Recently I was on the DorobekINSIDER LIVE show along with Sean Herron, Product Lead and Developer at 18F; and Richard Beutel, Senior Advisor and Counsel for Acquisition Policy House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The link to the show is here.
The attitude to Cloud has changed dramatically since I was the CIO at the US Department of Transportation. Then, there was great reluctance from all stakeholders to even try moving applications to the Cloud. Now, there is general agreement that many applications are candidates for such a move, though there clearly are security and acquisition hurdles that need to be overcome.
My major point regarding the issue of everything-as-a-service is that doing so moves the Cloud move from being one of technology to one of organizational architecture and mission reappraisal. When implementing all of your applications on your own equipment, it is reasonable possible to ignore inconsistencies and lack of integration since your own staff can paper over those issues.
When applications are moved to the Cloud, all of the integration issues and architectural details need to be understood in sufficient detail or the resulting move will if anything make your operations less efficient. There is an old saying that technology cannot organize a disorganized situation. While obvious, like many issues that are obvious, it is generally overlooked.
Many thanks, again, to Chris Dorobek, for inviting me to be on the panel, I learn something every time I participate.
Finally, this is the first blog post I have posted since I started my new position as the Program Chair for the Information Systems Management major at The Undergraduate School at UMUC. If any readers might be interested in considering joining our adjunct faculty, they should feel free to reach out to me at daniel.mintz@umuc.edu.