My latest white paper is now available on the IR web site. It's called Smarter devices; smarter applications; smarter monitoring. The focus of this white paper is the impact mobility is having on many aspects of commerce and how the consumer is in the driver's seat. When it comes to how the infrastructure from the networks, to the servers, to the databases it is being impacted by mobility so much so that it has reversed the way IT perceives solution deployment.
In the past, applications were specified and built and with them, user interfaces were defined and more often than not, unique presentation services came about. End users were then exposed to systems after the fact receiving instruction on how to inter-operate with the application. But no more! Enterprises no longer think in terms of requiring users to do something completely different to what they would normally do, but rather, have adapted their applications so that their introduction can be pursued seamlessly. In other words, if you can't fit in with accepted user interfaces – right down to icons to be selected, re-sizing performed with fingers outstretched and pages wiped with the flick of a hand, then having a new application be accepted proves difficult.
As observed in the white paper, the challenge for consumers and business professionals alike is to adjust to just how much their daily lives are changing as a result of embracing mobile devices, and in particular, the smartphones and tablets that are grabbing much of the world's consumer population. And just as importantly, we are transforming the very life-cycle of application development to where simple ideas are transformed into working applications in a matter of days, perhaps a week or two, but not months and definitely not years – the big three year program to redevelop a whole new solution is no longer a viable option for business challenged every day to remain competitive.
As HP acknowledges, we are now heading towards an "Idea Economy" and it's HP's strategy to focus on helping their customers to transform their "environment in which ubiquitous access to technology and digital connections provides the opportunity to turn ideas into business value faster than at any time in history." And NonStop systems aren't being ignored or left behind, indeed, in many ways, today's new NonStop X systems are already the benefactors of smartphones and tablets as so much happening in the financial world passes through at least one NonStop system.
Furthermore, as stated in the white paper referenced above, as a market segment mobility is opening up new opportunities across the spectrum of companies; in technology, whether hardware manufacturers, software vendors or service providers. When it comes to the NonStop community, this is of particular interest as so many of the world's financial transactions touch NonStop systems at some point. With a phone always in our hands, the idea of simply transferring money amongst our friends would have been an idea shot down in flames a short time ago – who would have thought the flow of electrons could result in cash in the bank?
If you missed the recent IR Podcast, Apple Pay and the Benefits of Being Second in which John Dunne, IR Chief Solutions Officer, talks about the impact mobility is having in the world of payments then you should have a listen. In this interview, Dunne highlights how he "thinks it's only inevitable that people will want to just be there transferring money to each other as easily as they can with retailers today and merchants. And so I think without a doubt the ability to send money, the whole concept of a card will hopefully be fading away and you will have an account identity that you could have linked." Yes, it's an idea economy. But it's also one that needs to be rigorously monitored.
So much of late has been focused on security but there's more to monitoring than simply watching for a break-in. IT today has Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place with individual business units and these need to be overseen and when mobility is thrown into the mix with its often times peaky usage profiles – heading to a concert, sitting in a sporting stadium, downloading a trending video – then it behooves all inside the data center to have visibility into every interaction no matter what predictions may have forecast just a few hours earlier. Poor service, should it eventuate, needs to be diagnosed quickly less the consumer experience suffer and dissatisfied consumers will quickly seek alternate product and service options.
For business to remain competitive, it needs to be able to respond quickly with appropriate application support and with confidence knowing shifting user preferences will not overwhelm the infrastructure in place. Application monitoring is essential to keeping such confidence riding high as, without it, a business will likely stall and miss the take up of new ideas. As I wrapped up my white paper, I remarked on how mobile devices are in our hands and will dominate all our interactions shortly, but our expectations of mobility being as reliable as all that has preceded it will not lessen. Monitoring of mobility will prove instrumental to just how quickly mobility penetrates our consumer and business activities and yes, provide poor service and there will be those who readily tap the app of a competitor.
Want to hear more? Join me at an up-coming webinar: House of Cards: NonStopX and Hybrid Computing. Where I will provide an overview of the new NonStop X system, as well as what hybrid computing can mean for your organization. I will be joined by Jack van Meel from IR, who will look at issues associated with running NonStop Blades and NonStop X in a hybrid environment. Hope you can join us - Register Now to reserve your spot