Be inside, kicking out...

Looking back through the years,

I remember quite distinctly spotting some developing trends that caused me to “re-tool” and shift where the market was pointing. Some, just in time. For instance, telecommunications was not the most secure place to be after the late 80's, so I retooled into Data Communications. I also distinctly remember when those PC and Novell outlanders came out of nuisance status and started replacing big iron mainframes. 

Then we spotted the “internet” at the Super Collider and created my ISP as a full service ISDN offering (it “was” high speed). I'm not suggesting I'm brilliant, as a matter of fact probably most of us in these fields could see these things coming, you just had to be really stubborn to ignore them. If you did ignore them, well...

Now we have another train that’s long left the station, “cloud”. Actually my ISP company started selling thin-client (early days SaaS) service via internet in the late 90’s. We may have been a bit early in the market, but the train is now freight train status, largely due to big bandwidths enabling web clients access to native applications without the trouble of thin client..

I wouldn't look at cloud as a career though, not in and of itself. I'd look at is as an enabler of whatever you feel your secret sauce is. In my case I love business process improvement. Helping organizations streamline time to market and slash processes that don't fit. The modern interpretation to this is "reducing technical debt". Well, business process improvement is not new, but the optimal solution set is much easier than it used to be with XaaS (my new word, X being just about any service as a lease).

Still, apparently the word is not completely out with cloud. Recently I saw an article with a title that included “cloud is here to stay”.  I had to double-check the date to be sure it wasn’t 5 years earlier, but nope. Some are still viewing cloud as one viable option. On the contrary, it’s difficult to see any company not using SaaS or PaaS for most applications within 5 years. The ROI is too strong. Not only in cash flow but also the impact on CapEx and limberness (elasticity is the current word).

So being in the industry we have to continue to re-tool, learn all we can, test the boundaries, take risks, and… something different… actually learn how to think like the CFO, or even the CEO. Technology decisions should principally revolve around opportunity, elasticity, and cash-flow. No, I didn’t mention governance and security because we’ve probably already passed the point where it’s now easier to secure using XaaS. All this to say, make the future your best friend and conquer your own horizon.

To close on a fun note, and speaking of prophesying, I bet you’ve already thought the following question will oft be asked in 10 years’ time: “Can you believe they actually let people steer these cars back then?”   Or even… “Daddy/Mommy why are there so many empty lanes on the highway”?   “Well dear, people used to drive to work…” Let's take it further then. If that does comes to pass, what do you think we'll do with all those extra roads and highways? Could be fun.

 (Patrick Bouldin is the President & CEO of Run This Project, specializing in cloud computing strategy and Business Process Improvement.)