relevant

storytelling skills, the interpretation skills,

skills in the workforce. To illustrate this,

the understanding the data skills; it’s not

IBRS’s Sweeney and Cranswick reckon that

Sweeney and Cranswick point again to a

just understanding the tools themselves”.

organisations of all sizes — not just the

current trend they’re seeing in Australia

mid-market — are failing to capitalise on

(and the US) — the uptake of ad hoc

The impetus for bringing in these skillsets

BI’s promise.

visualisation tools.

has to come from the upper tiers of an

“Alas, most organisations — large and

“Tableau, Click, Yellow Fin and more re-

small — are not doing well with BI.” The

cently PowerBI are being used by people

“Like in any organisation, if the CEO val-

problem lies not with the technology, the

who would have traditionally used Excel to

ues the investment in the data, and wants

IBRS analysts said, but rather the “underlying

delve into data. While these visualisation

to have a data-driven culture, then those

intention of BI itself”.

tools certainly make BI more attractive

types of things tend to happen. Even in a

and easier for non-specialists to work

medium-sized organisation, if the person at

“In large organisations, we consistently see

with data, they generally do not address a

the top doesn’t want to invest in these types

the organisation looking to BI to ‘solve busi-

very important issue: the skills needed to

of environments, and their decisions [to]

ness issues’, where few people can articulate

assess data quality. Such skills are lacking

be driven based on facts and understand-

the actual business issue to be solved. In

in mid-sized organisations (and indeed

ing of data and understanding of markets,

mid-sized organisations, we see growing

in larger organisations where there is an

then these things aren’t going to happen.

use of ad hoc visualisation tools, but again

ad hoc approach to data analytics in the

So it still needs to come from the top of

without a clear business outcome in mind.”

mid-management),” they said.

the organisation,” he said.

Organisations that are looking to BI tools

This use of BI tools without the proper

However, Bertram noted that it may be

should start with a clear and concise ob-

theoretical understanding of data-related

quite difficult for organisations to hire

jective, such as “Identify how to reduce

issues can lead to some very misleading

someone with all the necessary education,

subscriber churn by 30% over the next

analyses. “The result can be an explosion

training and skills — the “elusive beast that

24 months”, Sweeney and Cranswick said.

of very interesting looking analysis, based

is a data scientist”.

duce some kind of output. He’s speaking

organisation, Bertram said.

6

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

“Don’t think you have to hire one — look within your organisation,” he said.

Bertram raises the idea of the ‘citizen data

“I’ve been advising many organisations, you’ve really got to hunt out the people that are those citizen data scientists, because they ’re the ones that have some of those skills.”

scientist’ — an employee who, although not trained as a data scientist, has some statistical background or a sense of curiosity,

with CMO departments). There are a lot

solutions for LOB. With the lower price

who actually uncovers some great things

of affordable and easy-to-use (self-service)

attached to those solutions, the entry point

that are going on in your organisation.

solutions that are quickly deployed and

for smaller and medium-sized organisa-

often cloud based,” she said.

tions has been lowered,” Disse said.

particularly in the last 12 months, you’ve

IBRS’s Sweeney and Cranswick advise

First steps

really got to hunt out the people that are

that: “Increasingly, medium-sized organi-

For those mid-sized organisations that are

those citizen data scientists, because they’re

sations will leverage BI built into their

keen to pursue business intelligence, IBRS’s

the ones that have some of those skills.

cloud-based ERP/CRM/Sales solutions

Sweeney and Cranswick offer a series of

They might not have all of the skills of a

and supplement these services with ad

first steps. “The senior business executive in

data scientist, but they’re the ones you’ve

hoc data visualisation tools, also largely

mid-sized organisations should start their

got to invest and develop into what you

based in the cloud.”

BI journey by first identifying the ques-

“I’ve been advising many organisations,

tions that will make a difference to their

might consider to be a data scientist type practice within an organisation,”

There’s also the selection of vendor, which

business. What do they need to know in

Bertram said.

can seem complicated given the variety of

order to make decisions that will improve

vendor types, including traditional larger

the organisations?” the analysts said.

Other considerations

BI vendors, more recent self-discovery

While a skills deficit is one problem facing

vendors, targeted industry vertical vendors,

Next, the executives should work with

business intelligence programs, there’s a

open source options and so on.

IT and LOB management to identify the location of the data needed to answer

variety of other questions for interested organisations to consider, also. The first

Disse said it again depends on your organi-

these questions. “Where this information is

of these is that old IT chestnut — who

sation’s specific-use case. “It should also be

stored within existing solutions (especially

controls it, and who’s responsible for it?

considered whether BI (often backwards

cloud-based solutions), examine the extent

looking) is what the organisation is actu-

to which these solutions can provide dash-

There are several potential options for BI

ally after or whether a more sophisticated

boards/reports — that is, use the built-in

ownership. Briefly, these are: owned and

advanced and predictive analytics solution

BI that already exists,” they said.

operated by (1) the IT department; (2)

is more suitable to fulfil the needs.”

“Where ad hoc BI is needed, look to

the line of business (LOB); (3) a separate business unit devoted to BI; (4) some

Vendor selection is also related to the

cloud-based data visualisation tools and

combination of those three.

question of who, in the organisation, has

assign non-technical teams to analyse the

responsibility for the tools.

data. These teams may call upon IT for help as required. Also, where skills are

Melanie Disse, ANZ market analyst, soft-

8

ware and analytics at IDC New Zealand,

“[A] lot of traditional BI/analytics players

lacking, consider hiring in specialist BI

said the decision of organisational owner-

have changed their portfolio or at least

firms to assist and provide skills transfer.”

ship “depends on the use case”.

expanded their portfolios to include less expensive and less sophisticated solutions,

IDC’s Disse points out that there are a lot

“BI capabilities are nowadays often embed-

often targeted towards non-technical end

of supposedly ‘free’ trials available for BI

ded in ERP or CRM solutions, making

users with a self-service data discovery

tools. “Most vendors offer the option of

it easy and affordable for SMBs to have

purpose. With the increasing competition

a trial period these days.”

access to BI capabilities. If all they want is

from newer/smaller BI players, demand has

an overall snapshot of the organisation it

shifted from big BI implementations under

But beware: “[T]hey might not always be

might sit with LOB (increasingly popular

IT towards easier-to-use, less-technical

as ‘free’ as claimed,” she warned.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

work

F

Scalable storage powers cloud services provider

ounded in 1986, The Digital Foundry (TDF) is an

Almost all services of the company ran on virtual machines, for

IT solutions provider in Sydney that specialises in

which Synology’s RC18015xs+ hosted iSCSI LUNs as VMware

infrastructure design and implementation, disaster

data stores. Thanks to its comprehensive iSCSI support and

recovery, systems support, application deployments

VMware compatibility, since its deployment the RC18015xs+

and information security. It has clients from a wide range

has been the backbone of TDF’s large number of guest servers.

of industries — in particular legal, financial, hospitality and

This specific product was brought in during TDF’s search for

construction — and provides support not only in Australia but

a way to strengthen system redundancy. “When the RC18015xs+

also New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and China. In 2013, TDF

was announced, we thought, ‘This is what we need,’ because it

Cloud Services, a separate entity, was established to concentrate

gives us that redundancy,” said Gordon. “And that thing was

on delivering the right services and products to hosted customers

fast. We have 10 GbE infrastructure throughout this office. The

in the cloud.

performance results, the I/O tests, they were very, very quick.”

TDF had been using a lot of built-in technologies with

After some testing, he decided to replace the RS3614xs+

large hard drive arrays, which quickly became inflexible and

with two RC18015xs+ units. They worked together as a high-

uneconomical as their hosted services expanded. A new solution

availability cluster but shared the same storage (expandable

was needed, and the company chose Synology.

beyond 1 PB), eliminating the considerable costs of having to purchase two identical sets of storage units and hard drives. He also implemented the product’s built-in shared folder snapshot technology to further enhance data redundancy.

Besides the iSCSI solution, TDF had another Synology RS3614xs+ in place to offer WebDAV connectivity for its remote desktop services. Customers required 500 GB or 1 TB of drive space, so the TDF Cloud connected directly to RS3614xs+ through

Image courtesy of StockMonkeys.com under CC BY 2.0

WebDAV, bringing physical drives into the virtual space. An additional RS3411RPxs served as a remote backup and disaster recovery point for TDF Cloud Services’ infrastructure.

TDF was also a service provider of on-premise solutions and hosted Synology products on client sites. To develop disaster recovery capability for over 80 such customers as well as for TDF Cloud Services, the company brought in two RS814+ platforms to perform secure, encrypted remote backups. The approach was both cost-effective and flexible, since more units could simply be added as the DR business grew. “The price point of RS814+ is so good — we can fill it with 6 TB hard drives and get a lot of “There were a couple of other brands we looked at, and

storage,” said Gordon. “This allows us to have direct connecting

they just didn’t have the ability to do what Synology did from

points between clients and devices. We give them the encryption,

the ground up,” said Steve Gordon, TDF’s founding partner.

the security and the isolation.”

“The Synology products offer us two things: the availability of business-grade functionality, and a reasonable price tag.”

12

Since its entry into hosted services, TDF’s infrastructure has grown from four to 46 servers, in which Synology products play

TDF Cloud Services’ infrastructure comprised multiple VMware

a very large role. “They have enabled us to offer secure services,

hosts with a large amount of guest server operating systems.

fast connectivity and a redundant environment,” said Gordon.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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B O D Y IT trends require T A L K an upskilled workforce Australia is facing a 100,000-person skills shortage in the IT industry over the next five years.

What might come as a surprise is how these

However, there are some reasons to be

trends are affecting the IT skills pool in the

optimistic. Students who are now in school

Australian market.

or undertaking tertiary education are digital natives. There is an enormous potential

Increased cloud migration, for example, is

among these individuals, who will comprise

leading to big changes in how organisa-

the next generation to enter the workforce, to

tions work. Using cloud infrastructure for

have the knowledge and skills needed to work

C

certain business processes or IT functions

with the technology emerging right now.

trends that will continue to dominate the

Meanwhile, new technology solutions that

skills gap will begin to shrink and hopefully

market in 2016, according to the findings of

are implemented internally also often de-

disappear altogether.

CompTIA’s recent ‘The International State

mand additional skills among the existing

of the Channel’ survey report.

workforce. Either way, when an organisation

Given that youth unemployment is on track

decides to incorporate new and emerging

to hit 20%, a push from industry and the

technology into its operations, it is faced

government to support IT and technical

with the challenge of also obtaining the

skills at school and university can help

skills needed to use the technology to its

the next generation fill the skills gap and

full potential.

create more employment opportunities for

loud technology, data-driven

often requires an entirely new set of skills

business, connectivity and

for businesses to either build internally or

If this innate potential can be capitalised,

automation are among the

obtain through new hires.

perhaps by getting today’s students interested

major business technology

in being tomorrow’s IT professionals, the

Australia’s youth population.

With Australia already facing an IT skills shortage, the influx of this new technology

CompTIA is focused on addressing this key

is likely contributing to the widening of that

issue through a number of different pro-

skills gap, as the rapid influx of the new

grams, including supporting the Young ICT

skills needed to control and use it outpaces

Explorers program, a non-profit initiative

the rate at which existing professionals can

encouraging students to create ICT-related

retrain or recent graduates can fill new

projects, and Dream IT, which aims to show

roles. There are predictions that there will

women and girls how the IT industry can

be a 100,000-person skills shortage in the

be a great place for them to make a career.

IT industry over the next five years.

Moheb Moses, Director, Channel Dynamics and Community Director, CompTIA

14

CompTIA

Once the skills are available, new technology Compounding the skills shortage issue is

can be used optimally by organisations, let-

the tendency for many new IT graduates to

ting them tap into the potential offered by

require additional training and certification

the likes of cloud technology, data-driven

to fill the increasing number of technology

business, connectivity, automation and

roles that are opening up in the market, lead-

other emerging infrastructure increasingly

ing to a lag in replacements to fill vacancies.

used by business.

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A N A LY S E

THIS

T

Management in the 2040s

he standard method to assess

and explains the underlying rationale for

feature. Its products aside, a corporation

the future is through the type

management decisions and, to a degree,

such as Apple could not have existed in 1960.

and function of technologies.

why technology choices will likely dominate

The starting point is the way

organisations. It should be emphasised that

Surprisingly, no empirical evidence was

new technologies modify processes and

the 1958 paper focused on business in the

offered to support the conclusions, just

thereby rebalance requirements and out-

industrial sector, which ought to be borne

two predictive axioms. The axioms tacitly

puts. An alternative approach is to examine

in mind when interpreting implications for

suggest a deep knowledge about corporate

how executive management will adapt to

the service or public sector.

culture and how decisions are made. The

technological innovation, because manage-

axioms were:

ment maintains longstanding principles

In the 1958 article, three technology typolo-

1. Management’s need to control informa-

and objectives that are noteworthy in the

gies were the basis on which four outcomes

tion is accelerated with technology and

implementation of technologies.

were produced. These were:

leads to centralisation. It allows the top

1. Information technology should move

management to digest, and act on, a

The rate of change can appear dazzling

the boundary between planning and

wider range of problems and extends top

and complicate accurate perceptions and

performance upward. Planning will

management’s control over the decision

understanding of long-running forces. The

be given to as yet largely non-existent

way to solve this common problem is to use

specialists.

fundamental principles, or axioms, in order

2. Large industrial organisations will

greater efficiency, which leads to the

to forecast a plausible view of the future.

recentralise, and top managers will

removal and restructuring of middle

This method was done in a 1958 Harvard

take on an even larger proportion of

management.

Business Review article (‘Management in

the innovating, planning, and other

the 1980s’, Harold J. Leavitt & Thomas L.

‘creative’ functions.

In broad terms, the 1958 analysis turned

Whisler, https://hbr.org/1958/11/manage-

3. A reorganisation of middle manage-

out to be true but not because all elements

ment-in-the-1980s), in what transpired to

ment with certain classes of middle-

of the analysis were correct. The paper does

be a remarkably prescient examination on

management jobs moving downward in

not refer to basic financial reasoning for

the state of management in the 1980s. The

status while other classes move upward

investment or management decisions and

into the top-management group.

offers a vision of perfect efficiency from

article is also notable for using the phrase ‘information technology’ for the first time.

We propose, in similar spirit, a genera-

4. The line separating the top from the

technology, an image that endures. The

middle of the organisation will be drawn

introduction of technology is viewed as an

more clearly and impenetrably than ever.

enhancement of business process perfor-

tional look into the future using the same

16

processes of subordinates.

2. Elimination of costs in order to achieve

mance. It is not understood or explained

principles. It should not be read literally.

Some details aside, the outcomes are close

as significant in terms of what is currently

Twenty-five years is too distant to be con-

to the market economy and business

known as disruptive, although the concept

fident of any forecast and the 1958 paper

structure that emerged about 25 years

of creative destruction precedes the paper

more closely modelled the 1990s, which

ago: the concentration of influence at the

by more than a decade.

demonstrates that forecasts can miss,

top; a discernible shift by corporations

although not be entirely useless.

to creative planning and innovation; and

Time and circumstances exerted an influ-

reorganisation of middle management. To

ence too. US Treasury 10-year bond yields

As such, this article can be interpreted

a degree technology enabled the process. A

peaked in 1981, and this was instrumental

and used as a narrative that describes

more mature market was another necessary

in removing middle management along

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

>>

with manufacturing in the US at the

appears, though not entirely. Middle

same time that enterprise technology was

management moves to services sector:

reaching mass penetration. The analysis is

health, hospitality.

reliant on the speculated capabilities of technology, sometimes presented as real,

It should be noted that this may reflect

or even as having been realised, and hence

what does occur in the 2050s.

why management acts in a certain way.

The most critical factor in the table is Despite some shortcomings, the axioms

demography. With a declining workforce

are still recognisable as strong motives

and an ageing population, larger economic

within current business practice. Applying

forces are thrust on management. An

them to the period up to the 2040s may

investment bank, Morgan Stanley, believes

be illustrative in how management may

that population dynamics, in conjunction

structure organisations in future.

with an end to the 30-year bond boom, will see labour become more costly, thus

Axiom 1: Management’s need to control

inducing businesses to invest in technolo-

information is accelerated with technology

gies. The deployment of technology may

and extends top management’s regulation

be necessary to ensure durability. It is

over the decision processes of subordinates:

not certain if this monetary perspective

• Outcome 1: More investment in tech-

is how organisations will respond.

Guy Cranswick is an IBRS advisor who covers Google (Apps and Search), broadband/ NBN, Web 2.0 technology, government and channel strategy, including areas of business productivity. He has worked both in Australia and overseas for many major analysis firms.

nologies to absorb all types of information and data. Interpretative tools

Over the next 2–3 years, some of the

for analysis. Big data, CRM customer

themes I’ve covered here are likely to rise

experience, social media all represent

in priority. Actions and decisions may not

this view.

occur immediately but the readiness of

• Outcome 2: Use of vast exterior expertise:

organisations to examine new choices in

engineers, business analysts/strategists,

the light of strategies and the technolo-

various digital expertise on moving needs

gies ought to be exercised. Executives can

basis, psychologists, anthropologists etc.

explore the following areas:

The skill sets are specialised and highly

• The organisation’s strategic future,

sophisticated.

which may already be framed in the current strategic direction of the or-

Axiom 2: Elimination of costs in order to

ganisation but will be revised over

achieve greater efficiency, which leads to

time accounting new for conditions

the removal and restructuring of middle management: • Outcome 1: Algorithm-dependent businesses and/or automation extending into

18

and criteria.

• The organisation’s evolving functions

many retail customer verticals.

• Outcome 2: Routine process work dis-

and connections with stakeholders or the market.

• The skills required and the tool sets to fulfil the overall direction.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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KEY WORDS

A

When the PDF will be a thing of the past

nyone working in today’s

the desired interactivity. But those custom

business world is familiar

applications cost millions of dollars, and

with the Portable Document

they’re prone to errors. An Analytical

Format (PDF), and for good

Document Format would offer businesses

reason. PDFs offer a great convenience.

all of these important business functions,

They can be taken on the road, read on

but without the inconveniences or costs.

any device, emailed to other people and easily printed. They are cost-effective and

One may argue that many of these

environmentally friendly, saving print costs

interactive analytic functions are avail-

and paper. From a business perspective,

able online, so what advantage would

the fixed layout also offers a certain level

an Analytical Document Format bring?

of security, knowing that the content is

What these documents can deliver that

difficult to alter.

online functions can’t always promise is portability. In fact, it’s the ‘P’ in PDF

That said, the rise of sophisticated BI

that makes it so valuable, and that port-

and analytic tools is changing how or-

ability is a critical feature of the Analyti-

ganisations operate and communicate.

cal Document Format. It guarantees use

As users demand more and more out

anywhere — on a train, on an aircraft or

of their analytics, the ‘fixed-layout flat

in a park where there’s no internet con-

document’ begins to appear insufficient,

nection. It’s unreasonable to assume that

losing its appeal. Today’s users want more

users will always be tapped into a Wi-Fi

than just static documents; they want to

network. Today’s BI is mobile, and users

interact with the data contained within

want access to their analytics data from

the documents. Today’s users demand an

any location. This gives rise to the need

Analytical Document Format.

for an Analytical Document Format that

Rado Kotorov is Chief Innovation Officer for Information Builders, working with the Business Intelligence and the iWay product divisions. He has a PhD in Decision and Game Theory and institutional economics, and has published many papers and articles on business processes, emerging technologies, intellectual property rights, CRM, KM, innovation and entrepreneurship.

offers portability, interactivity, layout and Large organisations have to distribute

print capabilities.

documents to many internal users on

20

a daily basis. For example, think about

There’s no doubt that as users become

account management. For a global or-

more advanced, the demand for smarter

ganisation it’s not unusual to have 5000

documents will increase. We’ve already

or more account managers worldwide,

started to see the emergence of these types

many of whom are often on the road with

of collateral, and they’re already saving users

limited or no internet access. They visit

money, providing more fact-based decisions

clients and have to review account details.

through the organisations, and delivering

Frequently they have to scroll through

more meaningful customer experiences. By

static PDFs, identify facts of interest and

the year 2020 I predict that the concept

jot down calculations on old-fashioned

of Analytical Document Format will be

notepads. In some cases, custom complex

far more mainstream and the old reliable

Excel sheets have been built to provide

PDF will be a thing of the past.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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FROM THE FRONTLINE Jonathan Nally

Different strokes Cloud computing for all

The rise of the cloud has seen a variety of solutions developed to suit the needs of many different kinds of enterprises.

W

hat do es the cloud

On the road again

party supplier who had helped set up our

mean to you? Does it

Tyres4U is the largest wholesaler of tyres in

original hosting solution,” said Wright. “It

mean private, public or

Australia. Around five years ago, the company

became very clear that we were going to

hybrid? Does it involve

established a retail banner, Tyreright, with

need to migrate away from this solution

storage, backup, virtual machines, com-

an e-commerce site that enables customers

pretty quickly.”

pute facilities, scalability or something

to book appointments to have tyres fitted as

else? Indeed, that’s the beauty of the

part of the sales check-out process.

cloud concept — it’s so versatile that, in

representatives at a conference saw Wright

2016, it offers something for just about

At the time, the site used a very simple

being presented with just the solution

everyone, whether directly as a service

web server and a simple database built on

he had been looking for. “Truthfully, my

engaged by a firm or nebulously in our

a CMS platform in partnership with a local

knowledge of Rackspace at that point in

daily lives (who knows where our bank-

development company here in Sydney called

time had always been ‘Great reputation,

ing and other data is kept?).

Switch. But “we were aware that we were

pretty expensive’,” he said. But he was

going to need strategies for growth”, said

pleasantly surprised. “In the space of 24

Daniel Wright, Tyres4U’s chief digital officer.

hours I got three fully specified quotes

In From the Frontline this issue, we look at how the cloud is helping three

24

A chance meeting with some Rackspace

from these guys that got progressively

different Australian enterprises that have

“About halfway through last year, we

cheaper and met every objective I needed

very different needs.

actually had a relational issue with a third-

for the next 12 months. It was just crazy.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

O U R PA N E L Daniel Wright, Chief Digital Officer, Tyres4U

Ryan Wadsworth, Director for Information Technology, KordaMentha

© peshkova/Dollar Photo Club

Matt Purves, National Infrastructure Manager, M+K Lawyers

page performance. So our average load

“We were running everything interna lly and we just needed

times came down by over a second; our

something that would give us that step into the cloud.”

page response times improved by 80%.

It was just really nice to actually fire it up and find that everything was not just more stable, but faster.”

“We’ve gone with a dedicated private set-

Wright said that scalability is the main

up for the moment, which allows us to

benefit to come from moving to the

manage the core hardware, in particular

cloud. “Just the ability to load up and

No more ‘keeping the lights on’

our analytics and database servers,” said

dow n, particularly because we are

M+K Lawyers is a 100-year-old law firm

Wright. “We have a major development

starting a whole series of marketing

with around 300 staff based in the south-

component that’s due to ship later this

campaigns for Tyreright this year, so

eastern suburbs of Melbourne, but with

year which will add a significant addi-

we’re expecting peaks and valleys in

a national presence targeting the legal

tional section to a private website, which

performance based on that,” he said.

mid-market. It keeps all its data for 25

is a members’ portal. Once that ships

years, and needed a storage solution that

we’ll be looking to move to a hybrid

“What I wasn’t really expecting, mostly

was elastic enough to house that data

set-up and expand further out of what

because I hadn’t given it a lot of thought,

but not too painful when it came time

we’ve got right now.”

was the improvement that we got on

to recover it.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

25

ogy perspective,” said Ryan Wadsworth,

“It was just really nice to actually fire it up and find that everything was not just more stable, but faster.”

KordaMentha’s director for information technology. “It is financially viable, fits in with our strategy and added significant end-user enhancements. The experience for my team was good; however, the experience

“I think the biggest issues for us were

fix a lot of those performance-related

around performance. We found that our

problems. [The new solution meant] we

backups were running into the workday

were able to reduce our helpdesk tickets

“Since the email platform has gone live,

and grinding our users to a halt,” said

by about 62% over a 30-day timeframe,

KordaMentha has been so encouraged

Matt Purves, the company’s national

which is quite significant for us.”

with its benefits that the company has

infrastructure manager. “We were using

implemented the rest of the suite,” he

a previous SAN vendor that we weren’t

And the combination of Commvault and

added. “Add-on module Targeted Threat

necessarily happy with, that wasn’t elas-

Pure Storage means “we can basically

Protection helps protect against malicious

tic enough, that wasn’t scalable… and

backup anything we want within our

links, while Secure Messaging and Large

just wasn’t feasible moving forward. We

window at night-time now as well, whereas

File Send offer additional benefits to users.

actually pulled [the system] 18 months

before we really needed to pick and choose

into our [contract when] we still had 18

what we wanted to do, and even then it

“Large File Send, in particular, was flagged

months to go.

was running into the workday”, said Purves.

as a more-secure, better-managed replace-

“So it gives us a lot more security on our

ment for the cloud file-sharing tools that

data and our servers.”

employees were often using to exchange

“I think the biggest thing as well [is that] the traditional IT approach of ‘keeping

confidential documents,” said Wadsworth.

the lights on’ is quite legacy now,” said

Inundated by email

“A lack of controls meant those tools failed

Purves. “We were finding that we were

KordaMentha is another firm that operates

significantly on compliance requirements

always keeping the lights on, always

in the legal space, being one of Australia’s

but transitioning users to Mimecast Large

managing those helpdesk tickets around

foremost multidisciplinary advisory and

File Send has provided a robust alternative

slow performance, and we weren’t really

investment firms with prominent forensic,

that has been eagerly adopted by users.”

staying abreast of the technology innova-

real estate, corporate turnaround and

tion and the disruption that everyone is

restructuring practices.

talking about.

KordaMentha was looking for three key benefits: a solution that would support

The company’s 350 business restructuring

migration from the in-house email sys-

“And the challenge for us was to find a

specialists rely heavily on emails. Ongoing

tem to Microsoft Office 365 while still

product that leveraged cloud technology

involvement in legal proceedings meant

being compliant; reduce the reliance and

but also gave us a good stepping stone

both that KordaMentha staff were inun-

continual investment in storage for on-

because we were… running everything

dated in email — the average email inbox

premises archiving and backup; and speed

internally and we just needed something

has over 100,000 items in it — and that

up the searching and retrieval of emails

that would give us that step into the cloud,”

they needed fast, effective searching and

for discovery and legal purposes.

he added. The company chose Pure Stor-

retrieval of those emails from the office

age flash arrays for its storage needs, and

and in the field. The company chose

“Microsoft has a strong proposition

“we run all of our on-premises backups

a solution from Mimecast to migrate

with Office 365 that Mimecast makes

via Commvault, and then we replicate

nearly 40 million emails from a legacy

even stronger by providing ‘wraparound’

them into our IaaS cloud”.

on-premise archiving system, being the

services to address additional security

first step in moving to Office 365 with a

risks, high availability, as well as backup

cloud archiving and compliance solution.

and archiving,” said Wadsworth. Plus,

“The biggest shift for us [is that] we’re sort of changing skillsets to an extent as

26

for the end user is outstanding.

“email search and retrieval, from mobile

well,” said Purves. “We were finding with

“Mimecast wasn’t a cost-saving initiative, but

and desktop, is ‘lightning fast’ and users

our SAN solution that we would spend

was actually a part of the strategy for where

gravitate towards it instead of the native

one to two hours per day just trying to

the firm was heading from a cloud technol-

Outlook and iPhone mail apps”.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Don Williams, VP Australia & New Zealand at Veeam Software

T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

The virtualisation journey Where the revolution will have taken us by 2020 By 2020, it will be hard to find a data centre that isn’t 100% virtualised.

V

irtualisation has proven to be

president at Gartner, said, “Virtualisation

one of the most transforma-

will continue as the highest-impact issue

tive technologies for business

challenging infrastructure and operations

in computing history. While

through 2015, changing how you manage,

it’s possible to argue that virtualisation

how and what you buy, how you deploy,

as a concept debuted back in the 1960s,

how you plan and how you charge.”

its rapid growth over the last decade has made it the de facto approach to the

According to Gartner, virtual server OS

establishment of a modern data centre.

instances comprised 71% of total server OS instances installed in 2014, and this

28

Back in 2010, Gartner estimated that 25%

is predicted to reach 82% by 2018. It is

of enterprise data centres would be running

widely expected within the technology

virtual workloads at the end of that year.

industry that this will climb to over

At the time, Philip Daws, research vice

90% by 2020.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

The business benefit of deploying virtu-

Cloud ubiquity

around what needs to happen to give new

alisation is the fact that it’s impossible to

Today, cloud-based services are widely

options of near-constant availability. The

achieve a certain level of technology resil-

deployed across a large number of busi-

precise solution will vary from business to

iency without doing so. Everything from

nesses, from SMBs to large enterprises.

business, but should examine whether the

self-deployment, fast and robust backups,

Microsoft has moved to subscription

investment required for a disaster recovery

enhanced off-site options, and operational

models for its software packages, including

site is justified, or whether a cloud strategy

efficiencies are achieved via today’s genera-

Microsoft Office 365, following the lead

would be more desirable.

tion of virtualisation platforms.

established by the pure SaaS-oriented companies such as Salesforce.

Since 2010, the IT industry has

There is no clear-cut virtualisation approach that works for every business, but

traversed a path from virtualisa-

SaaS has been one of the biggest revolu-

as virtualised data centres become the

tion running in the background,

tions in business (and even consumer) IT

norm, there are a number of options that

managing the workload and delivery of a small number of apps and business operations, through

“Over the next few years, IT leaders will be able to drive

to becoming a core component of

discussions around what needs to happen to give new options

the modern data centre.

of near- constant availability.”

© castelberry/Dollar Photo Club

Today, many businesses rely on a virtualisation-first approach, where

over the past decade, and has been driven

the modern IT professional will need to

data centres are predominantly

by the push towards virtualisation, and

be able to understand and argue the pros

designed around virtualised solutions.

the emergence of an ‘outsourced CIO’

and cons of to business leaders.

In five years, we can expect this to shift

model, where MSPs manage the day-to-day

to a ‘virtualisation only’ model, where

application delivery and backup/recovery

The convenience and scalability offered by

businesses are designed from the ground

operations on behalf of a business.

cloud-based, virtualisation-powered SaaS products over the last five years has affected

up with scalability, flexibility and perforLooking ahead to 2020, it will be hard to

customer and employee expectations. An

find a data centre that isn’t 100% virtual-

increasingly significant differentiator for

Virtualised data centres achieve efficien-

ised. Over the next few years, new appli-

modern businesses is being able to provide

cies in heating, cooling and power usage,

cation models will fundamentally change

a responsive, cohesive customer experience

enabling a business to provide services at

the data centre. For example, more critical

across every touch point.

scale and manage workloads too, which

(and non-critical) applications will move

is becoming increasingly critical in the

to a cloud model to enable the ‘always-

User-centric design and service delivery

modern business.

on enterprise’ to provide employees and

can only be achieved if every interaction

customers with services that scale.

that an employee or customer has is con-

mance in mind.

sistent, with access to data in real time.

As organisations have come to rely increasingly on IT and every moment of

Furthermore — and this is a trend we’re

downtime can cost hundreds through to

already seeing — serious investments in

In the not-too-distant future, the expec-

hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost

availability are becoming more welcome

tation of both customers and businesses

revenue, virtualisation solutions have

in discussions between IT departments

alike will be a consistent and seamless

grown to become a critical part of busi-

and the C-suite. While modern business

experience regardless of device or location.

ness operations.

managers understand that if the data centre is down, their business is down,

By swapping to a suite of applications

Customers in ANZ have traditionally been

there’s still a lack of knowledge in how

designed to make the most of a virtual-

early adopters of virtualisation technolo-

to address the criticality of availability.

ised environment, businesses will be able to elevate availability and service levels

gies, and today it’s not uncommon to see deployments of up to 30 virtual machines

Over the next few years, IT leaders within

and better meet customer, partner and

on one dedicated piece of hardware.

businesses will be able to drive discussions

employee expectations.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

29

2

PEER PEER

Innovation the key to success

Australia risks being left behind as the world economy moves beyond products and into data.

I

n general, aiming to capture 0.01% of

approaches. The world is rapidly moving

a market isn’t seen as an ambitious

towards data-driven businesses. This is a

objective. But when the market in

big change, which could have a $10 to $20

question — global R&D spending —

trillion GDP impact on global GDP over

is worth $1.6 trillion, it’s an audacious goal.

the next decade. It touches every sector of the economy.

As CEO of CSIRO’s newly formed Data61, I want to harness the Australian talent for

A big challenge for Australia is that the

innovation and make the country attractive

businesses arising from this shift are

to major corporates as a global hub for

taking on different economic structures.

research and development. I want Data61

We are seeing a move from products to

to be a resource where corporations and

platforms — where a large part of the

businesses worldwide can turn to, and

value of a product is created outside the

Australia to be at the centre of a global

business. The Internet of Things is going

R&D network.

to drive the development of new platforms.

As devices start to communicate, the

30

Adrian Turner is the CEO of Data61, a CSIRO entity that is the largest data innovation group in Australia. He is a highly successful technology entrepreneur who spent 18 years in Silicon Valley. Most recently he was managing director and co-founder of Borondi Group and was co-founder and CEO of smartphone and IoT security company Mocana Corporation.

He is a member of Accenture’s Technology Vision External Advisory Board, the World Economic Forum IoT working group and the UTS Sydney: Business School Advisory Board.

Many major corporations have a presence

network effect — where each new user

in Australia, but this country is generally

of a product makes its value higher —

seen as the ‘sales and marketing subsidiary’,

kicks in, as it did with the telephone. The

with innovation taking place elsewhere.

more people connected to the telephone

Instead, Australia should be viewed as

network, the more valuable it became to

a venue for primary R&D. We have an

all of them. Once there was a critical mass

exemplary record for research, but histori-

of connections, the telephone became a

cally we have been poor at getting those

platform for new businesses its inventor

developments out to the marketplace.

never imagined.

The World Intellectual Property Organi-

Over the next 15–20 years, the same thing

sation ranks Australia 17th in the world

will happen across many industries, such

overall in its 2015 report, but 38th for its

as agriculture, mining, transportation,

collaboration with researchers and 39th

logistics and health care. These emerging

for knowledge and technology output. In

platform businesses will scale exponen-

general, Australian businesspeople tend

tially, and have naturally monopolistic

not to be research-oriented. Even some

tendencies due to data feedback loops.

of our large, successful home-grown tech

Australia needs to be building these plat-

companies go offshore to access product

forms, rather than simply participating in

management expertise. This needs to

them. If we don’t work out how to build

change, and the sooner the better.

new technology-based industries, we are going to be left behind by the digital

With the economic focus shifting, the time

disruption, as the economy moves beyond

is right for a similar change in attitudes and

products and into data.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

To take advantage of this seismic shift in the global economy, Data61 has created the D61+ Partner Program. This is an Applied Research Network aimed at bringing together the best minds to take advantage of data-driven disruption. The platform is predominantly for Australia but has a global context — in several ways. We’re aiming to foster Australian innovation that will be marketed globally. We want to link start-ups to the right people and help them create new technology industries. The platform is also predicated on the idea that instead of competing for a finite and relatively small domestic mar© Sergey Nivens/Dollar Photo Club

ket, Australian innovators and enterprises need to network and cooperate to take their share of a much larger prize — the global market.

This market works both ways. Smaller companies are finding it difficult to compete against corporate headliners such as Google and Tesla to hire the

with places like Silicon Valley. Over decades

for Australian businesses — with global

data talents they need. One of the D61+

they developed the infrastructure, the

context. We will also be creating the porous

Partner Program’s aims is to enable these

workforce, the legal underpinnings and the

network of talent Australia needs to build

companies to tap into the minds, ideas

access to capital. Growing organically over

new technology-based industries with a

and skills of top-tier scientists and tech-

decades, they now stack the odds in favour

global impact.

nologists without having to vie with the

of entrepreneurs. In Australia, we are hav-

likes of Google for permanent world-class

ing to create these conditions deliberately.

We’ll be turning the organisation inside out at our new D61+LIVE event on 30

talent. For example, we have one of the world’s top five machine learning teams, so

With the D61+ Partner Program, we

March, exposing our working programs

partners will be able to pick the brains of

are working with four key categories of

and capability, making it easy for entre-

some of the very best people in a rapidly

partners: corporates (including SMEs),

preneurs to do business and engage. At

growing field.

start-ups (via incubators), government

the moment, Data61 is working closely

(federal and state) and universities (via

with 31 government partners, 91 corporate

Until now, Australia has also lacked the

a collaboration agreement currently in

partners and 29 partner universities. We’re

infrastructure that supports entrepreneurs

place). Closer collaboration with these

looking for more partners to join us in

in going out and building new business.

partners will drive leverage and align-

this journey, so I hope to meet you at

That puts us at a disadvantage compared

ment, as well as accelerated time to scale

our event in March.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

31

Image courtesy Dreamscape

C AI NS E P OINT

www.nimblestorage.com 32

Storage challenge solved with flash arrays

O

perating through several

different vendor offerings, he found that

brands but primarily

Nimble came out on top.

as

Crazy

Domains,

“The performance of the Nimble Adaptive

Dreamscape has in excess

Flash arrays compared to the others was

of one million Australian customers and

excellent and the management was simple,”

hosts more than 300,000 websites as well

said Kitchin. “We already had a few specialised

as several million domains. Internationally,

people managing our previous storage but

Dreamscape Networks manages a variety

managing the Nimble arrays requires less

of globally renowned brands. Its business

time and resources.”

activities range from licensed domain name

Given the critical importance of storage

registrars, cloud hosting services, digital

to Dreamscape’s ability to conduct business,

branding and online marketing.

Kitchin decided to begin the upgrade by

Locally, Dreamscape maintains a large

purchasing and testing two Nimble arrays.

ICT infrastructure that spans the continent.

These were deployed and judged a huge

The majority of the company’s technical

success by simplifying management and

resources are located in Perth and their

providing a solid data protection capability,

network is supported by a number of data

reducing reliance on dedicated backup storage.

centres strategically located in major cities.

More arrays followed, adding replication

Forecasting storage requirements is a

and extra redundancy to Dreamscape’s

challenge, said Heath Kitchin, Dreamscape’s IT

storage capacity. By mid-2015 the company

Director. “Because we host content for clients,

had nearly 800 TB of storage across five

our storage is always growing. People store

Nimble arrays within Australia and Europe.

more emails, have more websites, and their

Since deploying Nimble, performance

videos and pictures keep on getting bigger.”

and capacity problems have disappeared.

It was evident that storage had become a

And InfoSight, Nimble’s cloud-connected

problem. Capacity was nearly exhausted and

management and support engine, ensures

data recovery was a frequent challenge. In

staff are always able to quickly identify what

recognition of the problems, Dreamscape’s

is occurring within the storage system. “We

parent organisation provided funding to boost

can see what storage is doing at any location,

the Australian operation’s storage capacity.

the capacity and trends,” said Kitchin. “All

Kitchin approached Portal IT. “We work

of this was a lot harder before. We used to

with Portal IT on a regular basis. They had

use an add-on product that couldn’t give

initially put me onto Nimble Storage more

us the same depth of statistics that we are

than 12 months earlier, but at the time, I’d

now getting out of InfoSight.”

never heard of Nimble and I thought the

In addition, data recovery is now easier,

hybrid storage looked a bit strange. But

faster and more reliable. “If we have the data

when we began to seriously look at various

we need in a snapshot it’s easy to clone,

vendors for expanding storage, Portal IT said

mount and recover the data,” said Kitchin.

we really should take a closer look at the

“We still need to recover older data from

Nimble Adaptive Flash platform.”

our much slower backup systems but the

Kitchin took their advice and after conducting comparative analyses of the

snapshots do assist with more than 80% of restores.”

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

products INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD The Sharp BIG PAD PN-80TC3 interactive whiteboard is designed for business and education, suitable for the office or classroom when delivering interactive presentations or conducting paperless meetings.

The whiteboard features an 80″ touch-screen LCD monitor that allows users to display and annotate a variety of documents, while the capacitive touch technology enables up to four people to write on the screen at the same time. The panel can be used like a regular whiteboard and a copy of any notes taken can be made available in .pdf format.

The product also has a number of connectivity options that allow up to 50 simultaneous connections to mobile devices. A lightweight, intuitive digitiser pen has a mouse-like functionality and lets users write with precision in a smooth, uninterrupted flow. The pen software also provides customisable options via an on-screen menu.

The device features high-quality, front-mounted speakers and numerous input and output ports for multimedia use and connectivity.

Sharp Corporation of Australia www.sharp.net.au

33

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Events for critical communications users and industry

Perth 8 March | Wellington 14-15 April Sydney 22-23 June | Melbourne 22-24 November

Interested in addressing Comms Connect delegates in one or more of the above cities in 2016?

Since 2007 Comms Connect Melbourne has helped deliver information to critical communications users and industry that helps them make informed decisions. In 2014 Comms Connect Sydney launched, followed by one-day conferences in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.

In 2016, for the first time, Comms Connect Wellington, in association with the Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand, joins the line-up, ensuring users and industry across the region have access to some of the very latest technologies and expertise currently available.

We are seeking case studies and technology presentations for inclusion in conference programs throughout 2016 and would like to hear from you if you are interested in sharing your knowledge and expertise with attendees.

For submission guidelines and topics: comms-connect.com.au DATES FOR YOUR DIARY PERTH

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8 March

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CALL OR EMAIL PAUL DAVIS / +61 2 9487 2700 / pdavis@westwick-farrow.com.au for sponsorship and exhibition enquiries

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35

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T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

Changing mindsets

Branko Bugarski, General Manager, HPE Software, HPE South Pacific

With big data analytics, the trick is to persuade as well as predict, using real-time, holistic intelligence.

36

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Š olly/Dollar Photo Club

the key to competitiveness

B

ig data has opened up a new

than — the best app that the customer

Change is driven by every person who

realm of possibilities by giving

has ever used before. And these new rules

uses a smartphone, including yourself.

business the power of predictive

of competition apply to every company in

Pay attention to your own preferences

analytics. But while it’s great

every industry, not just consumer brands.

and responses, whether it’s in your in-

to have an accurate prediction of what

dustry or not, and find a way to mimic

a customer will do, the excitement over

Amazon or other leaders set the prec-

predictive analytics may be distracting us

edent — the expectation of instant

• Do risk being creepy. Intimacy and

tactics that work.

from a bigger, better data goal.

gratification — and if your app doesn’t

‘creepiness’ are the polarities in a con-

deliver the same to customers, you could

tinuum, and businesses should test the

Many companies are having difficulty

become irrelevant. Those who think they

line boldly. Listen to social media and

monetising big data. Predictive analytics

are different are the ones that will be

other feedback to know when you’ve

produces interesting insights but does

blindsided by a competitor.

gone too far, and pull back as needed.

not provide a way to drive revenue from those insights. For example, it’s not enough for businesses to know what

“Don’t be averse to failure. No - one learns by being right.

customers are going to do in the future.

Businesses need to experiment, fail and respond to feedback

It’s about changing behavioural patterns

in rap id fashion.”

for mutual benefit.

In other words, the real trick is not pre-

Assessing readiness

diction, but persuasion. Used correctly,

Making the adjustment to this new com-

effective persuasive analytics strategy,

big data can deliver real-time, holistic

petitive marketplace requires a change in

it’s critical to get buy-in across the

customer intelligence that can influence

mindset. Here are some dos and don’ts to

organisation. Gather leaders from all

a person’s next action.

thrive in the right-now world of a fickle,

key departments — including IT but

consumer-orientated mindset.

also marketing, finance, operations,

In practical terms, if prediction means

• Do create a tiger team. To create an

sales and legal. Keep the total number

knowing a person is likely to buy a cup

First up, the don’ts:

of coffee in the next hour, persuasion

• Don’t rely on business intuition. For the

means knowing what you can do to

last half century, analytics was mostly

Out of the comfort zone

change or exploit that coffee purchase

opinion, and businesses went with their

Leveraging persuasive analytics is a busi-

in your favour. Persuasion is imperative

gut based on the little bit of data they

ness problem, but IT has an important

if you want to stay competitive.

had. In today’s fact-based world, busi-

role to play. To support the business in

nesses need to do what the facts say if

being more responsive and taking on more

they are to succeed.

risk, IT needs to get out of its comfort

Why persuaders win

of members small.

Persuasion is more than just a clever use of

• Don’t be averse to failure. No-one learns

zone and become adept at calculating the

big data. It is an emerging business reality

by being right. Businesses need to ex-

cost of innovation. This means that when

fostered by new apps-driven, consumer-

periment, fail and respond to feedback

ideas are brought to the table, IT needs to

influenced behaviour. Chiefly, this means

in rapid fashion.

resist the urge to say no, and instead give

people want low-effort interactions that

• Don’t shoot for the middle. In today’s

provide immediate value at minimal cost.

world, a business either sells commodities

Applications (and organisations) that

(competing on price and convenience)

deliver on that expectation are rewarded;

or quality (competing on brand and

The other big change for IT is preparing for

all others are discarded.

lifestyle). Don’t try to be ‘kind of good

the ‘jerk’ — the phenomenon of overnight,

and kind of cheap’, as that middle has

viral success. If you do something just

disappeared.

right, it could be an overnight sensation,

In this world, a great idea or good value is not enough. It has to be delivered in

parameters for what can be done and in what time frame.

with no time to plan your next move.

an integrated fashion using a customer

Secondly, the dos:

IT has to know in advance how to shift

experience that is equal to — or better

• Do learn from your own behaviour.

resources to support a big win.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

37

IT Conference Calendar Navigating Privacy and Security Conference 2016 8 March 2016 (Canberra) The Navigating Privacy and Security Summit for 2016 will examine privacy and security in the digital environment from an economic, social and technological perspective. aiia.com.au/events/navigating

Field Service Management Summit 2016 9–11 March 2016 (Sydney) The FSM Summit 2016 is all about delivering value — how to ‘transform from a cost centre to a value centre’ and how to ‘deliver true customer value’ for field service professionals across the industry. fsmaustralia.com.au

Digital Disruption X 2016 22–23 March 2016 (Sydney) The 2016 Digital Disruption X event for IT industry professionals will focus

spectrum squeeze: safety agencies’ data dilemma roundtable: learning from private enterprise HealtHcare: data drives real-time insights

Digital formula: Paul Shetler’S

radical mission at dto

OCTOBER 2015 • ISSUE 29 PP100021607

it auditing’s vital role ● mobile-friendly makeovers GTR OCTOBER 2015 | 1

on the velocity of disruption, setting up organisations for the new state of business and how to leverage disruption to grow. digital-disruption.com.au

The conference theme is ‘Disruptive Technology for a Smarter Society’. locateconference.com

Australian Government Data Summit 2016

14–15 April 2016 (Wellington, NZ) Held in partnership with the Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand, Comms Connect Wellington will feature expert speakers through workshops, case studies and technical presentations, as well as an exhibition of the latest technologies. comms-connect.co.nz

22–24 March 2016 (Canberra) The event will include a two-day conference program and post-conference workshops. The summit is suitable for data analytics and information officers, and relating roles, in government departments and government-funded agencies. akolade.com.au/events/australiandata-summit/

Locate16 conference 2016 12–14 April 2016 (Melbourne) The Locate Conference is in its third year, uniting the industry and presenting innovative spatial technology to end users across Australia and New Zealand.

Comms Connect Wellington 2016

Connect EXPO 2016 19–20 April 2016 (Melbourne) Connect EXPO is a business technology event consisting of a large-scale trade show with themed technology zones as well as a multi-streamed conference program. connectexpo.com.au

YOUR DESTINATION FOR PUBLIC SECTOR ICT INDUSTRY NEWS AND INFORMATION

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T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

© iStockphoto.com/malerapaso

Out of the box

Is Kubernetes the key to the cloud’s future?

Kubernetes is great news for IT administrators and will soon be seen as a viable ‘virtual alternative’ to legacy systems.

I

t’s been a busy year. The pace of

The past two decades have seen the dis-

technological change has increased

tributed server paradigm evolved into

significantly, putting increased pressure

web-based architectures, which matured to

on enterprises and their IT departments.

a service orientation before finally moving

However, the upside of new technology is

into the cloud.

access to new capabilities that can transform a company’s competitive edge. One of them

The cloud revolution has been fuelled by

is Kubernetes.

virtualisation, and its widespread adoption has transformed the modern data centre. But

40

But before we get into that, let’s look at a

it didn’t stop there. In fact, its unchecked

little IT history.

proliferation has created some of the same

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

HDS is part of the container crowd

structure solution and Kubernetes con-

resolve… such as sprawling and expensiveto-maintain server farms.

Google isn’t going it alone. Other companies

benefits, including simplified management

have announced support for Kubernetes in

of physical and virtual infrastructure with

The machines may be virtual, but manag-

combination with converged infrastructure

automated orchestration, to scale based

ing them can still be a chore. So enterprises

solutions. This is great news for customers

on workload needs and flexibly deploy

are looking for ways to provide more agile

because it can provide a proven enterprise-

Kubernetes container clusters into new

and cost-effective ways to build, deploy and

class private cloud infrastructure for de-

environments.

manage applications. And that’s driving

velopers and customers to orchestrate and

interest in another fairly new and exciting

run container-based applications with a full

Hitachi Data Systems’ (HDS) Unified

idea — containers.

microservices architecture.

Compute Platform (UCP), for instance,

challenges that cloud was designed to

Containers get more out of their IT

tainer orchestration offers customers several

can quickly scale from 2 to 128 nodes to Kubernetes and VMware running side

provide a rapidly increasing capacity for

by side on converged platforms offers

Kubernetes to schedule nodes and man-

Containers do the same job as virtual machines, providing a separate venue for applications to operate within. The big difference is that container technology can run an application in a fraction of the

“The big difference is that container technology can run an application in a fraction of the compute footprint that a virtual machine requires.”

compute footprint that a virtual machine requires. This is because they don’t have to run a complete instance or image of an

companies an enterprise solution for both

age containerised workloads. Kubernetes

operating system, with all of its attendant

container-based applications and traditional

will orchestrate the deployment, scale and

kernels, drivers and libraries.

virtualised workloads.

monitoring of those containerised services

What’s more, as well as taking up a tiny

One of the biggest benefits of having Ku-

same platform with virtualised and bare

percentage of the room, extra contain-

bernetes orchestrate container management

metal workloads.

ers can be spun up in microseconds,

is it can manage and allocate resources on a

compared to minutes or even longer for

host/cluster dynamically with fault tolerance

Kubernetes is great news for both the

virtual machines.

to guarantee workload reliability. Kubernetes

developer community and IT administra-

allows the definition of resources and labels

tors looking for accelerated application

It really works. For example, Google uses

on nodes, enabling the user to select and

deployment. And things are only going

containers — more than two billion of

control where the defined resources can

to get better. HDS, for example, is al-

them every week — to run its cloud

be run.

ready considering advancements and new

— all while running side by side on the

features for this solution including hybrid

services. Many of Google’s most popular services, such as Gmail, Search, Apps and

Labelling also allows the running of pods on

configurations with GKE and AWS cloud

Maps, run inside containers that operate

different tiers or configurations of hardware.

services, streamlined and fully automated

in Kubernetes, which is an open source

For example, a set of production nodes with

Kubernetes cluster deployments within

container cluster orchestration framework

a higher set label will allow Kubernetes to

UCP, and integrated container registry.

that Google initiated in 2014.

select and manipulate pods and services related to that label. This enables Kuber-

It seems like once every five years or so, the IT

Kubernetes works in conjunction with

netes to deploy workloads to these blades

industry witnesses a major technology shift.

Docker, one of the providers that has made

based on labelling to assure all resources

With more applications contending for I/O

containers popular in the cloud world.

are being utilised based on the end-user’s

resources, I am betting that in the next year

While Docker provides lifecycle manage-

requirements.

or so, converged solutions combined with

ment for containers, Kubernetes takes this

Kubernetes will be seen as a viable ‘virtual

to the next level by providing orchestration

A compelling combination

alternative’ to legacy systems that were not

and the ability to manage clusters.

The combination of a converged infra-

developed with containers in mind.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

41

OFF THE

CUFF

W

How Aussie SMBs are driving cloud adoption

hile it is no surprise to

Frost & Sullivan also put the SMB adop-

say that cloud has dis-

tion of cloud contact centres down to

rupted many traditional

their ability to scale quickly and mobilise

industries, what is sur-

operations, as well as pay-as-you-go

prising is the extent and enormous growth

structures, meaning that these smaller

in new cloud industries. According to the

businesses don’t have to invest in the

ABS, almost 70% of Australian businesses

infrastructure.

are embracing cloud services with 20% using paid services. One area that has seen

Australia’s expansion in the cloud

significant disruption is the contact centre

contact centre market is representa-

market, which almost doubled its revenue

tive of the country’s forward-thinking

in 2014, generating over $6 million. Not

approach to cloud adoption. There is

bad for a relatively new market.

a significant opportunity for tech companies and SMBs to benefit financially,

This was found by Frost & Sullivan in a

not just in the contact centre space

recent report on the cloud contact centre

but across a range of industries such

market. This trend looks set to continue

as accounting software and security.

its upward surge, with the industry set to be worth an estimated $51 million in

As the majorit y of cloud ser v ices

5 years. This is huge growth.

available are relatively new industries,

John Palfreyman was recently appointed CEO of ipSCAPE. Prior to that he was executive chairman of the board and also sat on the board of Macquarie Telecom. He has been called an ‘IT industry guru’, having been involved in the technology field for decades.

they are still growing immensely. This But what is driving this? The contact

means that there are opportunities

centre market has traditionally been the

for not only new businesses to enter

domain of the big end of town and ‘sticky’

the market, but there are openings for

within business, so where is this growth

resellers to bring this new technology

coming from? It’s all down to SMBs.

to more markets and more SMBs. Using the cloud contact centre as an

Traditionally, SMBs have been priced out

example, the Frost & Sullivan report

of the contact centre market. A traditional

found there is a potential revenue of

on-premise model can cost millions and

over $45 million over the next 5 years

take months to get up and running. This

up for grabs, with a large percentage of

just doesn’t work for SMBs. Where cloud

this to be generated through resellers.

comes into play is that a cloud contact

42

centre can be implemented in a few weeks

Ultimately, cloud-based solutions are an

for a small fraction of an on-premise cost

incredible growth market for Austral-

but still with all the bells and whistles.

ian SMBs, providing opportunities for

This not only lets SMBs develop a so-

business owners to not only increase

phisticated customer engagement system

the efficiency of their own company,

but also helps them look and act like

but also scale and profit from this

larger businesses.

growing industry.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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