The world of technology, as I have oft mentioned, is cool because it is constantly changing. Great technology for me challenges the status quo rather than enforces current behaviours. In the IT world Cloud is an example of a great technology which is driving whole new ecosystems and rocking the foundations of Infrastructure as we know it.
I have been reflecting on the parallels between Uber and AirBnB with the conversations I see going on for traditional infrastructure teams. Uber and AirBnB offer an undeniably compelling product and are having a real impact on the staid world of Taxis and Hotels, yet the ability for their competition to respond is constrained by a wealth of regulation that was put in place to protect us the Consumers.
Be it regulated fares, safety inspections, data controls etc. these have been built up over the years to protect us. Just as they make it difficult for companies to act unscrupulously and give recourse for us when they do, they are now making it hard for them to compete with digital services which are configured in such a way that they escape the regulation – and their Customers are flocking to the cheaper, better offer that they have. In response the traditional providers are being forced to innovate to be more compelling – which is a great thing for all of us.
It feels similar to the conversations I have around Infrastructure, traditionally the Business had to go to Infrastructure to get kit and go live. Infrastructure were on the hook for security, availability et. al., now users can in a matter of minutes spin up infrastructures in the cloud. Who wouldn’t want to swap the weeks of boards and capital costs for immediate, unrestricted access to systems?!
Just as Taxis and Hotels are hamstrung by regulations, Infrastructure teams are unable to respond as rapidly as they would like whilst the Governance processes respond. In the meantime either the Business has developers creating unmanaged risks at pace, or it has an Infrastructure team that is strangling the business.
I suspect it is, as is usually the case, somewhere in between and, as with most changes driven by great technology, the journey is going to be disruptive – let’s hope there aren’t too many career ending moments on the way to working out the best path!
Please note this post was originally posted on LinkedIn
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