Good news, IT folks: Now is a great time to be in the IT business. With global IT spending expected to hit $3.8 trillion this year, IT pros are in high demand — especially those with BYOD chops. But don't think these jobs are the ticket to easy street. Here's a look at a few of the looming challenges highlighted on the web this week:
BYOD Skills: The Golden Ticket in IT
Is it possible BYOD is under-hyped? According to new research from Janco Associates that found BYOD aptitude is one of the hottest, and highest-paying, skills in IT. "If you have knowledge and ability to work with BYOD, either in implementation, support or development, this increases your value," Janco's chief executive told CIO.com. "It's the hot skill of the day." He also predicts BYOD certifications soon, so BYOD experts can make it official.
Read more at CIO
3 Ways to Prepare for Network Transformation
Blame the usual suspects — increased cloud and mobile adoption, video, Big Data — for straining networks like never before. But most organizations are using the IT equivalent of Band-Aids to solve the problem, and that's hurting business growth, writes Larry Socher, an Accenture consultant. Socher offers several ways that IT pros can create more flexible, efficient networks to handle the influx of data now, and in the future. Here are three:
- Simplify. Automate. Transform: “Convergence and simplification create a network that’s more flexible and agile, yet easier and less expensive to maintain.”
- Embrace analytics: “Organizations are shifting from reactive to proactive and even predictive service assurance, using big data and analytics to analyze network information and trouble tickets.”
- Prepare for network virtualization: “The market is delivering a clear message: Create a more dynamic and flexible network. Now that businesses are reaping the benefits of virtualized servers, storage and databases, they seek the same advantages from the network.”
Read more at Baseline
'Cloud-Native': What it Means & Why it Matters
Add "cloud-native" to the list of opaque buzzwords that are wreaking havoc for IT buyers. "The trouble is, everyone has his or her own definition of 'cloud-native.' As a result, cloud-hosted applications are all over the place in their use of native features. Many are not designed properly, and they're worse off in the cloud than when they ran in the data center," he writes. Linthicum's advice to developers: “You're paying for the resources you use, so applications that more efficiently work with those resources run faster and generate smaller cloud services bills at the end of the month.”
Read more at InfoWorld
How to Ease the Burdens of Data Centers
Most IT managers cringe at the thought of downtime — and companies are paying the price. Why? Because fears of an outage are driving IT staffs to spend more money and use more energy than they need to keep infrastructure humming. How can an IT manager balance the need to protect resources online without breaking the bank? Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all solution, says Sarah Rambacher, project manager at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. But companies can seek out an expert who, in theory, can objectively design a data center that uses more energy-efficient power and lighting and still gets the job done.
Read more at DataCenterKnowledge
[Image via CanStock]
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A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.
