You can be the one to ensure technology is optimized so that it improves communication, create efficiencies, and increase productivity.
Businesses today demand an IT infrastructure that is not only reliable, flexible, and secure but also one that is optimized to capture new competitive initiatives. Without talent to ensure the Infrastructure is appropriately implemented and managed, businesses can face significant connectivity, security breaches, and system disruptions.
Business infrastructure often encompasses a Cloud Operating Model (COM), which carries more than $1 trillion of new potential value, Dell reports that companies that invest in big data, cloud, mobility, and security enjoy up to 53% faster revenue growth than their competitors.
Yet, many organizations can’t capitalize on the cloud’s total value. Why? There is a lack of tech talent to help them align their technology infrastructure with business objectives. PwC found that 75% are concerned that the lack of tech talent is blocking them from maximizing IT return on investment. In addition, because the cloud demands new processes, 47% of business leaders worry about their ability to provide employees with the training they need to get the total value of the cloud.
IT Infrastructure encompasses all components that facilitate the operation and management of enterprise IT services and IT environments. This includes hardware, software, network, servers, and data centers. When running smoothly, an IT infrastructure can:
- Give employees and customers uninterrupted access to online features
- Develop and launch new digital solutions
- Collect data in real-time and provide analytics tools for making quick decisions
- Improve employee productivity
What Do Businesses Need?
If you’re interested in starting or enhancing your IT infrastructure career, read on to learn how to align your career around these key CIO priorities strategically:
- Strategy and Innovation: What business problems can you solve through IT? Walgreens, for example, was able to streamline the prescription process by quickly gathering customer data from their doctors, other pharmacists, insurers, and historical data points to give the pharmacist a complete snapshot of the customer at the time of dispensing. Read more here. https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/1411448755996187154-walgreens-health-provider-azure
- Governance and security: Focus on adaptable security and compliance frameworks that have the flexibility to handle different implementation demands and risk profiles. For example, Experian’s open banking initiative relies on secure APIs, governance, and a tight information security infrastructure to confirm the identity of a person. This not only speeds customer service times but strengthens trust and reliability. Learn more here. https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/1441998592278986165-experian-banking-capital-markets-azure-en-united-kingdom
Mobilization and migration: Unlocking the full potential of IT and the cloud takes strategic insight and technical expertise. Leaders understand that they must be open to new ideas, take risks, fail, and quickly implement corrections. A significant initiative at the UK’s national weather service is a good example. The Met Office is the UK’s national weather service and uses data-intensive modeling to predict what the weather will be as our climate changes. The simulation code relies on big data, stored where it can be quickly accessed and analyzed through supercomputing. This helps businesses, agencies and government make decisions together to help reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Learn more here. https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/1437852380396517003-metoffice
What Does it Take to Build A Successful Career in IT Infrastructure?
- Collaboration
One of the foundations of a cloud strategy is sharing and pulling together information and data across multiple business units. In addition, communication, motivating others, and paying attention to detail are skills that can help you stand out to employers.
- Multiple Platforms, Multiple Certifications
Businesses utilize a marketplace of cloud development tools that have eliminated the closed-off single vendor solution. IT organizations build private and hybrid clouds for many reasons: regulatory requirements, data gravity, the momentum of legacy infrastructure, limitations of staff skill sets, or even project deadlines. However, complexity and unmanageability often doom private cloud projects. A few of the certifications you’ll need to advance your IT career include:
- CompTIA Cloud+
- AWS Certified Solution Architect – Professional (AWS-CSA)
- Microsoft Azure
- Google
- CertNexus
- Stay current with business and technology trends
Companies that are successful in sourcing and managing their IT infrastructure adopts a more dynamic, analytical, and demand-driven mindset but lack the insight to capitalize on its full potential. Instead, understand the business problems that IT infrastructure can solve—paying attention to resiliency, cloud technology, and cost-efficiency.
- Security As a Foundation of Your Skills
The spotlight on IT resilience is only growing brighter given the increasing frequency of cybersecurity threats, especially ransomware, the continuing organizational disruptions of the pandemic, and other natural disasters and catastrophes. Moreover, resilience is a business differentiator. If your competitors suffer through delays and downtimes while your business carries on, then your IT services have created an opportunity to showcase the superiority of your product.
For these reasons, companies need talent who can not only work with the advanced technologies, languages, frameworks, and tools but also have the necessary soft skills and business understanding to drive technology that keeps them successful in the competitive marketplace