云时代CIO速写

    过去20年中，企业里很少有哪个高管的角色像首席信息官一样活跃。这些年来，首席信息官的职责发生了很大的转变。上世纪90年代，首席信息官主要负责软硬件的部署，后来随着企业IT部门纷纷将软件开发和数据中心业务外包出去，管理外部承包商就成了首席信息官的主要职责。不过随着云计算和移动技术这两项关键技术的兴起，如今首席信息官的角色又在经历新一轮的转变。

    这两种新兴技术在获取信息的方面为我们提供了两种史无前例的途径，首席信息官们以何种方式应对这次技术变革或许将决定他们所在的企业在未来几年内的竞争力。云计算和移动技术也是连接顾客的全新模式，这种联系产生的信息量是过去难以估量的。它们不仅提供了一种新的经济模式，同时也需要企业具备新的数据管理技术。

    为了保持企业的竞争力，首席信息官们必须成为“信息企业家”，促进企业内的创新和业务模式改革。今天的首席信息官一方面要做商人，另一方面要做首席技术官，要能够利用科技的消费化趋势，在依托于云端的移动世界里与商业伙伴、企业员工以及顾客建立联系——否则就只能眼睁睁地看着竞争对手抢得先机。

    云技术已经在消费领域蓬勃发展起来，其代表产品有文件存储服务Dropbox、亚马逊（Amazon）和谷歌文档（Google Docs）等。现在云技术正在朝企业领域进军。企业再也不用像过去一样为了创新而发出什么建议征求书了，因为现在企业已经没有必要再添加内部服务器或构建新的软件。凭借云技术和低成本的移动设备，加上灵活的开发方式以及大数据和内存技术，企业现在可以以非常低的成本进行创新。首席信息官们不应抗拒这种概念，而应该顺应形势，将它看成一种释放创新能力的途径。

    荷兰国际集团旗下的ING Direct网上银行就是个很好的例子。它是目前最大的网络银行。这家银行并不害怕云技术——因为他们自身就代表了云技术。如果没有云技术，它就无法生存。与许多传统银行相比，ING Direct能够更快地适应顾客的需求。在收购了第一资本银行（Capital One）之后，ING宣布将推出一种远程存款服务。顾客可以通过个人电脑直接将支票存入个人帐户，也可以使用ING Direct的移动应用给支票拍一张照片，轻松完成储蓄。现在ING Direct一边在思考如何令未来的交易系统更加支持这种支票即时成像功能，一边已经把视野放在了传统的批次处理系统之外，考虑着如何让顾客直接通过手机处理个人账户。

    除了创新潜能之外，云技术还有一些实际的好处。项目成功后，企业可以迅速、无缝地扩大项目的容纳能力，而无需投入大量的先期资金成本。具有前瞻性的首席信息官会建立安全的、基于云端的“沙盘”，而员工则可以在上面构建新的业务模型。如果项目成功了，届时就有了支持自动扩容的经济和技术基础。这种做法显著减小了创新带来的风险和摩擦，同时也让首席信息官具备了提高企业竞争力的能力。

    随着越来越多的公司开始接受移动设备，云计算也将变得越来越重要。处理器、网速和内存能力都已达到一个拐点，消费者已经可以随身处理搜索、电子邮件、地图和日历等事项。智能手机和平板电脑大行其道，以至于专家预测，等到了2014年，老式的个人电脑占所有联网设备的份额可能会下降到20%以下。智能设备的兴起也意味着数据的井喷，而这需要大量的基础架构，另外还需改进储存和分析这些数据的传统技术。简言之，现在越来越多的公司都已经开始去防火墙之外去解决这些问题，而不是在防火墙内，因此“云经济”和新的商业模式已然不可避免。

    企业不应该认为自己对这种转变免疫。现在员工都希望可以在自己的移动设备上同时连入商务数据和自己的私人数据。人们不会在乎自己的工作和生活搅在一起。新一代的年轻人很难理解为什么老板必须控制自己的手机或平板电脑。许多企业要想招募到最优秀、最聪明的年轻人才，就必须允许员工将自己的设备带进工作场所，同时提供鼓励创新和连通性的环境。

    Few key roles in a company are as dynamic as the CIO has been over the past 20 years. CIOs have come a long way, from implementing hardware and software packages in the 1990s to managing outside contractors when economics pushed IT departments to outsource software development and data centers. Yet another shift is now redefining the role of CIO, driven by two key technologies: cloud and mobile.

    Both offer unprecedented access to information, and the way CIOs approach these innovations can determine the competitiveness of their companies in the next few years. Cloud and mobile technologies are entirely new models for connecting to customers that produce previously unfathomable data, require new data management technologies, and offer a new economic model.

    To keep their companies competitive, CIOs must be "intrepreneurs," driving innovation and new business models within their companies. One part businessperson, one part Chief Technology Officer, today's CIOs can capitalize on the consumerization of technology to connect with business partners, employees, and customers in the cloud-based, mobile world they inhabit―or face competitors that do.

    The cloud has been thriving in the consumer space, led by products like Dropbox, Amazon (AMZN), and Google (GOOG) Docs. Now the cloud is working its way into the enterprise. Gone are the days when a company needed RFPs to innovate. Proposals for adding in-house servers or building new software just aren't necessary anymore. Cloud-based technologies and low-cost mobile devices, plus agile development methodologies in tandem with big data and in-memory technologies allow companies to innovate at a very low cost. CIOs shouldn't fight this notion; they should embrace it as a philosophy for unlocking innovation.

    ING Direct is a great example. They are the largest Internet-based bank. They don't fear the cloud―they are the cloud. Their business couldn't exist without these technologies. They adapt to customer demands faster than many traditional banks. Following its merger with Capital One (COF), ING announced the coming of a remote deposit service. Customers will be able to deposit checks directly into their accounts from their computers or by simply taking a picture of a check with the ING Direct mobile app. As they think about the future of their transactional systems to support this instant imaging of checks, they are already looking beyond traditional batch systems in an effort to provide straight through processing from their customers' phones to their accounts.

    Beyond the innovative possibilities, the cloud also has practical benefits. Businesses can quickly and seamlessly scale their capacity as projects become successful without large up-front capital costs. Proactive CIOs will create secure, cloud-based sandboxes where employees can build new business models. If and when the project is successful, the economics are there and the technology is there to support auto scaling. This dramatically reduces the risk and friction of innovation and makes the CIO an enabler of competitiveness.

    The cloud will be especially crucial as more companies embrace mobile devices. Processors, networking speeds, and memory capacity have all hit an inflection point, putting search, email, maps, and calendars in consumers' hands. Phones and tablets have become so popular that experts predict that good old personal computers will make up less than 20 percent of the devices connected to the Internet by 2014. This proliferation of smart devices means a proliferation of data. A proliferation of data will require massive infrastructure and a re-consideration of the traditional technologies used to store and analyze this data. Simply put, there are more companies solving these problems outside of the firewall than inside the firewall, which makes the economics and the business model inevitable.

    Businesses can't assume that they are immune to this shift. Employees now expect access to both business data and personal data on their mobile devices. People barely blink when their business and private lives intermingle. The millennium generation hardly understands the concept of their employer owning their phone or tablet. Many companies will need to let employees bring their own devices in order to recruit the best and brightest of the newest generation of workers and provide environments that encourage innovation and connectivity.