Managing the Sprawl: Taking Back Control

A shift in focus for the IT department — the importance of disparate-app management and cloud-platform control

Deep-dive discussions in the CloudFirst Podcast and supporting customers on their cloud migration journey are just some of the valuable discussions I have daily with personas across the IT industry.

During these interactions, one of the most consistent observations that tends to emerge is that organizations are moving to the next stage of their transformation. Whether it be moving from manual- to digital-activity processing, scaling out communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams, or adopting cloud-first methodologies – transformation is clearly key.

Organizations today are faced with a multitude of decisions and the challenges brought about by Covid-19 have meant that organisational spend is being monitored at every level. In most companies, CEOs and CFOs are analysing spreadsheets and scrutinising the costs of applications and IT, in a bid to reduce overheads.

Currently for most, a cloud or multi-cloud solution is a means to an end. The flexibility of removing technology and replacing it with specific SaaS-based requirements has resulted in businesses no longer being driven solely by IT-lead demands.

In today’s world, decisions are being led by the business unit. Previously, the decoupling of apps from IT ownership drove innovation and adoption; today, it appears the issue is understanding total cost of ownership (TCO) — and, in that context, optimal resource management. Today’s business has a real challenge to ensure that these apps are updated, and that adequate security maintenance is in place.

With the SaaS volume growth, there seems to be is a lack of complete awareness amongst organisational departments around the level and extent of data held and the applications with which the data is integrated. As a result, IT departments currently spend excess time managing disparate apps. This time could have been best spent providing much-needed value to digital-transformation initiatives to future-proof the organisation.

SaaS application and cloud sprawl are seemingly well understood in many organisations. However, the challenges that most organisations face is a growing shortage of tools-management expertise, test-service management discipline, and, in some cases, subject-matter expertise. Lacking in these critical functional areas is likely to impact negatively when attempting to maintain governance, business-process continuity, and usability of technology to best serve the business. Success in these areas would enable effective decision-making in terms of ongoing application suitability, applicability, and worthiness of continued investment — improved TCO.

With the SaaS volume growth, there seems to be is a lack of complete awareness amongst organisational departments around the level and extent of data held and the applications with which the data is integrated. As a result, IT departments currently spend excess time managing disparate apps. This time could have been best spent providing much-needed value to digital-transformation initiatives to future-proof the organisation.

SaaS application and cloud sprawl are seemingly well understood in many organisations. However, the challenges that most organisations face is a growing shortage of tools-management expertise, test-service management discipline, and, in some cases, subject-matter expertise. Lacking in these critical functional areas is likely to impact negatively when attempting to maintain governance, business-process continuity, and usability of technology to best serve the business. Success in these areas would enable effective decision-making in terms of ongoing application suitability, applicability, and worthiness of continued investment — improved TCO.

I recently caught up with Rich Froble VP Product Strategy and Lauren Kopec Director, Functional Services at Data Intensity to discuss this very topic — listen to the CloudFirst podcast here. Our conversation is enlightening.

Data Intensity’s Global Resource Team is deeply skilled in functional application testing, integration technologies, and SaaS/IaaS platforms, all of which can be tailored to meet the most demanding IT Test Centre of Excellence needs. The two primary pillars of the Data Intensity Cloud Sprawl Management-as-a-Service (CSMaaS) portfolio include:

  • SaaS Test Assurance Services
  • Cloud Integration Management

For more information on our Oracle Cloud Management services, reach out to us contact@dataintensity.com or using the form below:

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