Kevin Jackson

(Originally posted on the Engility Corporation Blog) There's a lot to gain from cloud computing, but success requires a thoughtful and enterprise focused approach. Cloud computing decouples data and information from the infrastructure on which it lies. A process that is a LOT more involved than dragging some folders from your desktop to a shared drive. Cloud computing as a mission transformation activity, not a technological one. As an organization moves from local information hosting to the cloud, one of the most important challenges is addressing cloud computing as a mission transformation activity, not a technological one. Cloud computing isn't a new technology. It's a new way of consuming and provisioning information technology services. Adopting cloud computing means paralleling your mission processes, rethinking the economic models and abstracting your applicati... (more)

Blockchain Business Innovation | @CloudExpo #Cloud #FinTech #Blockchain

Is there more than bitcoin to blockchain? Absolutely, because today's blockchain is opening up a pathtowards the delivery of trusted online services. To understand this statement, you need to see blockchain as more that it's more famous bitcoin use case. As a fundamental digital tool, blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions. If used in this fashion, it can enable transactional applications that can have embedded trust, accountability and transparency attributes. Instead of having a Bitcoin blockchain that is reliant on the exchange of cr... (more)

36 Shades of Hybrid IT | @CloudExpo #PaaS #SaaS #AI #DigitalTransformation

Everyone has heard of the 50 Shades of Grey. But do you know the "36 Shades of Hybrid IT"? These shades are a new way of describing the 36 point solutions across a hybrid IT environment. Enterprises looking to transform the way information technology is leveraged should evaluate their options by analyzing a transition across three specific high-level domains and their relevant sub-domains, namely: IT Implementation Model Traditional Managed Service Provider Cloud Service Provider Technology Service Model Infrastructure-as-a-Service Platform-as-a-Service Software-as-a-Service Dep... (more)

Managing Your Hybrid Cloud | @CloudExpo #AI #ML #Cloud #Cognitive Computing

Runaway cloud computing cost may be causing an information technology industry crisis. Expanding requirements, extended transition schedules and misleading marketplace hype have made "Transformation" a dirty word.  Questions about how to manage cost variances and deviations with assets and cost across different suppliers abound. A  recent Cloud Tech article explained that while public cloud offers considerable cost savings in comparison to private or on-premises based alternatives, there may also be significant hidden costs. Operational features like auto-scaling can cause cost... (more)

Digital Transformation Driven by ITaaS | @CloudExpo #Cloud #ITaaS #DigitalTransformation

When executing an effective digital transformation strategy, management is tasked with placing the right workload into the most appropriate IT environment. This represents a shift from buying parts for self-assembly to composing services through self-serve consumption and pay-per-use models.  Quite often this transition also leads to the adoption of software defined environments across the enterprise infrastructure. Software defined infrastructures do, however, bring with them some very unique challenges. Many of the most prevalent issues are centered around the relatively immat... (more)