Enterprise cloud needs a PVR moment
Do you remember the first time you paused live TV?
If you’re anything like me, it felt like the way you watched TV had changed forever.
Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) were one of the first steps in the current broadcast revolution. Although they have since been joined by many streaming services, millions of us still have some form of PVR sitting on or near our TV, and watch much of our content through that box.
Yet PVRs were not initially rapidly adopted, or even well understood by consumers.
Years ago, I met a product manager for a satellite and cable broadcaster, who was trying to get people to buy their very first PVR service. Despite the amazing (for the time) features on offer, it was hard, and sales were slow.
The problem was that most people didn’t understand why these features were so amazing. They all had VHS video recorders, which let them record their programmes, and to pause, fast forward and rewind. They had DVD players if they wanted to watch movies in better quality and a more convenient format. What more could the PVR possibly offer?
The product manager eventually found a solution to his problem: he gave away a load of PVRs for free for a trial period.
And, once they got their hands on them, they loved them.
“LOOK!” they’d say. “I CAN PAUSE LIVE TV!”
“I know, we told you . . .”
“AND I CAN REWIND IT!”
“Yes, I know. Can we have the box back now?”
“NEVER!”
I think that the adoption of Cloud in large enterprises is at a similar state, especially amongst senior IT managers.
Despite the accelerating growth in Cloud adoption, and the chorus of sales people, consultants and, often, internal teams, saying that Cloud is great, many managers are still struggling to understand exactly what all the fuss is about. Isn’t this just someone else’s computer? Aren’t the Cloud providers are just selling infrastructure management and co-location services which have been around for years?
I believe that the reason such managers are stuggling to understand the value of Cloud is that, in the enterprise computing world, it is still considered normal for senior IT managers to spend little or no time hands on with technology: they are expected to do the jobs of managing budgets, resources and schedules.
I believe that every IT manager should spend more time at the command line, but that this is particularly important for Cloud: IT managers should take the time to create their own PVR moment.
I must admit that I fall into the enterprise IT management trap all too often: despite having a technical role, I don’t always get the time to get hands on with all the different types of technology we use in our company.
So, my own PVR moment on Cloud came a little later than it should have. Earlier this year, I decided to put myself through the architecture accreditation programme for one of our Cloud partners.
About five minutes into the first lab, I was grabbing passers by.
“LOOK, I JUST MADE A SERVER!”
“I know, we were just doing that on our project . . .”
“AND I MADE IT GO AWAY AGAIN!”
“Yes, we’ve scripted that. Can I go now?”
“WATCH ME TRAIN THIS MACHINE LEARNING MODEL!”
Before this moment, I was already a Cloud advocate. I believe that this new model of computing will change the economics, agility and security of the enterprise computing industry. But I had not fully appreciated just how much more flexible, just how much more in control I would be on the Cloud: it was just like that first moment of pausing live TV.
My advice to anyone working in a senior enterprise IT role, is always to get hands on with technology, as early as possible and as often as possible. With Cloud, this is essential£: until you get hands on, until you see it for yourself, you will not appreciate the difference it will make to the productivity of your teams.
In the HSBC Technology Team, we are making sure that our managers as well as our engineers go through our Cloud training programme: we are making sure that they get their PVR moment.
