The Evolving Role of IT as Cloud Innovator

This year I have the honor of delivering two keynotes to nearly 5,000 IT professionals at the annual Microsoft Management Summit (MMS).  I’m excited, not just because this is the largest gathering we’ve ever had at MMS, but because of the opportunities the future holds for all of us in the IT business.

At last year’s MMS, many of you were just starting to dig into cloud computing and the consumerization of IT, and you told me about both the challenges and opportunities you were facing with each of those trends.  You shared concerns about how cloud might change the playing field and allow your “users” – your customers – to circumvent you or add risk to your business.  These were, and still can be, very real concerns.

Today, that tone is starting to change.  There is a feeling of optimism in IT and excitement about the benefits of cloud computing.  What I hear now is you are still worried about the challenges, but you see how cloud computing can help you and your IT departments deliver more business value to your companies than ever before.  You see that you can enable this change and help your business realize cloud computing benefits – greater agility, increased focus on innovation and significant cost savings. 

System Center 2012, which is available today, is just one example of the many Microsoft cloud technologies that can help you do just that – across private, public and hybrid clouds.  With Microsoft’s private cloud, built on System Center 2012 and Windows Server Hyper-V, IT can create and manage nimble and reliable cloud services that deliver what matters most to your companies – the applications. With our private cloud technology IT becomes a cloud innovator.

Microsoft cloud solutions such as System Center 2012 are also helping IT address the consumerization of IT.  We take a “people-centric approach” that empowers end-users to employ any device, anywhere, boosting productivity while providing you with governance and control. Tune into my keynote tomorrow at 8:30 AM PT where I will talk more about those trends and our solutions.

The challenges never go away in IT – they just evolve and change. I am proud to say we are already helping customers in our early adopter programs address these challenges, such as T.Rowe Price, Unilever and Nationwide Insurance.  You can learn more about how System Center 2012 and the Microsoft private cloud can help you here, including the live and on-demand keynotes, links to evaluation software, and more.

Thanks,

Brad Anderson
Corporate Vice President
Management and Security Division