An interesting data point from my research is that today, 90% of organizations compete on CX compared to only 27% five years ago. In many cases, a single, bad experience can mean losing a customer.

Customer experience often starts in the contact center, but how companies interact with their customers continues to broaden, and brands must enable customers to communicate with them using the channels of their choice.

DEWA and Avaya Showcase the Metaverse for Customer Happiness

At GITEX Global 2023, currently being held in Dubai, Avaya and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) partnered to demonstrate an integrated digital interactive hub that enables a range of services and integrates customer services with the DEWAVerse platform, which allows communication in a metaverse environment.

For DEWA, Avaya helped the company complete a digital transformation project in its customer happiness center. At the event, I had a chance to meet with Abeer Eladaway, Deputy Senior Manager of DEWA, and she explained that it was the goal of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, to have all government entities provide best-in-class customer service.

This prompted the name change of DEWA’s customer service centers to customer happiness centers. DEWA actively monitors all customer interactions and has made customer satisfaction a top initiative.

One of the interesting differences regarding the Middle East is that the public sector drives innovation and aims to set an example for private enterprise. This starkly contrasts with the US and Western Europe, where it seems government entities go out of their way to provide bad service.

Also see: Top Digital Transformation Companies

Eladaway expressed that while the older generation will likely prefer face-to-face interactions, many of the younger citizens will prefer to use a virtual one, so the organization designed DEWAVerse as that option.

Based on Avaya technology and delivered through call center firm Moro, the solution includes an integrated digital interactive hub for DEWA customers to access service through an interactive voice system enhanced by AI. This system allows agents to communicate with customers, answer inquiries, and complete transactions in the virtual world.

In the virtual environment, customers have their own private space to see their electricity and water consumption, and carbon footprint. Customers can also interact with live or virtual agents and pay bills through the interface. There is also a feature in which DEWA will recommend different appliances, and customers can measure the power and cost impact.

This implementation, which is hosted and managed by Moro in its data center, enables customers to contact the DEWA using a variety of communication channels, including phone, email, video, and text. Avaya says that multi-channel engagements are fully integrated so that engagements can transition from one medium to another.

Avaya added that an IVR system now offers options for self-service options so that customers can conduct several transactions without any agent involvement. Avaya utilized artificial intelligence in building a dynamic menu that can identify, assign, and prioritize registered callers so they receive the appropriate level of service.

There has been great debate regarding the viability of the metaverse. Once a skeptic, I’ve since changed my mind because it provides an alternate form of communication. People were skeptical of e-mail initially, the web, and social media, but those have proven to be preferred by those “born in” that era.

Motul’s Cloud-Based Solutions for Improved CX and EX

Another customer experience example Avaya had on display at GITEX was with oil and lubricants company Motul. The company has adopted cloud-based solutions from Avaya to improve customer and employee experiences across many different interaction points using a suite of Avaya’s cloud-based solutions.

Avaya said that Motul has deployed the Avaya Experience Platform, which integrates with Avaya Cloud Office (ACO) by RingCentral. The solution connects more than 400 of Motul’s employees around the globe, enabling them to engage more closely with customers and each other, regardless of location.

Avaya’s Experience Platform, a cloud-based contact center solution, helps Motul create and track KPIs to transform its customer service processes. The platform’s cloud-based attributes translate into an implementation without the massive disruption often accompanying customer service upgrades. In addition, Avaya says it requires little employee training.

GITEX Global 2023 has been an action-packed event. Avaya is showing that it is focused on the future and providing companies with real solutions that work today. These announcements show the importance of experiences and underscore how critical it is for vendors to share real case studies. Both DEWA and Motul are using Avaya for novel solutions that show the power of digital transformations that are aimed at improving experiences.

For more information, also see: Digital Transformation Guide

The post Avaya at GITEX 2023: Metaverse for Customer Care appeared first on eWEEK.

This follows the introduction of Zoom Mail and Calendar earlier this year. The combination of Unified Communication, Contact Center, Email / Calendar, and Docs gives Zoom the broadest, fully integrated collaboration suite in the industry. While Microsoft and Google have the same components, they lack the tight integration provided by Zoom.

Zoom is rethinking document collaboration

During a pre-brief with analysts, Zoom Head of Products for Meetings, Rooms, and Workspaces, Jeff Smith, clarified that this isn’t your father’s document application when he discussed re-imagining documents.

He stated that traditional docs apps are meant to replicate paper, and the output was meant to be printed. In a world that is increasingly paperless, how we think about documents should also change.

Smith stated emphatically: “Zoom Docs marks the end of 8 ½ x 11” and called it “a next-generation way of collaborating.”

In some ways, the name Zoom Docs is a bit of a misnomer as the company delivers a workspace for people to collaborate through a document interface. While the application handles the traditional document experience, it enhances it with the following capabilities.

• Customizable documents. Workers can use content blocks to pull information into customizable layouts and workflows. Table blocks can organize data, manage projects, track tasks, and manage schedules through columns, filters, and groups.
• Easy delegation. With Zoom Docs, users can bring their team together to get more work done faster between meetings. Users can use “@” mentions of colleagues in the document to keep them in the loop, create a discussion, add comments and threads, and assign tasks to keep everyone on track.
• Combine knowledge with wikis and shared folders. Workers can create wikis to link pages and embed them in a visual tree, enabling teams to see how information is connected instantly. Pages can be grouped better to organize docs for a more complete knowledge source.
• Flexible working. Users can work directly in Zoom or Docs. The Zoom integration allows users to create, edit, and search Zoom Docs while in a Meeting or in a Team Chat. This can significantly cut down on the “toggle tax” we experience today that contributes to users spending about 40% of their time managing work.

AI Companion boosts Zoom Docs value

Another benefit of the integration with the Zoom suite is the use of AI Companion within Zoom Docs. Workers can jump-start document creation by asking the AI engine to populate content. Alternatively, AI Companion could summarize content to create an executive overview or get caught up.

At Zoomtopia, Zoom also announced its global, unified search capabilities that enable workers to find information anywhere in the Zoom platform, including some third-party applications. I’ve experienced the frustration of remembering I received a document from someone but could not remember if they sent it through Zoom Chat or in an e-mail. This causes me to search both until I find it. The unified search feature allows workers to search across Zoom, streamlining that process.

Artificial intelligence was a key theme at Zoomtopia as the company reiterated its federated, responsible, and empowering approach. Contrary to many news articles, Zoom will not use customer data without permission. This includes customer audio video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or any other information inside Zoom.

Also see: 100+ Top AI Companies

Zoom is democratizing AI

Zoom has set the price point for AI Companion at free with any paid license. During the analyst briefing, Randy Maestre, Head of Zoom AI, Ecosystem, and Industry Product Marketing, stated, “We believe AI should be affordable and accessible to everyone, so we have included AI Companion at no additional cost for customers.”

This can save companies a significant amount of money compared to the $30 per month and up for similar features from Google and Microsoft.

New AI Companion features announced at Zoomtopia include real-time feedback and coaching, AI for Zoom Phone, and the ability to handle complex tasks across Zoom and third-party applications. This complements the existing features of whiteboard content generation, smart recordings, in-meeting queries, meeting summaries, chat thread summaries, and composing emails and chats.

Most of the collaboration vendors have chosen a co-existence strategy when it comes to Microsoft Teams. Not so for Zoom, as the introduction of Zoom Docs, which follows the rollout of Mail and Calendar, is clearly a shot across Microsoft’s bow.

Also see: Best Artificial Intelligence Software

Bottom Line: Platform Integration

Will Zoom see success? Only time will tell, but what Zoom has on its side is a product that is much less complicated and has better platform integration than the bloated Microsoft Office experience.

Also, workers tend to love Zoom and often push the IT organization into bringing it in as an alternative to Teams. While the introduction of Zoom Docs will capture the headlines, it’s the use of AI and global search that creates tangible user value.

The post Zoomtopia 2023: Zoom Redefines Document Collaboration appeared first on eWEEK.

Unlike in years past, where the year-over-year difference was negligible, 2022 to 2023 saw significant changes and surprises. Below are the notable points from the 2023 CCaaS Magic Quadrant.

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant CSaaS: Shifts and Surprises

NICE

The MQ has changed significantly over the years, but one constant has been NICE in the Leader quadrant.

The company has been a de facto standard for some time, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. NICE has significantly invested in AI and partnerships and is well-aligned with industry trends.

In the MQ, Gartner says this about the company, “NICE has a strong vision for supporting end-to-end digital-first journeys, including use of search engine optimization analytics to help optimize digital self- and assisted-service experiences.” I expect to see NICE in the MQ pole position for years.

Genesys

That Genesys has remained a Leader is a surprise. Like NICE, Genesys has been a mainstay in the Leader quadrant for years, so one might wonder why being in that quadrant in 2023 would be unexpected.

Recall that in October of 2022, the company announced it was shutting down its multi-cloud division, which shows a significant change in strategy. I’m not arguing the decision, but how Genesys could be a leader pre and post-decision is unclear.

If the strategy aligned with Gartner in 2022, it should have seen its position move negatively in 2023. Or the company should not have been a Leader in past MQs and then rewarded positively for the strategy change. Based on the report, shutting down multi-cloud had no impact on Gartner’s view of the company, which is surprising given that was a such a major strategy.

Also see: Digital Transformation Guide: Definition, Types & Strategy

Five9

Five9 moves back to the Leader quadrant. From what I understand, Five9 was moved out due to geographic qualification as the MQ became global.

Despite the explanation, I never agreed with Five9 not being in the Leader quadrant, as the company has carried the CCaaS flag for about 20 years. Over the past few years, Five9 has done an excellent job expanding its addressable market both geographically and upmarket. At one time, the knock on Five9 was they had no customers over 1,000 concurrent agents. Today, they can easily handle tens of thousands. I expect to see Five9 continue to move up in both axes.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services moves into the Leader quadrant. This was another vendor who I felt should have been a Leader last year.

While some of the other vendors tend to get more media attention, AWS has quietly gathered customers of all sizes, including some of the largest contact centers in the world. I’ve talked to Amazon Connect GM Pasquale DeMaio about the MQ, and he told me that while they would like to be in the Leader quadrant, it would not change its strategy to accomplish that.

DeMaio has been consistent in the Amazon Connect mission of bringing a best-in-class, AI-based CCaaS solution to its customers, with the roadmap built from customer feedback. One of the under-appreciated aspects of Connect is the tight integration with other AWS services, which simplifies the process for developers to build on the Connect platform. From what I can tell, this broader AWS advantage isn’t reflected in the MQ analysis.

Also see: Top Digital Transformation Companies

Talkdesk 

Talkdesk moves from Leader to Visionary. Many industry watchers were surprised when Taldesk was placed in the Leader quadrant, which is still an emerging player.

One of the aspects of the company’s go-to-market I have liked is that it does not try to be all things to all people and has taken a vertical approach focusing on retail, healthcare, and financial services. Two years ago, Talkdesk was very active with the analyst community and media but had gone somewhat dark since then, giving rise to speculation that the company was struggling and had retrenched to retool. Since then, CMO Kathie Johnson has exited the business, with Christie Blake returning to a marketing role. I expect more vision from the company and better clarity on business momentum. This should help it return to the “top right” in the MQ.

Cisco 

Cisco remains a Niche player. To say CCaaS is important to Webex is as big an understatement as there is.

The company is a late entrant in an increasingly crowded market but approached the offering correctly. Instead of leveraging the existing legacy contact center, it built CCaaS to be part of the larger Webex platform, which brings tight integration with UCaaS. This can bring features such as background noise removal to agents working from home.

While this took longer than doing a “lift and shift” of the older on-premises solution, it gives Cisco a solid, cloud-native solution to build on.

One of the issues I find with all MQs is they look at the individual products in isolation. One of the unique differentiators for Webex Contact Center is the integration into the broader Cisco portfolio, such as devices and security. For example, remote agents can be more productive and secure if the customer leverages products like ThousandEyes and Duo along with Webex CCaaS. I expect Cisco to continue to move up in the MQ as it gains momentum, but the analysis negates the broader Cisco advantage.

Notable Absences 

Two vendors noticeable by their absence are Zoom and Avaya.  Over the summer, Zoom took the covers off Zoom CCaaS and appears to be off to a running start. I’ve talked to a handful of companies looking at the product, and the general feedback is positive, although it currently lacks some integrations with third-party software vendors. I expect this to be a key focus area for Zoom and hope we see them in the 2024 MQ.

For Avaya, while the product likely would meet Gartner’s product requirements, it likely does not meet the revenue requirements as it was largely ignored during Jim Chirico’s tenure.

Current CEO Alan Masarek has taken a more practical approach to delivering CCaaS to Avaya’s massive customer base, where it will use the cloud to deliver digital capabilities while enabling its customers to continue leveraging the on-premises voice solution.

Avaya CCaaS can be delivered through the Avaya Experience Platform (AXP) for customers who want a pure cloud solution. This is a solid juxtaposition for Genesys’s cut-the-cord approach, which forces its customers to move to the public cloud whether or not they are ready. While Avaya’s hybrid approach has kept them out of the MQ and may in future ones, it’s the right thing to do for its large enterprise customer base.

Bottom Line: CCaaS and AI

While the CCaaS MQ hasn’t seen many vendors move over the past several years, I expect that to change in future years. Artificial intelligence is the biggest catalyst for change since the introduction of cloud. Some vendors are partnering while others are building the capabilities in house. Which is better? Time will tell and I expect Gartner’s MQ to make AI a bigger part of the evaluation criteria.

One final note: although the MQ is a popular shortlist tool, it’s important to remember it’s not an absolute measure. Just because a vendor is more “right” or more “up” on the MQ doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for all companies. A business looking for a solution tightly bundled with UCaaS would likely be better off with 8×8 than NICE. Customers need to apply their own context and criteria to the vendors in the MQ to decide which fits their business best.

The post Big Changes in Gartner’s 2023 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service appeared first on eWEEK.

We’ll discuss – using Twitter, now called X – current and evolving trends that are shaping the future of cloud computing, a dynamic platform that is now foundational for the enterprise. Our ultimate goal: to offer guidance to companies that enables them to maintain a competitive strategy as cloud continues its rapid evolution.

See below for:

• Participant list for this month’s eWeek Tweetchat on data analytics
• Questions we’ll discuss in this month’s eWeek Tweetchat
• How to Participate in the Tweetchat
• Tentative Schedule: Upcoming eWeek Tweetchats

Participants List: the Future of Cloud Computing

The list of experts for this month’s Tweetchat currently includes the following – please check back for additional expert guests:

• Trent Fierro, Cloud and AIOps Solutions Marketing, Aruba 
• Jon Thomas, Senior Director of Product Management, BMC
• Robert (Bobby) Blumofe, CTO and EVP, Akamai Technologies
• Jason Carolan, Chief Innovation Officer, Flexential 
• Paolo Sellari, Cloud Senior Product Manager, Tangoe
• Jesse Stockall, Chief Architect, Snow Software
• Holland Barry, Field CTO, Cyxtera
• Andi Mann, Global CTO and Founder, Sageable
• Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research
• Drew Firment, Chief Cloud Strategiest, Pluralsight
• Tony Vinayak, Director of Cloud & Infrastructure Solutions, CTG
• James Maguire, Editor-in-Chief, eWeek [moderator]

Tweetchat Questions: the Future of Cloud Computing

The questions we’ll tweet about will include the following – check back for more/revised questions:

1. I’m just checking: in 2023, the only tech topic that people discuss is AI. So…yawn…does cloud still matter? (Hint: yes, more than ever.)
2. What key trends are driving the cloud sector here in late 2023?
3. What’s the most vexing cloud computing challenge today? Managing multicloud? Containing costs?
4. How do you recommend companies address this difficult challenge?
5. Okay, to the future: what shifts do you see in cloud as it evolves over the next few years?
6. How can companies best keep up with – or stay ahead of – these changes in cloud?
7. How will cloud computing be influenced by AI and generative AI?
8. What about the future of cloud and a related technology (besides AI)? How about the future cloud and edge, or cloud and data?
9. Your longer term sense of the cloud? What’s off in the misty distance?
10. A last Big Thought about cloud computing – what else should managers/buyers/providers know about enterprise cloud?

How to Participate in the Tweetchat

The chat begins promptly at 11 AM PT on October 17. To participate:

1. Open Twitter in your browser. You’ll use this browser to Tweet your replies to the moderator’s questions.

2. Open Twitter in a second browser. On the menu to the left, click on Explore. In the search box at the top, type in #eweekchat. This will open a column that displays all the questions and all the panelists’ replies.

Remember: you must manually include the hashtag #eweekchat for your replies to be seen by that day’s tweetchat panel of experts.

That’s it — you’re ready to go. Be ready at 11 AM PT on September 12 to participate in the tweetchat.

NOTE: There is sometimes a few seconds of delay between when you tweet and when your tweet shows up in the #eWeekchat column.

#eWEEKchat Tentative Schedule for 2023*

July 25: Optimizing Generative AI: Guide for Companies
August 15: Next Generation Data Analytics
September 12: AI in the Enterprise
October 17: Future of Cloud Computing
November 14: The Future of Generative AI
December 12: Tech in 2024: Predictions and Wild Guesses

*all topics subjects to change

The post eWEEK TweetChat, October 17: the Future of Cloud Computing appeared first on eWEEK.

As a result, 71 percent of these organizations are focusing on upskilling the current workforce to meet their digital transformation needs. I’ve been covering IT trends for a long time, and talent evolution is something businesses have always had to deal with. But innovation is happening so much faster today, creating an accelerated need for skills transitions.

Cisco is among the leading tech companies making significant strides to address the skills gap, particularly in the cybersecurity and network automation sectors. Recognizing that there’s no universal solution, Cisco has adopted a comprehensive approach that spans the entirety of the learning spectrum.

“This means that no matter where someone comes in—whether they’re tech curious, trying to enter the job market, or whether they’re in the job market already—we’re making this entire learning continuum available to keep up with new technologies,” said Par Merat, VP of Cisco Learning and Certifications, during a recent analyst update on bridging the skills gap.

Cisco’s approach is multifaceted. The company works with education partners, including its learning partner ecosystem and academies. Notably, in the U.S., Cisco’s outreach extends to an impressive 45 percent of community colleges. There’s also a direct-to-learner model, allowing individuals to engage with and access their resources.

Moreover, Cisco has partnered with learning as a service (LaaS) providers like Coursera and has forged ties with government agencies. Cisco enhances this learning approach with certifications, ensuring individuals can acquire the necessary skills.

Cisco Networking Academy: The Linchpin

Spearheading Cisco’s vision for an inclusive digital future is the Cisco Networking Academy. Since its inception in 1997, it has impacted over 20 million individuals. “NetAcad” functions as a conduit between learning and job readiness. Cisco has set an ambitious goal to provide digital and cybersecurity skills training to 25 million people over the next 10 years as part of the Networking Academy program.

“We prepare individuals for careers in areas of networking, cybersecurity, and other IT roles,” said Laura Quintana, VP and General Manager of the Cisco Networking Academy. “We support countries worldwide and help them accelerate their digital agendas by addressing the skills gap. When measuring student outcomes, 3.57 million people have attributed their participation in the academy to obtaining a new job.”

Ensuring the program remains cutting-edge, the academy integrates technologies that blend traditional learning with immersive experiences, such as gamified modules, interactive sessions, and artificial intelligence (AI). One of the academy’s standout programs is the junior cybersecurity analyst pathway, offering 120 hours of in-depth training in cybersecurity.

On a related topic: The Future of Artificial Intelligence

Certifications: The Cisco Stamp of Quality

Once an individual secures a job in the tech field, the learning process doesn’t stop there. Cisco also provides accessible and certification-based training to empower professionals in their careers. Over the past three decades, the company has issued more than 4.3 million certifications.

A distinguishing feature is Cisco’s recognition as industry, rather than product, certifications. These certifications have received accreditations from renowned bodies like the American National Standards (ANSI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST). Cisco continually revises and adapts its certification content, reflecting the evolving job market, a recent example being the introduction of multicloud certifications.

Cisco U: The Pinnacle of Digital Training

Cisco introduced a new platform called Cisco U, emphasizing a modernized approach to digital training. The inception of this platform was a collaborative effort with the Cisco community, aiming to strike a balance between proficiency and efficiency in learning. The platform is anchored around three foundational tenets: guidance, community, and depth.

Cisco U stands out for its use of AI and machine learning (ML) to recommend specific learning paths by offering assessments that guide individuals. This ensures people access only the most relevant content for the skills they’re trying to acquire. The platform delves deep into Cisco-specific topics while also branching out to cover newer, interdisciplinary areas.

Community engagement is an essential aspect of Cisco U. Previously, the community discussions were separate from learning resources, causing a disconnect. Now, Cisco U brings these discussions directly into the learning experience. It’s a new integrated approach that fosters “vibrant conversations, tips, and informal mentoring,” Merat said.

Also see: The Pros and Cons of Deep Learning

Case Study: How North Dakota Is Bridging the Skills Gap

North Dakota, with its predominantly rural setting, faces significant challenges in technological advancement, workforce transitions, and shifts in agricultural practices. To address these, the state has taken several key steps to promote digital equity among its citizens with the help of “Skills for All,” a Cisco program that offers free online tech courses.

Recognizing the importance of comprehensive technological education, North Dakota has integrated Cisco’s educational offerings across all its institutions, ranging from pre-kindergarten all the way to Ph.D. programs. This ensures that students receive a thorough grounding in technology regardless of their academic level.

Additionally, there’s a strong push towards promoting remote work and developing skills to stay relevant in the tech landscape. Part of the vision is to expand broadband access throughout the state, ensuring that every citizen can take advantage of modern technologies like cloud connectivity and AI.

On the educational front, North Dakota launched an initiative called PK-20W, which stands for pre-kindergarten through Ph.D. and the workforce. The initiative emphasizes the importance of continuous upskilling and reskilling, offering avenues for career progression without the constant requirement of higher formal degrees.

This vision has been further cemented by recent legislation that mandates cybersecurity education as a requirement for high school graduation. Cisco plays a crucial role in PK-20W, providing resources and support, which many of the state’s educational institutions have adopted.

Upskilling the Current Workforce

Beyond just education, there’s a pressing need to adapt the current workforce’s skills, especially in the IT sector. As technologies like AI and cloud computing become more central to operations, IT professionals must be adequately trained to handle the challenges they bring. Cisco’s programs have been instrumental in offering structured training to IT staff and ensuring they remain updated in their roles.

“The digital landscape is going to continue to move forward, and we’ve got to prepare ourselves to be at the cusp of that technological change,” said Kuldip Mohanty, North Dakota Office of the Governor’s chief information officer. “That’s where the Cisco Networking Academy continues to be our strongest foundation. This collaboration extends beyond technology. It’s about fostering a culture of innovation, learning, and adaptability.”

North Dakota’s vision is technological inclusivity, where every citizen is equipped and empowered to navigate the digital age. The partnership with Cisco stands at the heart of this vision, fostering a culture of continuous learning and ensuring that the state has a skilled workforce for the future.

The topic of reskilling is something I talk to almost all IT professionals about. There are many ways to keep one’s skills current, but leveraging vendor-driven programs like Cisco offers is an excellent way to ensure the training received is current and in line with present and future technology trends.

Technology is evolving faster than ever, and those willing to continually learn new skills will have a leg up on those that don’t invest in themselves.

On a related topic: The AI Market: An Overview 

The post How Cisco is Addressing the Widening Skills Gap appeared first on eWEEK.

If the massive $2 billion commitment by KPMG for investment in Microsoft Cloud and AI services is any indication, the AI arms race will fuel further investment in the cloud platforms required to store and process the large data sets required for AI applications.

As the demand for cloud services continues to rise, there is still growing concern around “cloudflation” driven by the rise in storage costs fueled by higher energy prices – pain that is being felt around the world. And there are also valid concerns about how cloud data centers contribute to higher carbon emissions. This is especially relevant given how climate change is wreaking havoc across the U.S, and the globe.

Why Cloud Will Remain Dominant

There are four key reasons why the cloud will be a dominant force, and continue to be the centerpiece of enterprise and business computing for years to come:

The generative AI-fueled arms race

The economic uncertainty may factor into IT budgets and buying decisions, but this doesn’t seem to be slowing down investment in the cloud. In fact, going forward, generative AI will be a major factor that drives many organization’s tech stack purchase decisions. Whether in the public or private cloud, generative AI is supported by large language models (LLMs) which process data in real time, requiring powerful – and highly scalable – computing power.  When you combine this point with the fact that the best AI solutions are now offered primarily as cloud services, organizations are more motivated than ever to accelerate their transition to the cloud.

Also see: Top Generative AI Apps and Tools

Affordability

Even with rising energy costs, cloud computing is the far more affordable option: And this is true for the largest Fortune 500 enterprises down to SMBs.

Committing to the on-prem model means spending more on IT systems, applications, and hardware infrastructure because it has to keep up with performance objectives, and those can change over time. This can be especially challenging for retail brands and their supply chain partners during holiday sales peaks, for example.

IT must support the increase in performance needs even if only a temporary or seasonally related. A usage-based model is always going to be less expensive than buying an on-prem system or software, which leads to contract lock-ins. As mentioned earlier, the cloud data centers do require energy and water to operate, yet companies are in a better position to meet their ESG and sustainability goals because they’re not using on-site servers to power IT infrastructure.

Application updates, security, and economies of scale

The cloud is better at regular application updates, security, and economies of scale: Despite a recent high profile cloud data breach, overall, cloud platforms offer better security because their reputations as trusted partners depend on it.

For example, the big cloud platforms have hundreds of top-notch engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and IT staff that united in the goal to keep their customer’s data safe. Microsoft, AWS, and Google also have what most small to mid-sized companies do not – economies of scale. They provide seamless application updates, which includes patching applications, and detecting and quashing vulnerabilities before breaches occur.

Companies with strapped or overworked IT staff benefit from the 24/7/365 support that global cloud platform providers offer. From a security, scale, and even a sustainability/ESG standpoint, the cloud is the clear winner.

Also see: Top Cloud Service Providers and Companies

Issues with On-Prem

On-prem isn’t a good fit for the way we work today: While some CEOs seem to be souring on the work from home trend, some form of hybrid work ecosystem will likely continue well into the foreseeable future. The changed 9-5 landscape demands high levels of accessibility for teams that may be in multiple regions, time zones or countries that on-prem software doesn’t offer.

The growth of software-as-a-service (SaaS) over the past five years, boosted heavily by the pandemic, provides the widespread application and network accessibility that companies require to be efficient, productive and remain competitive in today’s business landscape.

Bottom Line: The Cloud and Sustainability

A growing number of companies are making commitments to being better “corporate citizens” and achieving carbon neutrality, which is good news. And even better news is that carbon footprint reduction is top of mind for the Big Three: Microsoft, AWS and Google. All three have confirmed their commitment to sustainability, energy efficiency and the reduction of their carbon footprint. Both Microsoft and AWS plan to power all of their respective data centers with 100% renewable energy by 2025.

Companies don’t have to rely entirely on their providers for a “greener” cloud, they can also make a conscious effort by being more selective about how they consume cloud services, how much data they’re storing unnecessarily, and where their cloud data providers are located.

Despite some downsides to the cloud, it’s still the best strategies for the SMBs to the global Fortune 500 from a productivity, green, and affordability standpoint.

For more information, also see: Digital Transformation Guid

About the Author:

Scott Francis, Technology Evangelist at PFU America, brings more than 30 years of document imaging expertise to his position where he’s responsible for evangelizing Ricoh’s industry leading scanner technology.

The post Why Cloud Will Remain Dominant: 4 Reasons appeared first on eWEEK.

Among the topics we discussed:

• What major trends do you see driving public cloud usage this year? If a company has not fully embraced the cloud by 2023, what’s holding them back?
• What’s a common challenge you see with public cloud clients? Some thoughts on addressing this challenge?
• How is SAP addressing the public cloud needs of its clients? Is SAP best suited to large enterprise clients?
• The future of public cloud? It seems like one of its new – and most powerful – drivers is its ability to facilitate/enable artificial intelligence. Thoughts?

Listen to the podcast:

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Watch the video:

The post SAP’s Lori Rosano on the Future of Public Cloud appeared first on eWEEK.

In turn, this infrastructure revolution spawned Web 2.0 – a range of companies born in the cloud. These innovators launched new offerings that substituted cheap digital technologies for lethargic analog processes, which resulted in wrenching disruption to large companies with storied histories. New verbs sprang up to characterize this disruption: Ubered. Or Airbnbed. Or Netflixed.

Of course, the incumbent players in these industries were unwilling to cede them to the upstarts. So they followed the disrupters into the cloud. But a curious thing happened to most of these efforts: they didn’t pay off.

Enterprise after enterprise launched big cloud initiatives, but found no acceleration in their IT processes and an inability to move at the speed of the disrupters.

It turns out that cloud adoption isn’t enough to move at the speed of Web 2.0. Fast infrastructure needs to be married to fast software practices. Put another way, the software path to production needs to operate at the speed of the underlying infrastructure resources.

Web 2.0 companies have typically constructed highly customized toolchains to squeeze the time required for a software change to go from keyboard to production. Common across Web 2.0 is the heavy use of open source components wired together with company-specific integration components to create a custom DIY solution.

In response, many enterprises have started their own DIY initiatives. But all too many of them never result in a workable solution, leaving the companies hindered in their efforts to move at Web 2.0 speed. The obvious question is why: what prevents so many enterprises from successfully creating their own DIY path to production?

I’ve observed many of these failed DIY initiatives, and would like to share the common issues I’ve observed – and offer suggestions to help tech professionals to create a streamlined path to production.

Also see: Top Cloud Service Providers and Companies

Beware the Downsides of Cloud DIY

What are the issues I’ve seen arise in large enterprise shops that attempt to build a DIY cloud computing path to production?

Here are a few of the reasons these DIY efforts fall short:

Component curation

There is such a dizzying array of open source components available that address various parts of the path to production that just selecting a good set to integrate into the tool chain is a major job.

The eyechart that is the CNCF landscape poses a challenging task just to list the options for different parts of the toolchain, not to mention evaluating and selecting a good one. Of course, there is an alternative – allowing an employee to choose one based on reputation or what someone he or she knows used – but that seems haphazard at best and high-risk at worst.

Underestimated integration costs

Some components have built-in integrations for complementary components so that the integration task would seem to be simple.

However, not all components that might be selected have integrations to other components an organization might choose. And, in any case, in my experience, assuming built-in integrations work well in all use cases and can operate at scale is misplaced confidence. The truth is, what seems like simple integration “glue” software is typically far more work that expected, requiring more labor and longer schedules than initially budgeted.

Failure to address the entire application lifecycle

DIY toolchain efforts commonly get started in one group that wants to “scratch its itch.” The group sets off to automate its work tasks, reducing operational cost and accelerating throughput. That’s fine as far as it goes.

Unfortunately, there is often no work to connect an automated workflow into the upstream and downstream work teams that also contribute to the path to production. So the transfer of one task to another ends up being a manual handoff. Quite often the individual automation work results in no overall speedup, since the majority of time in the path to production is spent between tasks, not within tasks.

Staffing shortages

The flip side of underestimating the difficulty of work and complexity of end-to-end automation is that insufficient staff is assigned to the project. These projects often start as skunkwork-type efforts, siphoning off part-time work from a few people in a work group; this avoids the overhead of “real” project creation like budgeting, scheduling, and so on.

As the real scope of the project becomes clear when other groups that participate in the path to production put forward their requirements, the skunkwork staffing capability is rapidly outstripped. Organizations then need to confront unpalatable choices: abandon the project – and thereby remain mired in a long-duration manual process – or devote real dollars to it, which requires documentation and budget competition.

Talent diversion

Every technology organization only has so many talented engineers. If those engineers are assigned to improving an internal process, they’re not contributing to the larger goals of the parent company.

Very few companies are willing to consciously decide to devote precious, scarce talent to an internal project, worthy though it might be. So the internal DIY project is starved for talent, resulting in delays or incomplete functionality.

Value delay

The beginning of this article pointed out the primary motivation for enterprises to adopt cloud-native practices: responding to market disruption caused by born-in-the-cloud competitors.

Taking on an expensive and complex DIY project that will be plagued by talent and budget shortfalls is a recipe for late delivery and delay in value. While a self-developed software toolchain provides pride of ownership, taking 24 to 36 months to get it into production prevents the parent company from responding to dangerous competition in the here-and-now.

Also see: Top Digital Transformation Companie

Guide to DIY Cloud: Doing DIY the Right Way

“Aha!,” you think. I want to avoid all those problems in creating my company’s automated path to production. But how?

When I talk with large enterprises embarking on a DIY path to a cloud production project, here are the factors I suggest they ensure their plan addresses:

Understand your why

What is the business reason a home-grown system is important? All too many times a DIY project is a way for someone to grow a fiefdom, which serves their interest, but not necessarily the company’s.

So understand what you’re trying to achieve by building your own path to production. And don’t imagine you’re a snowflake, unique in the world, that requires a one-off solution – or at least understand why you’re a snowflake to better gauge the importance of a home-grown system.

Most companies, if they’re honest with themselves, can be perfectly well-served with a generic solution for their path to production.

Incorporate all the siloes

As mentioned before, all too many DIY projects start within a single group and never address the needs of other application lifecycle constituencies. The old cliche is measure twice, saw once; in other words, plan before execution.

Before you start building, ensure the solution helps every group that touches code on its way to production automate its part of the process – or that the resulting system can easily incorporate those other groups’ own automated systems.

Otherwise, at best you run the risk of no speed improvement in your software practices; at worst, you run the risk of organizational strife as those other groups put forward roadblocks and refuse to participate.

Plan for ongoing maintenance

Recognize that you’re building a platform, and every platform requires ongoing work to extend functionality, incorporate bug fixes, and improve operations and resilience. This is a downstream budget commitment and it’s important to plan for it. Otherwise, you end up with an obsolete system, unsatisfactory to users, limping along.

Create a budget

I hope this article has underlined how an important system that supports your path to production is a long-term commitment and not something that can be slapped together by a few staff working part-time.

As you create your cloud project plan, assign headcount and plan for staff costs. Also calculate the infrastructure you’ll need to operate a platform; this means you’ll need development, staging, and production environments to allow platform improvements and pre-production testing.

Calculate your resource opportunity cost

The staff you assign to building your platform could be working on other things. What other things? What value could you achieve by assigning them to work on other tasks?

Every tech organization has an inexhaustible list of to-dos – are there to-dos with greater benefit to the organization or the company at large?

Perform a buy vs. build analysis

As I noted at the beginning of this piece, most Web 2.0 companies build their own custom path to production systems. It makes perfect financial sense for them as they are digital enterprises at their core and run very large volumes of code changes and releases through their systems.

Amortizing the cost of the technical resources and infrastructure across such volume means a home-grown system makes financial sense for them. The question is, does it make financial sense for you?

There are commercial products available that provide end-to-end path to production functionality. You can take your budget and opportunity cost numbers and compare them against the cost of a commercial solution and figure out which approach makes sense for your situation.

Also see: Cloud Native Winners and Losers

Key Takeaways: Building DIY Cloud Solutions

What are the most important points you should take away from this article?

• Software competence is a key prerequisite in the age of cloud computing. Grafting legacy software development practices onto cloud infrastructure results in no increase in application velocity. Worse, it may result in higher costs than leaving a legacy application undisturbed. To compete in tomorrow’s economy, you need software chops.
• You need to put a modern path to production system into place ASAP. Industry disruption typified by Web 2.0 companies shows no sign of abating. Failing to begin immediately poses a risk of being left in the dust.
• Carefully consider your approach. DIY is tempting. It seems easy to get started and low cost via the use of open source components. It’s vital you understand the full implications of a home-grown system in terms of cost, staff commitment, and time to value.
• Is your plan comprehensive? Ensure your ultimate solution addresses the entire path to production and encompasses all the tasks that a code update passes through on its way into production.

Keep these items foremost in your mind and you increase your odds of success enormously.

The post Guide to Building DIY Cloud Solutions appeared first on eWEEK.

VMware’s announcement is well-timed, as the edge is where the action is. It’s so vital to enterprise success that ZK Research sees the market doubling—from about $50 billion annually to more than $100 billion—over the next five years.

Much of that will come from the industries where IT and OT (operational technology) are coming together, such as manufacturing and warehousing. Other verticals such as healthcare and retail are looking to use the edge to process information where the data is versus having to backhaul information to a centralized cloud.

Edge Computing Key Announcements 

During the Day 1 keynote on edge computing solutions, VMware announced several new capabilities, solutions, and services to help its customers speed up edge digital transformations.

The announcement included:

• VMware edge orchestration capabilities for multiple edge services.
• A retail edge industry solution for customer engagement, loss prevention, and point-of-sale transformation.
• VMware Edge managed connectivity service, which will soon be available to wireless service providers looking to deliver private 4G/5G services to enterprises.

In his keynote, Sanjay Uppal, VMware’s Senior VP and General Manager of Service Provider and Edge, said, “The growing demand for edge computing across industries is driving the need for automation and orchestration. The VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator is a powerful new tool that extends our proven network automation and orchestration capabilities to help organizations install, configure, operate, and maintain their edge deployments more securely and cost-effectively.”

Critical elements of the announcement:

VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator

Formerly known as the VMware SASE Orchestrator, the company’s Edge Cloud Orchestrator aims to unify management for VMware SASE and the VMware Edge Compute Stack.

Jörg Spindler, Global Head of Manufacturing Engineering at Audi, said in a press release that his company is looking to take its automation at its global factories to the next level with a scalable edge infrastructure. “VMware Edge Compute Stack (ECS) and the VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator (VECO) will offer a scalable way for Audi to operate a distributed edge infrastructure, manage resources more efficiently, and lower its operations costs.”

VMware Edge Compute Stack

Based on the company’s Project Keswick, the Edge Compute Stack enables edge administrators to work with VMware to develop use cases with simplified lifecycle management of VM and container-based applications and infrastructure.

The company believes that customers can consolidate hardware and modernize applications at a speed that matches their business needs. The overall goal is to reduce infrastructure and management overhead so that customers can scale edge operations.

VMware Retail Edge

Retail stores can use VMware Retail Edge to build, run, manage, connect, and protect their business services across all locations to reduce in-store infrastructure costs and management.

According to VMware, retailers can remotely deploy and maintain applications on demand and accelerate the deployment of next-gen AI apps. Retail Edge will integrate with partners to support various retail needs, including customer engagement and loss prevention. Given that the budget for edge may fall outside IT purchasing, rolling out vertical solutions is the right approach.

In the future, I expect to see other industry-specific edges such as transportation, warehousing, and healthcare.

VMware Private Mobile Network

This managed connectivity service aims to speed up edge digital transformation and remove the complexity associated with private mobile. VMware is working with wireless providers Betacom, Boingo Wireless, and Federated Wireless in a beta program ahead of general availability sometime this quarter.

Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO at Boingo, said, “Boingo is collaborating with VMware to enhance our managed private 5G networks that connect mobile and IoT devices at airports, stadiums, and large venues. VMware’s Private Mobile Network simplifies network integration and management, helping us accelerate deployments.”

Also see: Top Edge Companies 

Support for Edge Use Cases

VMware says that its edge solutions will support use cases across:

• Manufacturing: autonomous vehicles, digital twins, inventory management, safety, and security.
• Retail: loss prevention, inventory management, safety, security, and computer vision.
• Energy: increased production visibility and efficiency, reduced unplanned downtime, maintain regulatory compliance.
• Healthcare: IoT wearables, smart utilities, and surgical robotics.

In the Expo Hall, VMware had a Ford F-150 police vehicle with its edge appliance in it that would make license plate scanning and other video analytics much faster than having to punch numbers into a computer manually.

Competitive Advantage and the Broadcom Acquisition 

While there are many edge providers, VMware does have an interesting advantage. Its software-defined data center solution is one of the most widely deployed. It can use its position in the data center and position the edge as an extension of the data center as part of its multi-cloud vision. This would enable VMware customers to manage the edge using the data center’s operational model.

One of the concerns I had going into Explore was that the pending acquisition by Broadcom could slow down innovation, but that does not appear to be the case. With competition only increasing in the coming years, it will be interesting to see how Broadcom’s acquisition—and the integration of Broadcom’s software group into VMware—will change the company.

For now, the focus on the edge is extending VMware’s reach, and this latest announcement is an essential and necessary step in the journey to multi-cloud.

The post VMware Explore: Targeting the Edge appeared first on eWEEK.

Among the topics we discussed:

• Why are previous strategies for data management growing obsolete in today’s multicloud world?
• How can companies improve their data management in this mixed, distributed environment?
• How is VMware addressing the cloud-based data management needs of its clients?
• The future of data management and multicloud? What are some key milestones we can expect in the years ahead?

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