Strategic advice to leverage new technologies

Being hybrid is not new. Not at all. If we look around, we can see the entrenched old and the emerging new sitting side by side in our enterprises. And, in important instances, we have actually thought through, at some level, how the old and the new are tied together, thought of together, and managed together. If we do it right, we can build hybrids that allow us to have one foot in the present and one foot in the future, as we make our way across the skybridge to the new buildings of the future.

In this next-generation world of cloud computing, where the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, edge computing, and cloud federation are enabling the vast deployment of innovative and resilient solutions, we must begin thinking more clearly about geo-jurisdictions. In this Advisor, we review three examples of how geo-jurisdiction policies and legislation can lead to dysfunctional businesses and economies.

Many organizations are now focusing on a hybrid cloud strategy: moving part of their IT capabilities to the cloud, while maintaining core elements in-house, hosted on-premises. The hybrid model is becoming immensely customary among organizations, as it enables them to optimally allocate their resources while keeping their current IT infrastructure operating at low risk. A hybrid cloud strategy not only prepares an organization for the future but also protects its investment today.

Given an established enterprise with its decades-old IT department, processes, and practices versus the accelerating marketplace — missing out on modern IT practices and being too rigid to react to market trends, and even putting innovation on half-yearly cycles — the hiring of a talented Agile architect can bridge the gap and lead the recently established digital pillar of the company. In this Advisor, we explore the common challenges the architect faces via the story of a day and propose building a “non-blocking” architecture governance practice for Agile development teams.

There is a lot of talk about how AI offers the possibility to transform how organizations operate. I am guilty of throwing around this type of statement myself. Of course, this brings up the all-important question: to what extent is AI currently transforming how organizations operate? Fortunately, the latest results from our ongoing survey examining the adoption and application of AI technology in the enterprise offer some insight into this question.

Recently, the Cutter Consortium editor who facilitates this Advisor series sent me a set of questions frequently asked about Agile transitions. Among the ones I found most intriguing wasn’t really a question but merely a statement, claiming: “Misunderstanding on the part of teams that Agile allows for less discipline, leading to less precise delivery schedules.” There are several elements of this statement that I encounter frequently, so I decided to use it as a basis for this article.

Here in Part VI, we survey the ADF assurance view with its intent to apply an Agile, quality-control approach to ADF artifact development. All system and software developments have the potential to fail (i.e., they carry risk); assurance is an attempt to reduce or mitigate such risk.

Big data, the IoT, and the cloud are technological innovations that need to demonstrate corresponding business value. While the aforementioned technologies have distinct identities of their own, they are also interdependent. Innovating with these technologies at a business level demands a multidisciplinary, holistic approach that also incorporates an understanding of how to manage risks. In this Advisor, we discuss challenges that arise in real-life scenarios due to lack of interoperability and some practical standards in the IoT and cloud space.