Infrastructure Is Key to Simplicity
Ross said a simplified IT environment begins with a business’s underlying architecture. “We don't have to look too far to what a successful design or architecture looks like to support scale and agility.”
And the benefits of a simplified IT environment can be significant, he said. “There’s this idea that we can move faster and reduce cost. And I think that's where the conversation typically starts.”
He also mentioned the benefit of retaining talent, thanks to less complex IT environments. “As things get more complex, some of the top talent you might have in your organization, they become disenfranchised and want to go to an organization that is trying to solve these big problems and make life simpler.”
Adding Automation Can Yield Benefits
Ross pointed out the advantages available when businesses include automated processes in their operations. “We want to be able to automate a lot of what we're doing because the requirement is almost superhuman,” he said. “The only way we're going to be able to meet the demand is if we leverage software to do what's unfit for humans, just in terms of the scale and the level of detail that some of these tasks need.”
Ross said the ability to automate operational tasks associated with each of those responsibilities is really critical at this point, “because when you're not thinking through your design and your architecture from that perspective, then what can happen is, those tasks are either unmet or they're being addressed, but maybe not as completely as they need to be.”
He offered the retail sector as an example of how automation can be used to streamline operations. At certain times of the year, retailers are “going to see a big influx in demand on their online platform or even what's going on in their brick and mortar,” he explained. “And that creates a demand or a need for burstable capacity during that time of year — but it's not necessarily needed throughout the entire year. We’re able to work with customers in such a way that we can, through a high degree of automation, give them the ability to leverage that burstable capacity, whether it be in the public cloud, which is typically what we're seeing now, and then bring that back down as the demand decreases.”