Laura Shiff – BMC Software | Blogs

System Administrator vs Security Administrator: What’s the Difference?

Laura Shiff — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00:56 +0000

To those who are not immersed in the complex and constantly evolving world of IT, many of the roles filled by tech experts might appear to be the same. However, as these positions become increasingly relevant for companies, it is crucial to understand the difference between jobs and why they might be needed.

In this article, we’re talking about the roles and responsibilities of system administrators and security administrators. Though the names and jobs are similar, there are distinct differences in these IT-focused administrator roles.

Terminology

System administrator is often shortened to the buzzy title of sysadmin. More formally, some companies refer to their sysadmin as a network and computer systems administrator.

A security administrator, on the other hand, can have several names, including security specialist, network security engineer, and information security analyst.

As always, the job title is less important than the specific roles and responsibilities that a company may expect from the position.

What’s a system administrator (sysadmin)?

Computer networks are crucial to business, and they require a dedicated employee or several employees to manage the day-to-day operations of the network. That’s where system administrators come in.

A system administrator—often shortened to sysadmin—is an IT professional who supports the computing environment of a company and ensures the continuous and optimal performance of its IT services and support systems. Sysadmins are essentially in charge of “keeping the lights on” for the organization, in turn limiting work disruptions.

Roles & responsibilities

As their responsibilities focus on daily network operations, system administrators are charged with a wide swath of computer work: organizing, installing, and supporting the computer systems, which can include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), network segments, intranets, and other data communication systems.

Several metrics—like uptime, performance, resources, and security—can help a sysadmin determine that the system meets the users’ needs within the company’s budget.

Responsibilities of a system administrator may include:

Anticipating needs of the network and computer systems before setting it up
Installing network hardware and software
Ensuring and implementing upgrades and repairs in a timely manner
Maintaining network and computer system security
Understanding and solving problems as automated alerts occur
Collecting data to help evaluate and optimize performance
Adding and assigning users and network permissions, as determined by the organization
Training users in proper use of hardware and software

Peers & reporting

A system administrator likely reports to an IT department head.

Unlike some IT positions, sysadmins have a unique responsibility to communicate and problem solve with colleagues both within and beyond the IT team. Because a sysadmin solves problems for and trains all users, including non-IT employees, communication is imperative.

System administrator job skills

In terms of skills needed, sysadmins need to know a little bit of everything. Beyond formal education, strong system administrators will need to possess several vital skills, including analytical, communication, multitasking, and problem-solving skills.

System administrators must also have skills such as:

Leadership abilities
Hardware knowledge
Strong management skills
Attention to detail
Critical thinking
Basic programming skills

Education & requirements

Some businesses may require that a system administrator hold a BS in a computer-related field, though some companies may only require a post-secondary degree.

Specific training and certifications alongside hands-on experience can strengthen a candidate’s position, especially when he or she hasn’t earned a BS. Common training and certifications for system administrators are offered by Microsoft and Cisco, including the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate and the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification.

Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the employment of system administrators will grow by 5% by 2030–a rate that is slower than the average growth rate across all national occupations.

Despite this limited growth, it is still estimated that there will be close to 25,000 job openings a year for network and computer systems administrators. It is also projected that the demand for IT workers should continue to grow as companies invest in newer, faster, and more advanced technology.

The median annual wage for network and computer systems administrators was $84,810 in May 2020.

What is a security administrator?

The information stored within computers and infrastructure is crucial to business. In turn, security is of the utmost importance—particularly today, when individuals and sovereign nations threaten cybersecurity attacks. Security administrators are employees who test, protect, and ensure the hardware, software, and the data within the computer networks, is secure.

A security administrator is the lead point person for the cybersecurity team. They are typically responsible for the entire system and ensure that it is defended as a whole. They will often install, administer, and troubleshoot an organization’s security solutions, and then make certain it is kept secure from any type of outside, or inside, threat.

Roles & responsibilities

Where a system administrator knows a lot about many sectors of IT, a security administrator specializes in the security of the computers and networks.

In general, computer security, also known as IT security or cyber security, includes protecting computer systems and networks from the theft and/or damage to hardware, software, or information. It also includes preventing disruption or misdirection of these services. This should include knowledge of specific security devices, like firewalls, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the IoT. This also includes general security measures and an ability to stay abreast of new security sector developments.

Specific roles and responsibilities of a security administrator may include:

Monitoring networks for security breaches, investing violations as occurs
Developing and supporting organizational security standards, best practices, preventative measures, and disaster recovery plans
Conducting penetration tests (simulating cyberattacks to find vulnerabilities before others can find them)
Reporting on security breaches to users, as necessary, and to upper management
Implementing and updating software to protect information
Staying up to date on IT security trends and information
Recommending security enhancements to management and C-suite executives

Peers & reporting

Due to the necessity of network and data security, security administrators often report directly to upper management, which could be a CIO or CTO.

Security administrators frequently partner with sysadmins for implementing new changes to the network for security purposes.

Education & requirements

At a minimum, security administrators are expected to hold a BS in computer science, programming, or a similar field. Some companies prefer to hire candidates that hold a MS in computer systems or an MBA in information systems.

In addition, companies frequently prefer candidates who are certified in specific security fields. A common certificate is the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), offered by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)². The CISSP is one of the most sought-after cybersecurity certifications and it is designed to prove the candidate’s deep expertise in the field.

Other top cybersecurity certifications focus on more specific areas, such as systems auditing or penetration testing.

Security administrator job skills

Work skills are just as important as formal education for the role of a security administrator. Candidates should be detail-oriented and analytical, as security vulnerabilities are often tiny, hard-to-notice parts of the program or network. Problem-solving and communication skills are necessary, as well, especially when training or helping non-IT colleagues.

It is also important for security administrators to have:

Strong leadership capabilities
Technical expertise and experience with the ability to develop a security plan, coordinate and implement it, and monitor the IT environment
A dedication to a collaborative approach and mindset
An understanding of regulatory standards and how to ensure the business achieves compliance

Outlook

The BLS anticipates a significant growth in the security administrator role, predicting employment will expand by 33% by 2030. This growth rate is much faster than the average for all occupations nationwide, which are currently sitting at a growth rate of 8% from 2020 to 2030.

As our economy relies more on hardware, software, and information, the need to protect them grows exponentially. With this, the need for security analysts and administrators will continue to be extremely high. As cyberattacks grow in frequency and complexity, it will be crucial that these professionals be able to come up with innovative and effective solutions.

The median annual wage for information security analysts was $103,590 in May 2020.

Security vs system administrators: Both critical

Whether you are a company looking for assistance with IT and security, or you are looking for a new role, understanding the difference between system administrators and security administrators can be an important factor in ensuring all company needs are being met. The future of these jobs is secure, and the need for strong IT professionals will only continue to grow.

What Does a System Architect Do?

Laura Shiff — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:03 +0000

In the ever-evolving world of IT, having strong systems and networks is crucial. Companies that are able to create goals surrounding their systems are sure to see growth, but they can’t stop there. It is necessary to have someone in charge of not only ensuring that these goals are met in terms of technology, but also that the technology is:

Designed correctly
Deployed efficiently
Maintained across its lifecycle

Enter in: the system architect.

While professionals in this role might have more freedom in their overall daily job functions, there is still a general set of responsibilities required of them. We have put together some information to explain what a system architect does.

What is a system architect?

A system architect is in charge of devising, configuring, operating, and maintaining both computer and networking systems. They objectively analyze desired processes and outcomes and advise on the right combination of IT systems and components to achieve specific business, department, team, or functional goals.

System architecture is closely aligned with service design.

Similar to how civil engineers need to have a complete understanding of bridges and everything they encompass, system architects must be highly proficient in understanding:

How much stress computer systems can take
How they need to be used
What is needed for the system designs to hold up

Levels of system architects

The system architect works at several different levels in IT, from high-level business strategy to low-level project consulting.

At the highest level, system architects help to define and decide on the right IT strategy and approach that will best support long-term business plans and goals.
At the medium level, system architects advise on the best tools, frameworks, hardware, software, and other IT elements to achieve mid-term departmental and functional objectives.
At the lowest level, system architects consult with and advise project teams on the specific software, hardware, and other elements needed to deliver defined IT project outcomes.

System architects are business and technology experts. They look at business plans and goals, analyze technical solutions, and create recommendations on the right mix of IT elements to achieve those objectives.

The roles of a system architect

A system architect role can be split into five areas:

Understand the desired business or departmental strategy and outcome.
Break down those outcomes into defined parts including products, processes, and functions.
Decide on the right architecture to achieve what they have defined.
Understand software, hardware, and user interactions, integrations, and interfaces.
Advise project teams on implementing their recommended solutions.

System architects are often senior engineers and strategists and work with stakeholders throughout IT and the business as a whole. They must absorb large amounts of information, analyze it for key factors, and provide clear, easily implementable recommendations.

Let’s explore the key parts of a system architect’s role:

Understand the desired business or departmental strategy and outcome

IT is a crucial component of almost every business process. When the business wants to launch new products, improve efficiencies, or gain a competitive advantage, this will be captured in the strategy.

A system architect will analyze business strategy and discuss all key areas and initiatives with business strategists and high-level managers. They will translate those requirements into a demand for new or enhanced IT capabilities over the short-, medium-, and long-term.

Break down outcomes into defined parts

Once the system architect understands business and departmental demands, they will analyze and understand what specific IT capabilities will be needed. They will define this in system architecture documents for each major initiative. This becomes an important reference document to ensure consistency and clarity across all project and IT implementations.

Documentation may include:

The name, purpose, and outcome of the initiative
The main features, functionality, and processes for the initiative
Overall IT methodology and frameworks impacting the initiative
Key existing infrastructure and applications
New staffing or resource requirements
Ideas for potential software and hardware solutions

Decide on the right IT architecture

When the business decides to implement an initiative, the system architect will build out the planned IT architecture model. They will recommend specific IT hardware, software, methodologies, and approaches to help the business achieve the desired outcome.

A system architect takes the following areas into account:

Alignment with overall goals
Specific business requirements
The existing IT ecosystem
New and established technologies
IT resources and staffing
Cost control and return on investment
End user and customer needs and experience
Availability, responsiveness, reliability, and resilience of critical elements
Alignment with architecture standards and best practice
IT service management and support

Understand integrations, interfaces & interactions

A system architect doesn’t just focus on IT elements in isolation. They also look at integrations with existing systems, interfaces with people and other applications, and how users will interact with the deliverable. UI and UX is becoming an increasingly important part of the system architect role, as well.

Advise project teams on recommended solutions

System architects work closely with project teams to help them turn the architecture and their vision into reality. They can advise on design and build, testing, and implementation. Feedback from engineers and end users will feedback into system design to ensure it aligns with both business goals and user needs.

Systems architect skills

While the specific skills needed for the role will vary according to the company and industry, there are some general skills needed to be a successful system architect:

Experience with computer servers, network switches, load balancers, network analyzers, and network channel or data service units
Knowledge of developing strategic system architecture plans
Solid understanding of network and system development and deployment
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and conceptual abilities
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Experience with information processing fundamentals and best practices
Ability to prioritize tasks, especially when under pressure
Above-average leadership and collaboration abilities

Job outlook for the system architect

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for a systems architect is projected to grow about 5% from 2020 to 2030, a rate that is slower than the average for all occupations. Despite this, there is estimated to be over 11,000 job openings per year for the position.

Looking at the next decade, the need for this job will not go away. System architects hold an important position with the IT department, and overall company, and their skills are critical to the success of the organization’s infrastructure.

The system architect role is vital to the successful definition, design, delivery, and support of any IT project. Whether an organization is looking to create new systems, or is in the process of strengthening and growing already existing ones, having a qualified system architect on the team will make all the difference.

2022’s Top Conferences for Programming & Software Development

Laura Shiff — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 00:00:32 +0000

Staying up to date with the latest developments is vital in any technology field, but especially when it comes to software development and programming. One of the fastest—also the most enjoyable—ways to do this is to attend a conference, but with thousands available, where do you start?

Like every year, we put together this directory of the top programming and software development conferences that are most beneficial to you, the programmers and developers. Although some conferences will still be held virtually this year, many have moved back to a hybrid model, with options for professionals to attend in-person or online.

This directory will be updated as more conferences announce details, so check back regularly. To add a programming or software development conference to this directory, contact us at blogs@bmc.com with details of the event, including the conference name, dates, location, and a link to the event’s website.

(This article is part of our IT Conferences & Events Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

Top Programming & Software Development Conferences for 2022

Oracle Developer Live

Dates: March 22, Americas; March 24, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Japan, Asia-Pacific
Location: Various

Oracle Developer Live is a series of free virtual events that feature keynotes, technical sessions, hands-on labs, demos, and panels and participation in a live Q&A with experts. Subject matter experts from the Java Platform Group at Oracle will deliver technical content that helps developers create the next generation of rich, scalable, and secure enterprise applications for a wide variety of environments.

Attendees will learn more about:

Modern Java programming tips and techniques
Syntax improvements to the Java language
High-throughput, lightweight concurrency, and new programming models on the Java platform
Broad support of Java developer frameworks

Microsoft Ignite

Date: TBA
Location: Online
Cost: $2,395

The Microsoft Ignite conference is Microsoft’s annual meeting specifically for enterprise professionals, services, and products Ignite offers its 25,000+ attendees priority access to technical training, new and innovative tools, and opportunities to network with peers and experts in the tech community.

Of course, the past few years moved online, and this year’s edition will stay digital, too. MyIgnite, as they’ve dubbed it, doesn’t have much detail out yet, but take a look at all the 2021 content that’s on demand to get a sense of what you can expect this year, including sessions such as:

Innovate Anywhere From Multicloud to Edge
Protect Everything with End-to-End Security
Microsoft Ignite Into Focus: Data & AI
Accelerate Cross-Organization Collaboration with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365

DEVintersection

Date: April 5-7
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Cost: $1,649-$1,799

DEVintersection is an annual conference led by top Microsoft experts as they dive deep into new software developments and its intersection with technology. Featuring 100+ in-depth sessions presented by Microsoft engineers and other industry leaders, the 2022 conference will cover topics such as Azure, SQL Server, AI, Big Data, Machine Learning, and more.

Speakers of the 2022 event will include:

Scott Hanselman, Principal Community Architect for Web Platform and Tools | Microsoft
George Howell, General Manager of the Solliance Media Practice | Solliance
Kathleen Dollard, Principal Program Manager | Microsoft
Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications & Platform | Microsoft

ACCU 2022

Date: April 6-9
Location: Bristol, UK & Online

The ACCU Conference is the annual conference of the ACCU membership club, but open to any and all who wish to attend. This year’s event is taking place both in-person and online, with a mix of sessions and topics.

The ACCU Conference has always had C++ at its core, but has, from the outset, always been about programming languages, programming tools and techniques, and programming processes. ACCU Conference is a conference by programmers and developers about programming and developing.

This year’s keynotes are Guy Davidson, Hannah Dee, Patricia Aas, and Titus Winters.

DrupalCon

Date: April 25-28
Location: Portland, Oregon
Cost: $895-$1,395

DrupalCon is the international educational event that unites the people who use, develop, design and support the Drupal platform. It is the premiere conference to hone your Drupal skills, connect with the community, and learn about the future of web technologies happening with Drupal.

The 2022 DrupalCon will be hosted in-person from Portland, Oregon and will offer keynotes from industry leaders, breakout sessions, informal discussion groups, industry summits and trainings, workshops, social events, and more.

PowerShell & DevOps Global Summit

Date: April 25-28
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Cost: $1,875

The PowerShell and DevOps Global Summit is an annual event featuring expert presenters and an opportunity for the entire PowerShell community to network and share ideas. With a focus on Microsoft’s PowerShell automation and configuration tool, the conference offers attendees the opportunity to engage with experts, product team members, and like-minded peers.

The 2022 conference is back to live and in-person, which is an excellent opportunity for networking if you’re working with PowerShell, Desired State Configuration, and related technologies—especially if you’re moving towards a DevOps environment.

DevOpsCon Hybrid Edition

Date: April 26- 29
Location: London, UK & Online
Cost: £669-£1529

DevOpsCon is a leading conference for everything related to Continuous Delivery, microservices, cloud, and Lean business. The 2022 edition is again going hybrid, with fully online or in-person options available.

Attendees of the hybrid conference can expect all the normal top-notch events, from speaker sessions to keynotes to hands-on workshops on the latest developments in DevOps, including:

Microservices
Agile threat monitoring
Continuous delivery with machine learning (CD4ML)
Cloud privacy
And much more!

DockerCon

Date: May 10
Location: Online
Cost: Free

DockerCon focuses on Docker and its support of next generation distributed apps that are built with containers. Like last year, DockerCon 2022 will be an entirely free, entirely online event, so the value it provides is open to all.

According to their placeholder webpage, virtual attendees can expect:

Product and innovation demos, from both Docker and Docker partners
Deep technical sessions led by Docker experts, Docker Captains, and other industry leaders
Community connection with global Docker enthusiasts

(Check out our Docker Guide.)

Facebook F8

Date: Events throughout the year
Location: Online

Facebook F8 is intended for developers and entrepreneurs who build products and services around the social media platform. In typical years, the event features over 50 different sessions and focuses on all concepts related to the social media giant, with deep-dive sessions and product demos that showcased the latest in AI, open source, AR/VR, developer programs as well as new tools across Facebook’s family of apps.

While the highlight of the conference is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, attendees can usually expect at least one big announcement, as well, regarding the products or new innovations surrounding the site.

There are no major details released at this point but be sure to check back for more updates as they are announced.

Apple WWDC22

Date: TBA
Location: Online
Cost: Free

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWCD) is Apple’s largest event for developers— it dominates the tech scene and garners the attention of press, industry experts, customers, and developers.

WWDC22 will offer unique insight into the future of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Building on the record-breaking participation and learnings from last year’s online conference, WWDC22 is the time for developers to learn about new technologies, tools, and frameworks to help build innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games.

DeepSource Next ’22

Date: TBA
Location: Online
Cost: Free

DeepSource Next is an annual virtual conference by DeepSource focused around the future of code reviews and the practice of writing good code. Listen to exciting product updates, keynotes, panels featuring some of the most prominent people in the developer tools ecosystem, along with fireside chats and expert insights.

Speakers of Next ‘22 will include:

Dan Stowell, VP of Engineering, Replit
Gregory Koberger, Founder, ReadMe
Jai Pradeesh, Co-founder, DeepSource
John Kinsella, Chief Architect, Accurics

UXDX 2022 (Multiple dates)

UXDX USA
Date: May 24-26
Location: New York City & Online

UXDX APAC
Date: June 22-24
Location: Online

UXDX EMEA
Date: October 12-14
Location: Dublin, Ireland & Online

UXDX, the fastest-growing product development conference in Europe, is hosting its inaugural UXDX USA conference in May 2022 along with events in APAC in June and EMEA in October. The mission of UXDX USA is to deliver real change in teams, helping you take a full-systems view of software development.

The conference this year will feature a variety of sessions, including:

How To Build A Consistent, Efficient & Scalable Design System
Security and Privacy when Building Great Products
Building A Unified Product Team In The Midst Of Accelerated Growth
How To Experiment In A Zero Failure Environment
Aligning on a Way of Working Vision

UXDX helps teams shift from working in projects to autonomous product teams delivering real business and customer value. It bridges the barriers between Product, UX, Design, and Dev to help organizations create successful product teams.

Product Camp

Date: 2-3 June 2022
Location: Gdynia, Poland
Cost: Tickets on sale by April

ProductCamp is an immersive 2-day event for Product Managers, Designers, Researchers, Growth Hackers, and all professionals who discover, design, manage, and grow digital products. Each day opens and ends with the keynote. Everything in between is a barcamp = 50+ presentations run simultaneously across six rooms. A transformative peer-to-peer learning and networking experience, you can expect to hear participants share their own stories, lessons, and project insights.

Open Source Summit (Multiple dates)

North America
Date: June 21-24
Location: Austin, Texas & Online
Cost: $800- $1,200

Europe
Date: September 13- 16
Location: Dublin, Ireland & Online

Open Source Summit is North America and Europe’s premier vendor-neutral conference for open source developers and technologists to collaborate, share information, and learn about the latest technologies and innovations across open source.

The Open Source Summit is a combination of three sub-conferences—LinuxCon, ContainerCon, and CloudOpen—which annually brings together more than 2,000 developers, operators, and industry leaders to learn about the latest trends in open source and dive into the newest technologies.

It covers cornerstone open source technologies; helps ecosystem leaders to navigate open source transformation with the Diversity Empowerment Summit and tracks on business and compliance; and delves into the newest technologies and latest trends touching open source, including networking, cloud-native, edge computing, AI and much more.

DevOpsCon

Date: September 27-30
Location: New York City & Online

DevOps Con is noted as “The Conference” for Continuous Delivery, Microservices, Docker, Clouds, and Lean Business. DevOps Con is held in both German and English. This year’s event is again hybrid, so it’s your choice whether to attend online or in person in New York.

The in-person conference typically includes an expo floor as well as more than 60 unique sessions and keynotes and provides information about the latest tools, technologies, and methodologies for building and maintaining secure, scalable, and resilient software systems.

Tracks of the past conferences include topics such as:

Kubernetes Ecosystem
Microservices & Software Architecture
Continuous Delivery & Automation
Cloud Platforms & Serverless
Security
Business & Company Culture
Monitoring, Traceability & Diagnostics

QCon

Date: October 24-26
Location: San Francisco, California
Cost: $2,050-$3,190

QCon is an international software development conference that helps software teams adopt new trends and technologies. The event will be back live in San Francisco, with attendees sure to see some major announcements and speakers.

Some benefits of attending QCon are:

Learn from practitioners driving innovation and change in software
Identify best practices from those working on in-production projects
Uncover emerging trends and tools
Focus on patterns & practices, not products or pitches
Acquire implementable ideas for your projects
Meet software leaders from innovator and early adopter companies
Validate your software development roadmap

DeveloperWeek Virtual

Date: February 15-23, 2023
Location: San Francisco Bay, California & Online

DeveloperWeek is one of the largest expo conferences for developers in the world, with regular attendance of more than 8,000 professionals every year. This year, DevWeek moves to a hybrid format, with options of the regular in-person event as well as online at a significantly lower price point.

The conference is broken into a variety of topical tracks:

APIs & Microservices
AI & Machine Learning
JavaScript
Containers & Kubernetes
DevExec World
DevLeads
DevOps Summit
IoT & Hardware
Product World
BlockDev
New Developer Technologies (Python/Data & Databases)

Top Programming Conferences of 2022

No matter which of these programming conferences you choose, you will surely gain access to some of the latest technologies and methods in the industry while understanding insights from the top experts in the world.

Multi-Cloud vs Hybrid Cloud: What’s The Difference?

Laura Shiff — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 00:00:49 +0000

Gone are the days of cloud environments being a luxury for the modern enterprise—today they are a complete necessity. For organizations across all industries, having the ability to choose the cloud environment that makes the most sense for the business is important.

But when it comes to the different types of clouds, it can quickly get confusing, specifically with names like hybrid cloud and multi-cloud.

The confusion between hybrid cloud and multi-cloud is compounded by the fact that they’re often used interchangeably. Although it can seem like a semantic argument, there is a real difference between the two, and the distinction will only continue to grow more important as multi-cloud models become the norm.

So, what are the differences between hybrid cloud and multi-cloud? Why would a company choose one or the other? Let’s break it down.

(Get the basics right with our private vs public cloud comparison.)

What is multi-cloud?

Simply put, multi-cloud means that an organization uses multiple cloud services—services like SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. These cloud services are public, and are often from numerous different cloud providers. Public clouds are those in which businesses or individuals outsource application and/or infrastructure hosting to a third party, like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google.

There are a variety of reasons that a company might choose to use multiple clouds, including:

Achieving best-of-breed results for different requirements and departments
Decreasing costs
Increasing flexibility
Avoiding vendor lock-in
Minimizing dependence on any particular provider

Whatever the reason for their multi-cloud strategy, an organization’s multiple public clouds usually need to operate in combination with other types of cloud environments to fully encompass all of the organization’s needs.

(Learn all about setting up your multi-cloud strategy.)

What is a hybrid cloud?

Enter: the hybrid cloud. A hybrid cloud combines the public cloud with a private cloud, which is solely dedicated to the end-user. Traditionally, private clouds were located within the user’s firewall, on-premises, but now they are more commonly built on rented, vendor-owned data centers off-premises.

Hybrid cloud differs from multi-cloud in two big ways:

It usually includes a combination of private and public clouds.
Its data and processes typically intermingle, working to complement each other, instead of staying in their own separate silos.

Similar to multi-cloud, there are some common reasons why businesses would choose to utilize a hybrid cloud:

Maintaining private infrastructure, including easy accessibility security, compliance, and disaster recovery
Embracing agile ways of working while streamlining daily workflows and functionality
Scaling in the most cost- and resource-effective way
Ensuring highly sensitive data and information remains on-premises

Multi vs hybrid cloud: How to choose

Finding the right variety of cloud deployments and services comes down to a number of factors, such as:

Cost

A majority of the time public clouds come with less overhead than other types of similar infrastructures, making a multi-cloud model a good option for those looking to cut costs. The cloud vendor itself handles the responsibilities that come with maintaining a data center such as security updates and provisioning servers. This helps take those tasks, and expenses, off of the end-user.

(Consider the differences between CapEx & OpEx.)

Security

As mentioned, a hybrid model allows businesses to utilize the scaling benefits of a public cloud with the privacy and security assurances of an on-premises infrastructure.

For institutions with highly confidential information—healthcare providers, financial firms, corporations, legal entities—it makes sense, and minimizes risk, to secure this data on private clouds.

(Explore cloud security best practices.)

Hybrid cloud vs multi-cloud

At the end of the day, while the terminology may be complicated, both models offer organizations the precision to provide business services in an efficient and effective way. No matter what you call it, the use of multiple clouds is here to stay.

BMC supports modern enterprises—in the cloud & on-premises

At BMC, we’re always looking for ways to help you do business better. Whether you’re working in the cloud, on-premises, or—our hunch—a mix of both, we’re here to help. Start with this free (!) tool that estimates the cost of any cloud migration.

Top 24 IT/Tech Conferences of 2022

Laura Shiff — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Each year, hundreds of tech and IT conferences deliver access to top professionals, sneak peeks of the latest technologies, and unique networking opportunities that can help you advance your career. With so many available, however, how can you choose?

We have researched and curated a list of the top IT and tech conferences of 2022 and are excited to share it with you. This list is ordered by date and will be updated regularly, so check back often.

Feel free to reach out if you would like to add a tech/IT conference to the directory. To be considered, please email all details including the conference name, dates of the event, location, and a link to the event’s website to blogs@bmc.com.

(This article is part of our IT Conferences & Events Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

Top IT Conferences of 2022

Digital Workplace Experience: Virtual Conference Series

Date: February 2-3, May 4-5, October 5-6
Location: Online
Cost: Free

Digital Workplace Experience (DWX) is turning their usual three-day event into a series of free virtual events throughout the year. The focus of these events is on successful digital workplaces and how your company can become one. This event offers unparalleled access to the latest independent research and the professionals who are leading industry advancements.

Each of the events has its own theme:

February 2-3: Welcome to the New Now of Employee Experience
May 4-5: Embracing and Optimizing the Hybrid Workplace
October 5-6: The Top Conference for Digital Workplace Leaders

Some speakers of the 2022 events will include Carla Harris, Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Morgan Stanley; Loran Nordgren, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and Author of The Human Element; Alexandra Samuel, Tech Writer and Data Journalist, Author of Remote, Inc.; and Tom Wujec, Expert on Innovation and Author of The Future of Making.

Adobe Summit

Date: March 15-17
Location: Online
Cost: Free

The Summit is focused on all things customer experience, offering actionable insights on how to best serve your customers, drive business growth, and increase customer loyalty. Attendees at the Adobe Summit will gain valuable ideas, tools, and techniques for making the most of Adobe Marketing Cloud. Thanks to this summit, you can learn how to bring all your content and data together in one place.

Some of the content tracks of the 2022 event will cover:

Analytics for Customer Journeys
B2B Marketing
Collaborative Work Management
Content Management for Personalized Experiences
Customer Data Management
Omnichannel Marketing and Optimization
Personalization at Scale
Trends and Inspiration

MIT Technology Review Presents: EmTech Digital 2022

Date: March 29-30
Location: In-person and online
Cost: Virtual- $850, In-person- $2,895

MIT Technology Review is back in person for the latest in its EmTech Events Series: EmTech Digital 2022, the esteemed media outlet’s annual event on everything AI.

Join industry leaders, executives, and experts as they examine last year’s amazing advances in AI and discuss the most pressing issues in AI adoption, ethics, and trust. Featured topics of discussion include:

Better Data, Better AI
Innovation to Reality
Harness What’s Possible at the Edge
Generative AI Solutions
What’s Next for Deep Learning
Making AI Work for All

IBM Think

Date: May 10-11
Location: Online and In-person
Cost: TBD

IBM Think is IBM’s global flagship conference and is the premier conference for AI, cloud, security, and IT infrastructure. The event is for anyone interested in transforming industries and creating better solutions, whether you are a developer, designer, architect, security executive, or analyst.

The conference includes top keynotes, over 200 sessions, and plenty of opportunities for networking with topics that span the Cloud, Dev, Internet of Things, Mobile, Security, Watson, and IBM Research.

SHARE Dallas 2022

Date: March 27-30
Location: Dallas, Texas
Cost: $2,199- $2,899

SHARE is an event handcrafted by volunteers to help professionals expand knowledge, enhance skills, and increase organizational efficiency by focusing on SHARE’s three main tenets: Educate, Network, Influence. SHARE provides an opportunity for attendees to enjoy a longstanding tradition of advancing the enterprise technology industry through interactive meetups, networking events, keynotes, and sessions.

Some tracks of the 2022 event include:

Container technology
Mainframe hardware
Software architecture
Women in IT
New and innovative technologies
Data center management

BMC will be participating as a Silver sponsor with booth #107.

Mon. 3/28, 8:00AM in Cumberland AM: MVS Program Opening and Keynote panel featuring April Hickel, BMC VP of Strategy
Mon. 3/28, 3:30PM in Cumberland L: Tailor Fit- Consumed Too Much, Time for a Diet? by Donald Zeunert, Principal Software Consultant
Tues. 3/29, 7:00AM in Reunion Ballroom A: (PSP) Ransomware, The Dark Web & Cyber Resiliency by Mark Wilson, Sr. Director Consulting Services
Tues. 3/29, 8:00AM in Reunion Ballroom B: Data Leakage Protection (DLP) & IBM Z – What’s the Story? by Mark Wilson, Sr. Director Consulting Services
Wed. 3/30, 8:00AM in Cumberland IJ: Integrity and Mainframes, What Does it Really Mean by Mark Wilson, Sr. Director Consulting Services (*live stream)
Wed. 3/30, 10:30AM in Cumberland EF: Mainframe Testing Perspectives by Devanand Karunakaran, Sr. SW Consultant (*live stream)
Wed. 3/30, 11:45AM in Ballroom B: (Lunch & Learn Sponsored Session) ISPW Together With Git Can Take Your DevOps to the Next Level by Tony Anter, DevOps Evangelist and Technologist
Wed. 3/30, 1:00PM in Reunion Ballroom B: (PSP) The Evolution to Intelligent Monitoring: Adding AI, Machine Learning in Embedded Expertise, and Automated Diagnostics by Glenn Everitt, Principal Product Manager
Wed. 3/30, 3:30pm in Reunion Ballroom A: Mainframe Inclusive DevOps- Automated Environment Build and Testing by Devanand Karunakaran, Sr. SW Consultant & Neil Gilford, Sr. SW Consultant

Augmented World Expo 2022

Date: June 1-3
Location: Santa Clara, California
Cost: $395-$1,295

The Augmented World Expo (AWE) is the largest conference and expo on augmented reality in the world. Held each year in Santa Clara, California, this three-day event brings together a huge mix of industry leaders and enthusiasts, including CEOs, CTOs, designers, developers, creative agencies, futurists, analysts, investors, and the top media outlets. AWE brings together more than 5,000 attendees from all over the world, with a large percentage of them representing Fortune 1000 companies.

The 2022 conference is back live and in-person so you can expect the speakers and sessions to be bigger than ever. Learn how startups are creating solutions and organizations are using AR & VR to drive economic growth, encourage empathy and collaboration, democratize healthcare and education, and change the world.

EmTech Next 2022

Date: June 7-8
Location: Online
Cost: $800-$1,200 per person

Tailored to decision-makers across all industries, EmTech Next is a three-day online event that will examine the impact and lessons learned over this past year as we continue to navigate through a forever-changed workforce. Hear from the experts on how advancements in technologies and leadership strategies will advance organizations through a newly revolutionized business world.

Past topics have included:

AI’s impact on workplace productivity, worker privacy, and customer personalization
Critical workforce development as emerging technologies outpace skills
Resiliency leadership lessons to prepare for the next crisis
Normalizing remote work through the optimization of in-person, hybrid, and distributed offices
Business action plans for a world and workforce that demands diversity and seeks social responsibility

MarketplaceLIVE

Date: June 14-15
Location: Online & in-person in New York, New York
Cost: Virtual is free, in-person is $499

Whether you are attending virtually or in-person in NYC, MarketplaceLIVE is the place where the complete community of cloud and digital stakeholders can come together to learn, cross-pollinate ideas, and get inspired in an immersive environment. The event will feature a variety of options, including:

Keynotes & speakers
Customer stories
Networking with like-minded peers
Interactive exhibit spaces
Happy hours
Fireside chats

The theme of MarketplaceLIVE 2022 is “Living on the Edge”, with all sessions and keynotes to relate to this future-focused mindset and how organizations can push the limits to usher in the next era of innovation. Some of the topics covered will cover ideas of how different industries can embrace the edge, such as art, enterprises, humanity, finance, and entertainment.

Digital Enterprise Show

Date: June 14-16
Location: Malaga, Spain
Cost: €60-€1,500

The Digital Enterprise Show (DES) by the Digital World Congress is the world’s leading event on Digital Transformation. The event showcases some of the most cutting-edge technology and aims to connect innovative companies in AI, IoT, Blockchain, Cloud, Cybersecurity, AR/VR, Big Data, and Marketing Automation.

There are sessions for everyone whether you are focused on e-commerce, CRM, digital trust, social media, marketing automation, email marketing, digital marketing, or UX.

Dublin Tech Summit 2022

Date: June 15-16
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Cost: €389

The Dublin Tech Summit is a two-day event that brings together the top global leaders in technology, innovation, and business to help shape the future of trends and technologies. The tech summit saw over 8,000 virtual attendees from 60+ countries last year, quickly solidifying its place as one of the biggest newcomers in the tech conference space.

Sessions follow the eight core themes of the conference: The Internet of Things, Big Data, FinTech, Innovation, MusicXTech, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security.

TNW (The Next Web)

Date: June 16-17
Location: Amsterdam
Cost: Starts at €650

TNW Conference is a highly anticipated technology festival that brings together international technology executives, top-tier investors, and promising startups for two days of business and knowledge sharing. Over the past 12 editions, TNW Conference has grown from a 200-person event to one of the leading technology events, bringing together 15,000 attendees a day and 3,500 companies from all over the world.

Some speakers from past events include:

David Cancel, CEO & Founder, Drift
Ben Hammersley, Futurist, Wired
Mary Gray, Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research
Mark Adams, Head of Innovation, Vice
JPupurna Virji, Senior Manager of Global Engagement, Microsoft

PINK22

Date: June 19-22
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Cost: $2,495- $2,995

Now in its 25th hugely successful year, the annual Pink Elephant 2022 Conference is back with something for everyone. Globally recognized as the world’s premier IT Service Management Conference, Pink25 will cover a vast array of subjects ranging from strategic, tactical, and operational.

Pink has the undisputed reputation for bringing in some of the top experts to speak and present, cultivating what is widely acknowledged as the most content rich program in the industry, including:

Michael Abrashoff, Former Navy Commander, USS Benfold
Ben Nemtin, Bestselling Author
Gene Kim, CTO, Researcher, Founder of IT Revolution, and Co-author of The Phoenix Project, The DevOps Handbook, and The Unicorn Project

Meet BMC at Pink! If you’re seeking to understand why and how to implement best practices according to ITIL, Lean IT, Agile, Scrum or DevOps through strategic, tactical, and operational disciplines, please join us. BMC will be showcasing our BMC Helix SaaS based solutions.

Join us during our Thought Leadership and Lunch and Learn sessions, and continue the ITSM discussion at BMC booth #410 to chat with our experts and find out how we can help your business become an Autonomous Digital Enterprise.

Gartner Digital Workplace Summit

Date: June 21-22
Location: Online
Cost: $975-$1,450

Presented by the world’s leading research and advisory company, the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit will give attendees the chance to be the first to hear about emerging trends and the latest predictions surrounding the future of work. It also provides an action plan to build the digital workplace of tomorrow and offers real-world solutions for leaders to leverage these technologies in their organization.

Previous topics that have been covered at this conference include Gartner Frameworks for Managing Your Digital Workplace, Getting the Most Out of Digital Adoption Solutions, and How to Effectively Manage Hybrid Workers in a Distributed Workplace.

IDUG Virtual North America 2022 Db2 Tech Conference

Date: July 9-14
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Cost: $299

The International Db2 Users Group (IDUG®) is the foremost independent, user-driven community that provides a direct channel to thousands of professional Db2 users across the globe. IDUG’s annual North American event brings Db2 professionals together online this year.

Attendees can expect to experience the latest in Db2 technologies, networking opportunities, and the technical content needed to be successful. Some of the tracks and topics covered at past events include:

New Db2 releases: migrating and effective usage
Analytics & Business Intelligence
New Technologies: Mobile Applications, Cloud, XaaS
Performance, Availability & Security
Application Development and Data Modeling

Gartner Data & Analytics Summit

Date: August 22-24
Location: Orlando, FL
Cost: $975-$1,045

Another industry-leading event from Gartner, this Data & Analytics Summit focuses exactly on that: how your organization can develop a resilient data and analytics strategy that leverages both data-driven decision making and AI. This event is for everyone in your data analytics function, from technical- to senior-level strategy.

The 2022 conference will offer a variety of tracks:

Track A: Leadership and Skills: Be the Change Maker
Track B: Business Strategy and Value: Optimize Impact
Track C: Trust, Governance, and Privacy: An Urgent Imperative
Track D: Analytics Everywhere: Better Decisions Realize Value
Track E: Data Science and Machine Learning: Unleash Innovation
Track F: Artificial Intelligence: Delivering Value at Scale
Track G: Data and Analytics Architecture: Your Digital Acceleration Ecosystem
Track H: Emerging Technologies and Trends: Reach Beyond

IFA (Consumer Electronics Unlimited)

Date: September 2-6
Location: Berlin, Germany

IFA is held in Berlin, Germany, and is the leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. Known for offering an extensive overview of the international market, this six-day event typically attracts close to 240,000 visitors from more than 100 different countries.

IFA serves as the main meeting place for key retailers, buyers, and experts from the industry, showcasing the latest products and innovations. Although it has been virtual or hybrid for the past few years, it will return back to in-person this year, with keynotes and sessions from industry leaders.

Digital Transformation World Series 2022

Date: September 20-22
Location: Copenhagen

Hosted by TM Forum, the Digital Transformation World Series combines inspiring content and how-to knowledge in a highly interactive, festival-like setting that will leave attendees energized and inspired. While it took place online in 2020 and 2021, the event will be live and in-person this year in Copenhagen.

The World Series looks at the growing partnerships between cloud and network providers and how shifting to a hybrid model can help organizations meet changing demands while becoming an agile, efficient, partner-ready business.

IT Arena 2022

Date: September 30-October 2
Location: Lviv, Ukraine

IT Arena is the largest tech event in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, providing productive networking, business matchmaking, and festival spirit. The three-day conference, conducted exclusively in English, brings together more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, investors, developers, business analysts, and designers every year.

The theme of this year’s IT Arena in Lviv is “Beyond Virtual”, with tracks ranging from Startup and Business, to Product and Technology. Some speakers of the 2021 event included: Maye Musk, role model, trend maker, and rule changer; Errol Koolmeister, Former Head of AI Foundation at H&M; and Shameer Khader, Senior Director of AI/ML, Data Science, Digital Health, and Bioinformatics at AstraZeneca.

Big Data and AI Toronto

Date: October 6-7
Location: Toronto, Canada
Cost: The expo is free; $299 to attend the conference

Since 2016, Big Data and AI Toronto has been providing a unique platform for IT decision-makers and data innovators to explore and discuss insights, showcase the latest innovative projects, and connect with other data and analytics professionals. This year’s conference and expo will provide attendees with a 360° view of the industry through a unique 4-in-1 experience: AI, big data, cloud, and cybersecurity.

Network with thousands of attendees and connect with like-minded professionals
Livestream 70+ hours of content via 3 public tracks and 3 conference tracks
150+ speakers from the likes of Facebook, Netflix, Google, Cineplex, GM, Scotiabank
Meet over 20 of the industry’s leading solution providers at the Expo
Discover the current state of technologies and solutions via demo sessions

BMC Exchange 2022

Date: TBD
Location: Online
Cost: Free

Of course, we can’t forget our own flagship event BMC Exchange. The last few years the event took place online, with three days full of live speakers, classes, and brainstorming sessions.

BMC Exchange 2021 offered a customizable format so you could curate content for your career, choosing tracks and sessions relevant to what you need. The event included inspiring keynotes and use case-focused sessions to help you meet today’s technology challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s opportunities. BMC Exchange features:

Exciting keynotes to help you drive organizational change
Interactive, informational, and entertaining sessions focused on your role
Product and strategy insights to see where BMC innovation can take you on your growth path
Exhibition Hall featuring BMC partners, cutting-edge technology vendors, and BMC Innovation Labs

Google Cloud Next ’22

Date: October 11-13
Location: TBD

Google Cloud Next 2022 is the conference to attend if you are interested in hearing more from Google executives about new and updated cloud services. Offering more than 200 sessions, as well as many keynote speakers, Google Next explores broad themes such as service scale and maturity, usable machine learning, and enterprise-friendliness. It also covers topics like embracing the cloud, open source, cloud native architectures, and deep dives on Kubernetes and TensorFlow.

Google Cloud Next ‘21 featured top speakers like:

Sundar Pichai, CEO Google & Alphabet
Thomas Kurian, CEO Google Cloud
Urs Holzle, SVP Technical Infrastructure Google Cloud
Aparna Sinha, Director Product Management Google Cloud

AWS re:Invent 2022

Date: TBD
Location: Las Vegas, NV

AWS re:Invent 2022 is the Amazon Web Services (AWS) annual conference and is the largest gathering of the global cloud community on the globe. This event is dedicated to cloud strategies, operations, security, IT architecture and infrastructure, and developer productivity, all with a focus on AWS features and products.

Back in-person in Las Vegas, the 2022 conference will include keynote announcements, training, and certification programs, over 750 technical sessions, after-hours events, and more opportunities to educate, entertain, and engage with the best and brightest business and IT decision makers, hottest startups, and visionary technology leaders.

ESPC22

Date: November 28- December 1
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Cost: €1795

European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conferences, aka ESPC22, offers affordable, world-class Microsoft 365 learning at your fingertips, from wherever you are in the world. Tune in live or catch up on-demand across 100+ sessions from SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure experts including Microsoft team members, independent community leaders, RDs, MVPs & MCMs.

The event is live and in-person again this year, with the first keynote speaker announced as Jeff Teper, CVP, Microsoft 365 Collaboration with Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive- known as the “Founder of SharePoint”.

Consumer Electronics Shows

Date: January 5-8, 2023
Location: Las Vegas, NV & Online

For over 50 years, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the starting point for the newest technologies and innovations in the world. Held in Las Vegas, CES has been the global gathering place for all those involved in consumer technologies and the next generation of innovations, showcasing products in the areas of 3D Printing, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Computer Hardware/Software/Services, and more.

CES 2022 was able to return home to Las Vegas this year, welcoming over 40,000 attendees in-person from more than 119 different countries. The key speakers of the event were the top caliber you would expect from CES, including:

Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman & CEO, Samsung Electronics, Inc.
Mary Barra, General Motors Chair and CEO
Robert B. Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer, Abbott
Cara Sylvester, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Target
Sarah Franklin, President and Chief Marketing Officer, Salesforce

Top IT & Tech Conferences of 2022

Whether you are a CEO, developer, IT professional, customer, or simply an employee in the technology field, attending one of the above conferences can help you to stay current on the latest trends and up-to-date on the newest innovations and technologies. No matter which one of these you choose, you are guaranteed to walk away with increased personal and professional growth.

IT Director Requirements, Skills & Salaries

Laura Shiff — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:56 +0000

Organizations of all shapes and sizes rely on IT for practically every part of their operations. As business becomes more connected and digitized, it is crucial that companies, no matter the industry, entrust the supervision of the IT department to an experienced and knowledgeable professional: the IT director.

Given the high-impact role, what types of skills might a qualified IT director need to possess in order to meet the expectations of the position? What types of requirements might an organization ask for when searching to fill the role? And what salary should a potential candidate look for when applying?

We have answered all of these questions and more to provide the best background possible about IT director requirements, skills, and salaries.

What is an IT Director?

Nearly every sizable organization has at least one IT director, with many companies even having more than one. Depending on the scale and purpose of a company, the role of the director of technology can vary greatly—the larger the company, the more IT directors there may be.

For the IT director, some responsibilities may include overseeing the infrastructure of technical operations, managing a team of IT employees, and tracking technology in order to:

Achieve business goals
Minimize security risks
Increase user satisfaction
Maintain operations and systems

There are a variety of names this role might be listed as, including Director of Technology, Senior IT Director, Director of Information Technology. Generally, all of these names describe the same general set of job requirements.

Roles & responsibilities

Directors of IT play a crucial role in their companies’ overarching IT management, and they are often responsible for the broad maintenance of the functionality, security, and accessibility of all computer resources within the organization. This includes, but is not limited to:

Networking equipment
Computer hardware and software
Data storage infrastructure
Web applications, including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS

Although this doesn’t cover them entirely, and every role will be different depending on the specific industry and company the position oversees, some other general responsibilities that a director of technology might expect include:

Developing and overseeing SMART goals for hardware, software, and storage
Ensuring strategic capacity planning
Managing all or part of the IT department, including:
- Directly supervising some employees
- Hiring certain members
- Handling employees’ concerns and performances
- Communicating with the technology team and other departments as collaboration requires

Determining business requirements for IT systems
Identifying and eliminating security vulnerabilities with strategic solutions that increase data security
Directing and supporting the implementation of new software and hardware
Identifying and recommending new technology solutions
Managing the organization’s help desk (internal, external, or both)
Coordinating IT activities to ensure data availability and network services with as little downtime as necessary
Overseeing departmental finances, including budgeting and forecasting
Implementing executive policies
Reporting back to the C-suite

IT directors often work closely with the chief technology officer (CTO) and other executives to ensure that all business-critical systems are operating smoothly.

IT director skills needed

The IT director will need to have a balance of internal and external perspective:

Looking inwards towards their team and responsible technologies
Looking outwards to understand the unique business needs across various departments within the company

As such, the necessary professional skills require wide breadth, perhaps more than expertise in a one single area. The skills needed to be a successful IT director include:

Technical skills

Although the IT director might not be the person directly maintaining or fixing the systems, it is going to be important for them to have technical skills and knowledge in order to understand what is going on within the infrastructure.

Communication skills

Given the fact that the IT director serves as a go-between for the senior-level executives and the IT department, having strong communication skills will be crucial, both written and verbal. This role also requires the need to cooperate and collaborate with employees, with both technical and non-technical colleagues.

(Explore other soft skills useful in tech work.)

Leadership skills

As a leader of multiple teams and employees, it goes without saying that leadership skills are necessary in order to be a successful IT director. These skills are going to be needed to not only motivate teams, but to help move the department towards its goals.

(Explore leadership skills for tech roles.)

Analytical skills

Having an analytical mindset to develop and utilize reliable metrics will help the qualified director of IT to generate solutions to a wide array of technology-related problems. The director must then be able to:

Take their analysis
Research the best solutions for it
Come to a final decision on the best way to solve it

(Learn more about data analytics.)

Organizational skills

Staying organized and focused are more skills that are going to be necessary for any interested IT director. Being able to coordinate the work and schedules of many people across numerous departments requires someone who can multi-talk and juggle multiple responsibilities at a time. These tasks are to be completed while the director also manages their own workload and priorities.

Business skills

There are many parts of an IT director’s job that do not include technical aspects, but rather, non-technical components that relate to business in general, including financial skills like budgeting, forecasting, and justifying.

By being familiar with business skills and having a managerial role within the company, the director of IT can better help to develop and implement plans to achieve the organization’s tech goals.

(Explore our IT Cost Management Guide.)

IT director education & requirements

Common requirements for a director of technology position include:

A bachelor’s degree in programming, computer science, computer engineering, or another related field with advanced course experience in mathematics, computer programming, and software development
Several years’ experience managing employees within an IT environment
Several years’ experience working with particular systems that are relevant to the company (For instance, EMR/EHR systems in healthcare technology, or finance-specific databases for mutual funds and banking institutions)

Due to the complex nature of this senior position, many larger organizations may require their director of IT to hold a graduate degree, such as an MBA or an MS in information technology. Both of these will only enhance the director’s knowledge base, not to mention increase their abilities to manage and oversee large teams of people.

It is not typically required for IT directors to be an expert in multiple programming languages or certified in every network, but instead they must possess a broad understanding of tech theories and applications from a macro-level. It is also important to understand new trends and shifts in technology, considering what may benefit the IT department while balancing the organization’s business needs and budget.

Peers & reporting

Looking up the career ladder, a director of technology often reports directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), providing updates and requesting resource support for the entire technology team that the director oversees.

Within the role, the director will likely oversee one or several IT teams and may work alongside several other IT directors, all with responsibilities around various technologies and team functions.

Just as important as who the director of technology reports to is who the director of technology oversees and leads. While a director’s role seems to cover a lot of systems, it’s really the people that the director oversees. A director of technology is likely responsible for answering these questions:

Are individual IT teams achieving their goals?
Are the teams having issues bringing their product or solution to the finish line?
Are other departments supporting the IT department in providing the necessary support, resources, infrastructure, etc.?

The ways these questions will be answered depend on a lot of factors including the size of the company, the technologies deployed, the overarching philosophy of tech within the enterprise, and the scope of the director of technology.

Of course, the organization’s industry will have an impact on the job itself, as well. Education, government, non-profit, and healthcare sectors combined comprise nearly one-third of the director of technology positions nationwide. Smaller percentages go to financial, business, and software services, respectively.

Professional development for IT directors

It’s smart for leaders to partake in professional development opportunities in order to stay abreast of the latest trends, emerging management theories, and how innovation is changing the field.

A few different options for continued education include certifications for IT directors. These certifications can help directors to not only be more effective in their role, but to be more competitive in the job market, as well.

CompTIA A+ Certification

Offered by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), this certification is seen as an industry standard for IT professionals. It helps candidates troubleshoot and solve technical problems, as well as teaching how to understand a variety of issues, from operating systems and networking, to mobile devices and security.

CompTIA Network+

This certification from CompTIA also verifies that candidates have the necessary skills to design, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot wired and wireless devices.

CompTIA Security+

This certification covers best practices for both IT networks and operational security, verifying that the candidate has the required skills to keep an organization’s data secure.

Continuous learning

Remember, though, that professional development doesn’t have to be formal. Some of the best ways to continue developing as a director are to stay curious and to partner with a mentor.

Staying curious. This can be as simple as a reading up on trade magazines or business journals that illustrate innovations in IT and cross-sectional fields. Another option is to attend conferences within the field that can provide new networking opportunities as well as providing information on the latest trends and technologies.
Seeking a mentor. A mentor could be someone who shows other ways of doing things, based on his or her own experience. This person could be more senior directors within the IT department, non-IT directors within the company, and even directors or executives outside of the company altogether. Their experiences can display different approaches to IT and management thinking. Plus, their advice can provide support should professional roadblocks occur.

Salary & job outlook

Despite all of the necessary skills and required responsibilities, IT directors in the U.S. are highly compensated, with the median salary across private, government, and non-profit sectors clocking in at just above U.S. $142,500.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the demand for directors of technology will grow about 12% by 2026, much faster than the national average of all occupations (average 8%). This increased demand for such candidates stems from the growth into digital platforms that nearly all businesses will adopt, especially the expedited digital transformations companies have been taking as a result of the pandemic. In addition, they’ll need directors and managers to implement these growth goals.

Summing up IT directors

IT directors must possess a wide variety of skills, from technical know-how and knowledge to communication and leadership. This role encompasses many responsibilities and requirements that will only continue to become more complex as technology evolves, especially given the latest push at strong digital initiatives.

With the right person, this role will prove to have a major impact on the IT department, and the organization as a whole.

The Application Engineer Role: Skills, Responsibilities & Salary

Laura Shiff — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:37 +0000

There’s no denying that the need for skilled engineers has only increased over the years, with an estimated 150,000 new engineering jobs becoming available from 2016 to 2026 alone. Under this huge umbrella lies a field attracting a lot of attention: Application Engineers.

For those familiar with the industry, the title of Application Engineer is probably one that you have heard of before, maybe even for the purpose of hiring one of these professionals to complete a project. Or perhaps you are a budding engineer, looking to find the next big thing when it comes to engineering fields, and you are trying to get an understanding of what exactly an Application Engineer does.

For many, the roles and responsibilities of an Application Engineer are still a little murky, which is exactly why we have put together a complete guide that covers all of these points and more. Read further to find out more about:

Summary
Team
Roles and responsibilities
Requirements and skills
Job outlook

What is an Application Engineer?

Working as a bridge between an organization’s engineering teams and its customers, Application Engineers set out to improve the overall functioning of their client’s software. Utilizing customer input, needs, and sales information, these engineers use this data to design, or re-design, then develop, test, and implement complex software applications and programs. (Importantly, app engineers are different from app developers.)

In a nutshell, Application Engineers set out to improve the overall functioning of their client’s software. They do so by, for example:

Creating new software architecture
Working within existing software
Engineering hardware components that optimize certain technologies
Providing technical support and expertise to their clients,
Other tasks including testing applications, maintaining hardware, responding to customers, and leading demonstrations

They are often hired by application development firms with a variety of clients, toward the goal of meeting unique software needs. These engineers are similar to Business Analysts because of their skillful extraction of information from clients to determine the project scope and design a solution. However, unlike Business Analysts, they typically work with external clients and not on internal projects.

In addition to developing applications and improving the functioning of existing software, an Application Engineer must also possess hardware knowledge and understand technical specifications of a broad range of software to address client concerns. They are the key customer-facing team member and are also expected to have the soft skills that come along with sales and customer service.

(See more infrastructure & operations roles.)

Team structure

Application Engineers are often part of a technical team called the Application Development and Maintenance (ADM) team. Typically, this group is led by a Project Manager who oversees multiple teams that each have their own dedicated engineers. ADM works closely with client-side Project Leaders, Product Owners, and internal Senior Management to ensure application jobs are completed with accuracy.

The ADM team may also include several designers and developers in addition to the Application Engineer. As the title engineer implies, the Applications Engineer is a team lead. They are also the main point of contact for the client, representing the entire team and accountable for overall satisfaction. Essentially, they function as a bridge between ADM and the client.

The reach of the Applications Engineer spans across several departments including sales and marketing, engineering, customer service, manufacturing, and beyond.

App engineer: roles & responsibilities

The Application Engineer has several responsibilities that are critical to the smooth functioning of the ADM team. Let’s look at these key responsibilities—which will help you understand the skillsets needed to be a successful app engineer.

Develop apps & improve existing software

The primary role of an Application Engineer is to design and improve software. They perform needed evaluations with clients to understand the unique goals of each project and then implement after careful assessment.

This sometimes means they are tasked with the development of custom software. But, Application Engineers should keep thinking one-step ahead—they are also in charge of planning and implementing expansion projects for the client’s current software infrastructure. So, futureproofing is top-of-mind.

For example, an Applications Engineer might be tasked with building a whole new database platform for a client. Or they may recommend only a database upgrade that allows sales representatives to see more customer contact information from the database in another application they frequent, like Microsoft Outlook. It is up to the Applications Engineer to:

Understand what the client is trying to accomplish.
Make the best recommendation for how to get there.

This means, first and foremost, Application Engineers must be comfortable with many coding languages, particularly those that apply to enterprise solutions.

(Learn about software & app modernization.)

Provide tech support to clients

An Application Engineer also serves as a help desk point of contact for their clients, answering 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tier tech support calls.

If working with a help desk team, the Application Engineer may define priorities and assist with the higher-level calls, ensuring quality troubleshooting services are delivered to clients in a timely manner.
In some cases, Application Engineers will respond to client needs onsite and provide additional consultation. These kinds of tech support calls can lead to up-selling opportunities for assertive Application Engineers who are tasked with incremental sales growth.

Whether by phone or in person, an Application Engineer is always expected to deliver the highest level of customer service when responding to calls. They use their knowledge of both hardware and software, along with critical thinking skills, to provide solutions for clients from running software updates to recommending and installing new hardware components that make their infrastructure run more smoothly.

Provide hardware upgrades

Application Engineers are expected to not only understand the needs of the client but also the technical needs of their software. This means they must have a deep understanding of hardware technical specifications.

Things like server speed and availability, processor speed, and other mechanical components have an impact on software performance. (That’s why experts recommend going into this field with a general computer science degree or one in electrical engineering.) In some cases, Application Engineers design and develop custom mechanical components as they relate to software applications.

For instance, some Application Engineer jobs require knowledge of solid state drives for those who are working with mobile devices. Others ask for applicants with knowledge of radio technology, or a certain type of enterprise server.

While the specific knowledge requirements of an Application Engineer will vary from position to position, it’s certain that some hardware knowledge will come into play.

(Explore the domain of infrastructure management.)

Make sales recommendations

One role of an Application Engineer involves regularly reassessing the needs of their clients. That means looking at their current software and hardware inventory and determining where improvements can be made.

Application Engineers should be skilled at the art of up-selling. They will have many opportunities to do so during the initial consultation and follow-up tech support calls. During this process, they should be able to translate tech jargon into meaningful, relatable terms that make sense for their clients.

Document & inventory systems

Finally, since they are responsible for the documentation of service calls and inventory of all systems for their clients, Application Engineers must be detail oriented. This means:

Keeping detailed records of installations and hardware components
Logging all technical specifications required to keep systems at peak performance

In many cases, inventory software and other office software suites will be used to complete the task of inventory and documentation. The Application Engineer should be familiar with all office software necessary to complete the job.

Education, skills & requirements

As one might assume, all requirements, skills, and education for an Application Engineer are going to largely relate to knowledge of designing and developing software. This isn’t just a behind-the-scenes role, however, so many skills are going to also involve customer service and team collaboration.

Education

Most companies require Application Engineers to complete a 4-year degree in computer science or a related field. Some are even beginning to require a Master’s degree in engineering in order to be considered for certain roles.

More importantly, they must also have a great deal of knowledge and experience with programming languages, development and design of enterprise programs and hardware knowledge. Most companies are looking for 5+ years of experience in these and related modalities.

Entry level IT professionals who are looking to develop their career paths in the field of Application Engineering can seek credentialing through The IEEE Computer Society. This group offers a Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) certification to put new IT professionals on the right track. The certification requires a candidate to demonstrate an understanding of the principles and processes in software requirements, software design, software construction, and software testing.

After gaining work experience in the field of software development, another credential available through IEEE is the Professional Software Developer Certification. This certification proves competency in four key areas: Software Engineering Requirements, Software Engineering Design, Software Engineering Construction, and Software Engineering Testing.

Requirements

Although the requirements for an Application Engineer position will greatly vary by company and industry, there are some general skills that most employers look for in their candidates. Some of the requirements employers seek when looking for the right person to maintain their software include:

Relevant hands-on engineering or development experience
Ability to develop and improve software applications
Strong knowledge of software and coding
Familiarity with hardware
Project management abilities
Minor electrical engineering experience
Superior troubleshooting skills
A pleasant but focused sales demeanor
Soft skills, including exceptional customer services and interpersonal skills

Skills

Due to the fact that Application Engineers operate at the intersection of the engineering, customer service, sales, and manufacturing departments, they must be comfortable wearing a variety of different hats, each one possessing the skills needed to explicitly communicate with specific teams.

They must also have excellent mathematical capabilities, and have the capacity to lead in team situations across different departments. Application engineers must be talented in both detail-oriented analytical tasks as well as in customer service.

Future outlook

Jobs in this field are highly desirable. In addition to competitive pay, careers in Application Engineering offer a high-level of job satisfaction. This is in part because companies hiring for Application Engineer are often highly-sought-after companies like software producers and computer design firms who need someone to service their external clients. Application Engineers work with clients across a wide variety of industries so the role requires someone with a broadly developed skill set.

Salary

The importance of Application Engineers is evidenced by a projected 22% growth rate in the profession expected by 2024, which is even above average for the already rapidly growing IT field.

The current national average salary for an Application Engineer is $100,396, with major industry players compensated far more than that.

Conclusion

Application Engineers are only going to continue to be crucial to companies, making this a position worth exploring. The role combines working with new products, collaborating with clients, creating state-of-the-art developments, and facilitating team collaborations, offering big opportunities for both personal and professional development.

Cloud Governance vs Cloud Management: What’s the Difference?

Laura Shiff — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 11:10:09 +0000

It is undeniable that the cloud has changed business, and life, as we know it. From collaborating on a document with team members across the globe, to ensuring applications are always up-to-date, the cloud has allowed organizations to instantly share and deploy whenever needed.

This instant access doesn’t come without its risks, however, and it’s crucial that these be avoided at all costs. For both security and efficiency purposes, it is crucial that businesses have both cloud governance and cloud management—but what is the difference between the two? And how can organizations ensure they are correctly utilizing them?

(Understand IT governance & management basics.)

What is cloud governance?

A first step in establishing a successful multi-cloud strategy is simply making clear the difference between governance and management. Organizations need to define how to control, operate, optimize, and secure their cloud infrastructures and the applications running in multiple clouds.

As with anything, and especially concerning the cloud, there must be protocols in place that minimize any risks. Cloud governance is a set of rules that ensures an organization‘s cloud capabilities to support and enable its business strategies.

Governance is essentially the activity of defining, continuously monitoring, and auditing the rules, guidelines, policies, and processes that allocate, coordinate, and control a given operation’s resources and actions. Some governance rules could include:

Roles and responsibilities definitions
Compliance with industry regulations
Disaster recovery policies
Alert escalation procedures
Enforcement of network policies

(Explore these cloud governance best practices.)

Why is cloud governance important?

As an organization’s cloud environments become more complex, this list of rules only continues to grow. For companies with hybrid clouds or highly sensitive data that is being sent across the cloud, governance only becomes more critical—especially if you’re operating in the increasing number of countries that have stringent data privacy and data migration policies.

At the end of the day, however, cloud governance is not intended to execute the rules—it’s simply a system that structures all of them.

What is cloud management?

All of these rules and regulations are a great idea in theory, but they are useless unless there is an efficient way to put them into practice.

Cloud management, then, is the process of maintaining administrative control and oversight of all aspects of cloud computing. This includes all cloud services and products, whether they are deployed in private, public, or hybrid cloud environments.

This complementary activity of organizing, coordinating, and steering resources in full compliance with the defined governance ensures the strategic and operational objectives of the business are met while all assets operate under the established rules.

Cloud management is supplied through cloud management tools, which provide businesses the ability to manage resources across the multi-cloud and multi-vendor landscape. Some common responsibilities that might be included in cloud management are:

Organizing and steering corporate resources
Ensuring compliance is being followed
Maintaining data security

Why is cloud management important?

As organizations migrate more to the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) business model, they find that the increasingly larger amount of applications that are being deployed into the cloud requires more structure in order to monitor all of them.

With cloud management tools, IT departments can be confident that their cloud-based applications meet applicable compliance and are being watched for all security concerns. This visibility and control over the ecosystem of applications allow enterprises full transparency into their cloud infrastructure, optimizing applications, managing compliance, and reducing risks.

Benefits of proper cloud governance & management

Automation: Working established processes and workflows can be automated, significantly raising efficiency.
Innovation: The evolution of cloud offerings is driven by the provider, which in turn creates effective opportunities to evolve one’s IT infrastructure at a low cost.
Optimization: Having a huge integration capacity that can leverage the existing potential of alternative, more capable infrastructure that can be installed and integrated within a matter of minutes, hours, or a few days.
Change: Proper processes in place over a highly dynamic and responsive IT landscape facilitate change management, quality assurance, and compliance.
CAPEX/OPEX: Utilize the most appropriate IT assets for a fraction of the “traditional way” cost.
Profitability: Organizations with above-average IT governance have been shown to have more than 20 percent higher profits than those with poor governance following the same strategy.

Real-world challenges addressed by cloud governance & management

Let’s play governance and management out across key business functions.

Costs

A contract has been established with the cloud services provider (CSP) where costs per cloud resource are defined. These roles must be involved:

The controller’s office audits the observance of such an established cost table.
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) establishes a continuous improvement workflow, leveraging existing frameworks and methodologies such as Kaizen, Six Sigma, and Lean to constantly analyze more cost/effective evolution paths to the existing cloud-based IT Infrastructure.

Budgets

Currently, almost every company area or department’s budget has a direct or indirect share of IT costs represented. One of cloud-based services’ main edges is precisely allowing dynamic allocation of assets, implying dynamic costs. Having the capacity to easily (only at a “mouse click” away) get additional resources leads to the natural “temptation” of triggering them.

Team Leaders and Area Managers, with the steering support of the CIO, manage dedicated existing IT resources to the best capacity while promoting synergies that delay the need for IT infrastructure escalation.
The CIO acts as an area manager towards the IT department within this topic.

(Understand the difference in capital vs operating expenses.)

Operations

IT operations obey corporate guidelines, which must be adapted, configured, and monitored within a cloud IT landscape context. This ensures compliance with operational standards which fosters operational efficiency and security.

The CIO audits and monitors the observance of existing ruling, including IT guidelines, internal adherence to the existing services contracts, and inherent SLAs with Cloud Service Providers.
Area Managers confirm area users have proper awareness about Corporate Operations rulings through coaching sessions and training opportunities

Security

IT security has gained an all-new relevancy with cloud based services due to the higher exposure of hybrid IT landscapes.

The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and CIO audit and monitor the observance of existing ruling, not only internally but also with regards to the Cloud Service Providers.
Team Leaders and Area Managers lead by example, in this case, coaching and identifying training needs towards team members which ensures wide corporate IT security awareness.

Risks

Risk management is yet another component of corporate IT Operations that has gained an increased relevancy with the arrival of cloud based services. These range from proper IT Infrastructure Load Balance among providers, as well as geographies, to prevent service disruption to shadow IT.

The CIO defines and locally adapts, fine-tunes, audits, and monitors the observance of existing corporate policies towards risk mitigation.
The Controller’s Office audits and reports/blocks the attempted acquisition of unauthorized IT assets or resources by the areas that constitute potential shadow IT.
Area Managers lead teams towards compliance by educating and reducing shadow IT and other practices that bear risks.

Getting started with cloud governance & management

There are three phases towards adopting and effectively running cloud governance and management:

Design. The hardest part—assessing where you are and what can be leveraged over a specified period within a cloud environment including expected savings (time and money) and gains in effectiveness. Add to it the defining and designing the inherent project, metrics, SLAs, goals, milestones, risk mitigation actions, etc.
Implement. Moving towards the cloud with proper governance and management
Continuous Improvement. Undergoing a continuous cycle of assessment towards getting things more efficient, and at the same time, more cost effective

(Learn about continual improvement.)

Forward-thinking with cloud governance and management

The cloud will continue to push forward strategies and business in innovative ways. It is up to organizations to ensure that their cloud ecosystems have the structures set in place, and the tools necessary to manage them, to ensure the infrastructure is steady for years to come.

IT Spending Trends of 2022

Laura Shiff — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:00:07 +0000

Remote employees, supply chain headaches, openings, then closures, and the Great Resignation are just some of the stressful issues that most organizations and leaders have had to face this past year. And although many of the unknowns of the pandemic are hopefully coming to an end, that doesn’t mean uncertainty is out the door for 2022.

“Volatility is something that we clearly saw this year but it’s something that is going to be an ongoing theme,” said Monika Sinha, research vice president at Gartner, in a call ahead of the virtual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2021.

“Volatility is something that is now a new normal.”

A majority of businesses were forced to adapt to the changes that the pandemic necessitated, and where some faltered, some also thrived. With new technologies and more digital work environments than ever, adaptation for the modern enterprise will continue to be critical.

“Our research this year showed that technology investments are going way up,” Sinha said. “In fact, technology investments are going to be at the highest they’ve been over the last decade.”

As organizations look towards 2022, the future seems encouraging, especially when it comes to IT spending. Let’s look at some of the top IT spending trends of 2022.

(This article is part of our IT Cost Management Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

Worldwide IT spending

According to Gartner’s latest forecast, worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021, and the largest year-over-year jump in more than 10 years.

“Enterprises will increasingly build new technologies and software, rather than buy and implement them, leading to overall slower spending levels in 2022 compared to 2021,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.

“However, digital tech initiatives remain a top strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on making their infrastructure bulletproof and accommodating increasingly complex hybrid work for employees going into 2022.”

(Source)

Fastest growing technology spending

As listed in the table above, Gartner’s IT spending forecast also notes the top five fastest growing technology market segments. In 2022, these include:

Enterprise software
IT services
Data center systems
Devices
Communication services

Enterprise software

Overall, enterprise software is projected to have the highest growth rate in 2022, at 11.5%, going from an estimated $601 billion in 2021 to $670 billion in 2022. This increase in spending is largely driven by infrastructure software expenses outpacing application software spending.

IT services

IT services are quickly becoming one of the most critical assets for organizations to spend money on. Increasing 8.6% to $1.29 trillion in 2022, IT services are a high priority for many organizations as they are the key to digital transformation.

(Get the complete digital transformation guide.)

Data center systems

In 2022, Gartner predicts that spending on data center systems will hit $207 billion, representing a 5.8% year-over-year increase.

Connected to one of the biggest IT trends of 2022 is the multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments, midsize businesses all the way to global enterprises will be mixing their on-premises options or data centers with a variety of cloud offerings, making the need for these systems to rise.

Devices

As remote learning, telehealth, and remote work took precedence, global spending on devices reached record levels in 2021 at over $800 billion. Although some of these might not be required in the months to come, Gartner still predicts there will be an increase in enterprise devices that need to be upgraded or invested in for hybrid work settings.

(Learn more about the IoT & the Internet of Behaviors.)

Communication services

Communication services will see the slowest overall growth rate for 2022 compared to 2021, but it still sits at the number one spot for the largest total spending levels next year at $1.48 trillion.

The pandemic challenged companies to get creative and operate outside normal comfort zones, and even the most opposed to remote workers suddenly faced entire teams going entirely digital. As a result, IT communications software and services will prove to continue to be vital in the year to come.

Long-term IT spending strategies

Although this spending increase is good news for the tech industry, CIOs will need to rethink what critical technology their organizations would be wise to invest in, not only creating a path for quick wins, but also being strategic with a long-term plan.

“What changed in 2020 and 2021 was not really the technology itself, but people’s willingness and eagerness to adopt it and use it in different ways,” said Lovelock. “In 2022, CIOs need to reconfigure how work is done by embracing business composability and the technologies that accommodate asynchronous workflows.”

As businesses continue to shift from legacy systems and upkeep towards technology investments that will advance the enterprise, it will also be crucial to increase cybersecurity spending, business intelligence, and cloud platform investments.

“Traditional work models do not provide the agility, scalability, and resilience required by the future enterprise,” said Holly Muscolino, research vice president of Content Strategies and the Future of Work at IDC.

“This was, of course, highlighted by the ongoing health crisis. To drive growth and competitive differentiation, organizations will invest in technologies and services that power automation, human-machine collaboration, new organizational structures and leadership styles, dynamic learning opportunities, a reimagined workplace, and a digital work environment that is not bounded by time or physical place.”

Future of Work

According to research from International Data Corporation (IDC), investments in various technologies that support Future of Work initiatives will exceed $1 trillion worldwide by 2024.

“All aspects of how people and organizations work are evolving, enabled by 3rd Platform technologies and accelerated by the pandemic,” said Karen Massey, research manager, Customer Insights & Analysis.

“Indeed 3rd Platform hardware, such as IoT devices, robots and drones, and IaaS, are more than one-third of the total spend, demonstrating the growing importance of the technologies enabling the reimagined workplace.”

Some use-cases that are projected to see the fastest spending growth rates in the next few years are:

Interconnected collaborative workspaces
Adaptive skill development
Advanced project management

“Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and augmented/virtual reality are changing how work is getting done across all industries and across the world,” said Eileen Smith, program vice president, Customer Insights and Analysis.

“Seeking automated decision support and virtual collaborative approaches, discrete and process manufacturing, the two largest spenders on Future of Work technology over the forecast period, are investing in key use cases like collaborative robotics, operational performance management, and 3D and digital product design and review for improved cost control and higher process efficiency,”

BDA

IDC also predicts spending on big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions will reach $215.7 billion by the end of 2021, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global BDA spending over the 2021-2025 forecast to be 12.8%.

“As executives seek solutions to enable better, faster decisions, we’re seeing relatively healthy BDA spending across all industries. Leveraging data for insights into everything from internal business operations to the customer journey is top of mind and of strategic importance,” said Jessica Goepfert, program vice president, Customer Insights and Analysis.

As reported in the new Worldwide Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide, over half of all BDA spending in 2021 has gone to IT services, totaling $85 billion, with the second largest segment of BDA spending going towards software, seeing investments of over $82 billion.

IT spending trends

Large businesses are ready and willing to invest in their technologies this upcoming year, whether that be to update or replace legacy systems, or to continue to grow their IT projects. Overall, IT spending will see an increase compared to the past few years, with executives focusing on technologies that enhance and advance the digital work environment.

And after the past few years, this IT spending boom could never be so welcome.

The Top Service Management (ITSM) Trends of 2022

Laura Shiff — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 00:00:46 +0000

Although organizations would probably like nothing more than to put the stress of the pandemic behind them, the logistical and technological changes that had to be made are something that will continue to stay around for years to come.

The IT service management space (ITSM) is no exception.

Combined with recent surveys from the past year, along with insights from industry revolutionaries and leaders, we can now get a glimpse into the future of what the service management space might look like in the coming year. From harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, to optimizing processes already in place, here are the top ITSM trends to look out for in 2022.

Trend 1: AI-powered service management

Throughout the pandemic, businesses experienced a heightened sense of urgency surrounding the need to adopt tools that reduce the amount of manual labor required for their IT professionals.

In fact, largely due to the increase in remote work, ticket volumes in ITSM have increased by over 35% over the past year! That increase is completely unprecedented, especially compared to the historically annual ticket volume increase of 3-5% per year.

“In the face of the COVID pandemic, the enterprise ITSM sector has seen a significant increase in cost and ticket handle time that has resulted in an unprecedented decline in employee satisfaction with IT,” Sebastien Adjiman, Chief Executive of ITSM delivery optimisation company DeepCoding, said.

“It is absolutely vital that the industry responds to this wake-up call, as a failure to act could have a catastrophic impact on both internal and external customer satisfaction.”

Even though the ticket volumes grew exponentially during the pandemic, unfortunately employee hiring rates did not, quickly leading to burnout among IT staff. This leads to the question: what can companies do to manage this higher workload with a fixed number of employees?

The answer? Artificial intelligence.

One of the biggest ITSM trends of 2022, and in the entire tech space for the upcoming year, is artificial intelligence (AI). Utilizing a variety of AI technology, organizations can engage in tools that promote natural language processing (NLP), business process optimization, clustering, knowledge management, automated problem incident response, and machine learning (ML).

“For fusion teams working on AI, the real differentiator for their organizations will lie in their ability to continually enhance value through rapid AI change,” said David Groombridge, research vice president at Gartner, at the company’s annual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo Americas conference.

“By 2025, the 10% of enterprises that establish AI-engineering best practices will generate at least three times more value from their AI efforts than the 90% of enterprises that do not.”

Artificial intelligence service management (AISM) is the application of AI to service management. AISM is an emerging approach that aims to solve the increasing challenges of traditional IT service management by focusing on:

Proactive prevention
Faster restoration of services
Rapid innovation
A fanatical focus on the employee and customer experience

A well-designed combination of AISM and AI engineering can help companies not only meet expectations for fast, accurate, and scalable services, but it can also exceed them, bringing the entire ITSM experience back to pre-pandemic efficiencies.

Trend 2: Distributed enterprise

Digital transformation isn’t a new concept, and it’s no longer an aspirational goal. The ability to operationalize and rapidly expand digital transformation has become a baseline competitive requirement for every enterprise. That means delivering consumer-grade experiences for employees and customers alike, with the ease of use, reliability, and performance people have come to expect from the best technology companies.

With millions of people around the globe still working from home, and with millions more doing so permanently, 2022 is pushing organizations to expand their digital transformation to the next level, which is the complete distributed enterprise.

By 2023, Gartner is expecting 75% of organizations that benefit from distributed enterprises to see revenue growth 25% faster than competitors, most likely replacing the traditional office-centric business environment of the past.

“This requires CIOs to make major technical and service changes to deliver frictionless work experiences, but there is another side to this coin: the impact on business models,” said Groombridge. “For every organization, from retail to education, their delivery model has to be reconfigured to embrace distributed services. The world didn’t think they’d be trying on clothes in a digital dressing room two years ago.”

ITSM processes and tools, along with their integration with other systems, will be key in building this digital, distributed enterprise.

Trend 3: Hyperautomation

The concept of hyperautomation has been one of the top ITSM trends for years, but it is a technology that continues to grow rapidly, largely driven by pandemic requirements.

“Our studies show that hyperautomation focuses on three main priorities: improving the quality of work, accelerating business processes and improving decision-making,” Groombridge continued.

Hyperautomation combines a variety of technologies, like AI, robotic process automation (RPA), and ML to automate processes in significantly more impactful ways. Companies who harness both their subject matter expertise (in all areas) and hyperautomation will:

Improve quality
Reduce costs
Increase speed and productivity
Enhance analytics, offering real-time, continuous intelligence for data-driven decision making

With the help of hyperautomation practices, IT support can finally become as strong as it aims to be. Automation is starting to take care of the low-level processes that are necessary, but don’t need the talents of IT professionals to complete them.

With the service desk losing a decent chunk of its tickets to automation, IT support will be able to utilize their valuable staff on more complex issues and critical tasks. These enhanced capabilities will only continue to improve both the end-user and customer experience—furthering the value of ITSM altogether.

(Understand how orchestration plays with automation.)

Trend 4: AI security

With technologies like AI and ML increasing in usage, it should come as no surprise that cyber criminals have quickly exploited this and found ways to compromise infrastructure. As Forbes has reported, cybercriminals are integrating AI and machine learning into their malware programs to bypass and infiltrate targeted systems.

It is crucial that ITSM organizations take security seriously and close gaps in any potential vulnerabilities—and AI security, like security analytics, can help. According to Gartner, AI security in 2022 will have three key perspectives:

Protecting AI-powered systems. Securing AI training data, training pipelines, and ML models.
Leveraging AI to enhance security defense. Using ML to understand patterns, uncover attacks, and automate parts of the cybersecurity processes.
Anticipating use of AI by attackers. Identifying attacks in order to defend against them

“Data is only useful if businesses can rely on it,” said Groombridge. “But nowadays data can be stored anywhere, which means that traditional security methods no longer work. What is needed instead is a new cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA). By 2024, companies adopting CSMA will reduce the financial cost of security incidents by an average of 90 percent.”

As defined by Gartner, the cybersecurity mesh is a distributed architectural approach to scalable, flexible, and reliable cyber control. CSMA could help create an integrated security structure to protect all data, regardless of its location.

This is especially necessary as enterprises become more distributed and fully centralized IT becomes a thing of the past.

Trend 5: Enterprise service management

One of the final major trends that is sure to be seen in 2022 is enterprise service management. In short, enterprise service management (ESM) takes the best practices of ITSM and applies them to the entire company as a whole.

By extending the principles of service management beyond IT to the entire organization, companies can gain complete visibility into their service processes while at the same time have more access to tracking business resources, services commitments, and customer requests.

“As companies continue to face increasing uncertainty in the marketplace, those who are experience-focused and have operational agility will be the ones to keep pace with and thrive in today’s business landscape,” said Christian Lane, CEO of consulting firm Praecipio Consulting. “This requires extending ITSM capabilities and digital technologies to all teams across the organization, which is a trend we have seen play out in the digital space.”

Organizations that adopt ESM can see many benefits, including:

Increased productivity
Minimal waste
Enhanced visibility and control
Improved user satisfaction
Sharper competitive edge
Increased ROI

The popularity and success of ITIL^® 4 has prompted other departments to utilize the same strategies outside of IT, including facilities management, accounting, finance, and Human Resources. ESM takes these strategies and uses them to improve efficiency within service design, increasing user satisfaction and supporting business needs.

The future of service management

Efficient and scalable IT service management processes are a key priority to nearly all organizations, with the global cloud ITSM market expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2020 to over $12 billion by 2025. Both these projections and the trends of 2022 prove that ITSM is more important than ever, and industry leaders agree.

Laura Shiff – BMC Software | Blogs

System Administrator vs Security Administrator: What’s the Difference?

Terminology

What’s a system administrator (sysadmin)?

Roles & responsibilities

Peers & reporting

System administrator job skills

Education & requirements

Outlook

What is a security administrator?

Roles & responsibilities

Peers & reporting

Education & requirements

Security administrator job skills

Outlook

Security vs system administrators: Both critical

Related reading

What Does a System Architect Do?

What is a system architect?

Levels of system architects

The roles of a system architect

Understand the desired business or departmental strategy and outcome

Break down outcomes into defined parts

Decide on the right IT architecture

Understand integrations, interfaces & interactions

Advise project teams on recommended solutions

Systems architect skills

Job outlook for the system architect

Related reading

2022’s Top Conferences for Programming & Software Development

Top Programming & Software Development Conferences for 2022

Oracle Developer Live

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UXDX 2022 (Multiple dates)

Top Programming Conferences of 2022

Multi-Cloud vs Hybrid Cloud: What’s The Difference?

What is multi-cloud?

What is a hybrid cloud?

Multi vs hybrid cloud: How to choose

Cost

Security

Hybrid cloud vs multi-cloud

BMC supports modern enterprises—in the cloud & on-premises

Related reading

Top 24 IT/Tech Conferences of 2022

Top IT Conferences of 2022

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Top IT & Tech Conferences of 2022

IT Director Requirements, Skills & Salaries

What is an IT Director?

Roles & responsibilities

IT director skills needed

Technical skills

Communication skills

Leadership skills

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Business skills

IT director education & requirements

Peers & reporting

Professional development for IT directors

CompTIA A+ Certification

CompTIA Network+

CompTIA Security+

Continuous learning

Salary & job outlook

Summing up IT directors

Related reading

The Application Engineer Role: Skills, Responsibilities & Salary

What is an Application Engineer?

Team structure

App engineer: roles & responsibilities

Develop apps & improve existing software

Provide tech support to clients

Provide hardware upgrades

Make sales recommendations

Document & inventory systems

Education, skills & requirements

Education

Requirements