New cloud thinking ‘will drive enterprise DX plans’

Cloud innovation is at the heart of enterprise plans for digital transformation, with spending on the technology to make it happen set to soar. This is the chief finding of new research from independent analyst firm IDC.

 

IDC has forecast what it calls ‘whole cloud’ spending – in other words total spending on cloud services, as well as related hardware and software and the managed services needed to make it all work – will rise above $1.3 trillion by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 16.9%.

 

The as-a-service side of the cloud sector is set for particular growth. IDC predicts that global investment in Infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS), System Infrastructure Software as-a-Service (SISaaS), Platform as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software as-a-Service (SaaS) will total $385 billion in 2021, rising to $809 billion by 2025.

 

“In today’s digital-first world, business outcomes and innovation are increasingly tied to the ability to develop and use innovative technologies and services anywhere, as quickly as possible,” said Rick Villars, group vice president, Worldwide Research at IDC. “Cloud is the foundation for meeting this need. Entire industries want to intelligently leverage data to their advantage and can do so because they have faster access to digital technologies built on a cloud foundation.”

 

Cloud networking-as-a-service (CNaaS) is the latest frontier in cloud innovation, according to Amir Khan, CEO of network cloud pioneer Alkira: “What CIOs require is a ready-made solution that takes them into the heart of every cloud platform, and which is designed to work seamlessly and consistently across multiple clouds,” he explained. “They need this solution to connect everything, including their on-premise IT, all as a single network with end-to-end visibility and management, no performance compromises and boundless scalability. They want it all delivered as a service, giving them the agility to set up connections in a matter of minutes via a simple point-and-click interface that does away with the need for deep cloud or networking expertise. In short, they need a multi-cloud capable network that behaves just like the cloud, consumed as-a-service, like the cloud. With cloud networking as a service they have all of this.”

 

This event will explore cloud issues in useful depth:

The right DX strategy for getting ahead in the digital economy – NetEvents

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Book of the Month*

The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck

By Dr Christian Busch
Serendipity is an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. To other people it looks like “good luck”, but it is more the ability to recognise and seize an opportunity, rather than have good fortune thrust upon one. Finding a wallet stuffed with money on the conference room floor is good luck, whereas holding it up and asking if anyone has lost their wallet might be the beginning of a valuable friendship – that would be serendipity.

Chance encounters, or strokes of fortune, feature in countless stories of business success. This book looks beneath the surface, reveals and teaches the mindset that can transform pure chance into opportunity. The author is director of the Global Economy Program at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and a lecturer at the London School of Economics.

Serendipity is an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. To other people it looks like “good luck”, but it is more the ability to recognise and seize an opportunity, rather than have good fortune thrust upon one. Finding a wallet stuffed with money on the conference room floor is good luck, whereas holding it up and asking if anyone has lost their wallet might be the beginning of a valuable friendship – that would be serendipity.

The author says “This is a book about the interactions of coincidence, human ambition and imagination”. In the above example: finding the wallet is the coincidence; ambition is the desire to make something of the discovery; add imagination and you open up a whole menu of possibilities: from spending spree to earning a reputation for honesty – or even making a wealthy friend.

Business is typically forged on human ambition and imagination, but early success often feeds an appetite for control – and “control freaks” can be blind to the opportunities thrown up by the unexpected. They only see chance events as distractions. If plans go awry, they may blame the failure on “bad luck” rather than admit their own inflexible attitude.

The author himself admits to being “a German who is used to planning” and prone to feel anxious when something unexpected happens. That makes him an ideal teacher, because he has worked hard to discover and analyse the mindset that enables one to “connect the dots” and cultivate serendipity. He presents a goldmine of examples from science, business and life where an apparent mishap or failure lead to a breakthrough.

Indeed, studies suggest that around 50% of major scientific breakthroughs emerge as the result of accidents or coincidences. A well-known example is Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, launching the whole field of antibiotics. Other examples include X-rays, nylon, microwave ovens, rubber, Velcro, Viagra and Post-it Notes – where would we be without these!

The book goes beyond the ability to recognise and respond to opportunities in chaos, but the subtitle – The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck – is actually a bit misleading. True, he does show ways to develop better fortune, but it would be better to call it “inviting” or “encouraging” good luck. For example, he suggests better ways to start a conversation with a stranger – ways that will make it more likely to lead to chance connections or shared interests.

The publishers may have chosen the word “creating” to make the book appeal to the human desire to control – for control freaks are exactly the readership that would benefit the most from this book’s wisdom and practical advice.

For the rest of us, it offers a great way to rediscover the sense of play that is so important in life – and too often lost in business.

 

“Following the success of The Serendipity Mindset hardback, a paperback edition has also now been launched under the title “Connect the Dots”.

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