News • • 2 minute read
Skip to ContentBusinesses need to modernize their infrastructure to keep up with digital transformation, yet the path to modernization isn't straightforward. Read full article
by Zeus Kerravala
Dell's user event, Dell Technologies World, is a few weeks in the rearview mirror now. I've had the time to reflect on the content from the event and the discussions I had with customers, Dell executives, and technology partners.
A summary of my conversations can be found in my key takeaways video. My top takeaway from the event is twofold: Businesses need to modernize their infrastructure to keep up with digital transformation, and the path to modernization isn't straightforward.
Technology has grown increasingly more agile, making it more complex, which creates quite a conundrum for organizations as they need to upgrade but avoid risks.
… … …
Legacy infrastructure was monolithic, limiting deployment options. With modern infrastructure, companies have more options, but that requires more decisions to be made. Also, because systems are software-based, the pace of change is much faster than before.
In my conversation with Bob Olwig, EVP of Global Partner Alliances for World Wide Technology (WWT), he said the "Sheer amount of change is creating uncertainty" in their customer base as the pace of change is so much faster today. He added that global macro issues, such as COVID response, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, have increased IT leaders' anxiety levels.
Olwig cautioned that modernization does often require integrating the new with the old. He mentioned that many of his customers want to move to the cloud, but IBM mainframes still exist, as do on-premises servers, making almost all deployments hybrid.