Private Clouds Will Change IT Jobs, Not Eliminate Them

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Mike Fratto.

At the InformationWeek 500 conference, editor at large Charlie Babcock and I held a workshop on private cloud. We learned as much from the audience members as they did from us. One of the more interesting discussions centered on the challenges organizations face in implementing private clouds. For almost all in the room, it wasn’t a matter of technical as much as organizational: How do you overcome employee resistance and get them to embrace cloud?

Prior to the event, I was talking to a longtime friend who’s a software architect and is now heading up his company’s private cloud initiative. The problem he’s facing isn’t making the business case–he has a budget and a directive. He’s not troubled by the technology–the company will train and outsource for the expertise it needs. The No. 1 problem is staff resistance. As a software architect, Bob (not his real name) is an outsider to IT operations, but he’s comfortable with automation and software-driven IT. Unfortunately, the IT department isn’t…

IT has a mandate to deliver reliable services, and it has worked hard to develop processes with checks and balances that satisfy that mandate. Change control rules the roost, and planned recovery procedures are required for every change. Cowboy IT isn’t allowed. The result is that IT operations are mostly manual, and any functions that are automated are tightly controlled with a skilled operator at the helm in case something goes awry. It’s how the company has always done it, and it works…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkcomputing.com/private-cloud-tech-center/private-clouds-will-change-it-jobs-not-e/240007533