EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
SIMON BENNETT , EMEA CTO , RACKSPACE TECHNOLOGY
A DATA CENTRE LEADER REALLY NEEDS TO THINK STRATEGICALLY ABOUT THE SKILLS THAT NEED TO BE RETAINED TO ADD BUSINESS VALUE TO CUSTOMERS ith more organisations shifting workloads to
W the cloud , several are finding that the mix of skills they need are rapidly evolving . This is primarily due to the evolving service requirements that are being deployed , used and enhanced . As such , instead of a skills shortage in the traditional sense , we ’ re seeing a lack of availability of the right skills at the right time .
In order to meet these changes , a data centre leader really needs to think strategically about the skills that need to be retained to add business value to customers , as well as those which can be considered as a commodity or are only needed periodically . With this in mind , a data centre leader can design an organisation that is able to ebb and flow to meet business demand with a core fixed supply and a flexible edge .
For example , a role that patches operating systems or checks batch operations may not require specialist skills , so can be brought in on-demand or simply automated to release people to perform more high-value tasks . Whereas functional knowledge for a customised ERP system , which may be tailored to the business , is a key skill to be retained through permanent staff .
We ’ re in an era of flexibility where customers demand the ability to have options to meet their requirements at any given moment .
Take Netflix for example , it wouldn ’ t be the market-leading streaming entertainment service if it only offered horror or comedy . Similarly , where flexibility is desired by a customer , the relationship needs to reflect the ability to provide suitable skills on demand . The key is to be able to flex the organisation .
At the outset , the difference between customer challenges is an important launch point . A customer looking to rebalance a steady state as opposed to one where a transformation is being undertaken will have quite different needs . In the latter case , it may well be a project as opposed to operational automation where flexible resources are to be utilised .
For Rackspace Technology , our approach to providing skills to a customer is based around the concept of service blocks – flexible solutions that you can scale up or down depending on the needs and consumption .
These ‘ blocks ’ could include automation , be it at the IaaS level or further up the stack into PaaS for elements such as database performance management or even into cloud-native development . Where an organisation requires help to set up a DevOps practice or develop its first containerised application , it ’ s a people and tools solution . Each customer and organisation has different needs and there is no ‘ one size fits all ’ approach . The key is flexibility in provision through a blend of people and Robotic Process Automation . ◊
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