Overview

An earlier Technical Insight explained the imperatives for Information Technology that are impacting business or organizational goals that are being faced by CIOs and IT operations. The imperatives led to a set of initiatives regarding the issues and different approaches to the deal with them. This Technical Insight is a follow-on to the previous paper where the ways the issues are being addressed most often are explained.

As a reminder, as stated in the earlier Insight, the imperatives need to have some context for understanding – these are not just social direction, behaviors, or a top ten list. The information comes from our work with IT clients and not a survey – so these are observed approaches to deal with issues.

Some of the approaches will fall into the common-sense category: this is what you would expect. Others may be a bit different. This Insight will try and explain the approaches for a better understanding.

Staffing

Addressing the needs for staffing is a monumental challenge and there is not a single approach to address the staffing and the skills challenges, but several that are being employed. One is to raise the criteria of simplicity for products that are being acquired. Changes in the criteria that are applied when evaluating solutions come about rarely for IT, preferring the familiar in making decisions. Now, simplicity is seen as a means to reduce administrative time and lessen specialized training. This applies both in hardware and software. For hardware, the simplicity criteria come into question both in the cyclical replacement of systems and with new acquisitions due to growth and expansion. Software acquisition, beyond applications, tend to focus on replacement or valuable additions. In the replacement area, data protection is one area where a history of complicated products are now being challenged by newer solutions and as-a-service offerings that are easier to use. An interesting addition for new software to reduce staffing requirements is in the area of data management used for cyber recovery and forensics. Simplicity of understanding expands the potential use by staff including security personnel.

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