Bill Schmarzo, the CTO of Dell EMC Services, a.k.a. the “Dean of Big Data” and the author of several books on the same subject, recently published an interesting article entitled Driving Digital Business Transformation. In his article, he mentioned how he starts every client relationship by asking about the organization's effectiveness of leveraging data and analytics to power the business." He does this because his client's answers often reveal crucial information about the organization's ability to achieve digital business transformation.

As tidal-shift megatrends, such as social networks, mobile, cloud, and big data transform every aspect of our lives, organizations must adapt their key business processes to deliver the exceptional customer experiences their consumers have come to expect. Only those companies that adapt fast enough and stay sufficiently agile will leap ahead of their competition. The rest will wither away. That is what Digital Business Transformation is all about. 

If you are in the process of purchasing — or you have just purchased — an Office 365 subscription for your enterprise organization, you are probably already fretting about how you will handle this massive migration to the new platform!

As you have probably heard from your Microsoft representative or reselling partner of choice, Microsoft offers free migration assistance called FastTrack for all eligible subscriptions over 50 seats. FastTrack offers best practice guidance, tools and, for larger clients, even remote migration assistance to get you onto the Office 365 subscription in the fastest possible timeframe.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Juriba has worked side-by-side with the FastTrack team to migrate more than 100,000 mailboxes. But Office 365 customers are often confused about how to tackle the next planning steps once the ink on the contract has dried.

There is no question that Office 365 is taking the productivity world by storm.

According to a new study by Bitglass that scanned the cloud environment of more than 120,000 companies, 59% of organizations are using either Google Apps for Business or Microsoft's Office 365. Microsoft's cloud productivity suite is clearly leading the pack and not only continues to gain market share every day but is expected to gain even faster traction as Microsoft just announced Office 365 Teams — coined the "Slack Killer" — to fend off the third largest cloud-based enterprise productivity solution.

For 2017, Microsoft has big plans. The software giant just announced their Q1/2017 quarterly results. They also revealed that their annualized revenue run rate for commercial cloud products is slated to exceed $13 billion! And Microsoft isn't done yet. The company's goal is to reach the $18 billion milestone by the end of June 2018. 

While Azure is growing a lot faster than Office 365, the productivity suite is an important part of Microsoft's cloud offering. At its Ignite conference, Microsoft announced that the product is now utilized by “over 85 million” active users. That is 15 million more active users since April and equates to a year-over-year growth of 40%. At that rate, this number will exceed the 100 million mark in early 2017!

For many years, Evergreen IT has been imagined by many CTO's and CIO's as the cure-all for their IT management issues. But sadly, many organizations have tried and failed to implement Evergreen IT, and seemingly nobody got close to achieving the goal until now.

However, with organizations migrating to technology such as Windows 10 and Office 365, the building blocks for successful Evergreen IT Implementations are there, and achieving it is becoming more likely.

To understand why, let's first have a look at why previous efforts to build Evergreen IT have failed:

Choosing the right Office 365 offering for your business can be confusing.

Recently, I had two very different conversations that really struck a chord with me.

The first was with an IT guy from a local firm looking to migrate a couple of thousand users to Windows 10. Even though he could have pulled off a successful migration with a set of spreadsheets and some elbow grease, he wasn't going to risk anything. He was eager to implement our migration project management tool, Dashworks, because he wanted a platform that was going to guarantee him a successful project.

A short while later, I spoke to a young, gung-ho enterprise IT project manager who was tasked to migrate over 80,000 users in a well-known enterprise. He was convinced that he would be "just fine" if he just rewrote the system he had previously used for Windows 7 and hand-cranked a bunch of databases, spreadsheets and sharepoint sites.

Having been part of these kinds of projects for more than a decade, I know which of the two guys sleeps well at night. 

Traditionally, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is performed at the end of a long software development cycle by the intended audience under real-world conditions. By then, engineering has performed a battery of technical tests to ensure the software works as expected. However, in some cases, engineering's understanding of the business requirements and user needs versus what the user was actually looking for are two very different things. This is where UAT usually comes in.

Let me ask you a question. How would it make you feel if your boss, a line of business manager or C-level management was to walk into your office right now or send you a quick email saying "Hi, can you give me a statistical update on our project?"

Most likely, you wouldn't be very happy, right? Some days, that's all you seem to do: manipulating data, generating graphs, preparing PowerPoint presentations or writing email status updates. In reality, there is no such thing as a quick update. Your information consumers all want something slightly different.

It starts with the different information needs. The C-Level management needs a 30,000 level overview that you are on schedule, on budget and what the return-on-investment looks like. They might like to see a visualization of the global progress on a map and some high-level dashboards. The business managers are more interested in a granular view of their department or line of business, while schedulers need a view on their piece of the overall plan. The engineers need a printed-out drop sheet. 

So, how do you serve all these different reporting needs? Easy - with Dashworks Dashboarding.

Today, we are wrapping up our 3-part blog post series about Evergreen IT by taking a closer look at software catalogs.

(If you have missed the previous blog posts you can find them here: Software Asset Lifecycle Management - Dream or Reality as well as How Important Is Application Normalization For Your Next Windows 10 Migration And Evergreen IT?)

As your organization evolves, and demand for business flexibility increases, the proliferation of applications each end user works with tends to grow in volume as well. Consequently, your IT department works to cope with an increasingly complicated application environment, and you begin to dream of initiating a Software Asset Lifecycle Management project that will bring order to the chaos. 

What’s the name of that application Employee A is running on her desktop? Is it the same as the similar title running on another computer by Employee B in a nearby department? You cannot get an accurate idea of how much software you have deployed if you don’t know the names and locations of each installed application.

If software is not named consistently, you might see one copy that includes the name of the vendor and another that has a truncated or abbreviated version of the same name, or a different vendor entirely (think Macromedia and Adobe - both now Adobe Systems). It might seem like you have five applications when actually you only have five names for the same thing.

A stressed out, harried IT department is a sign that your organization has bitten off more than it can chew. There’s no need to have circumstances lead to the point where your IT professionals are pulling out their hair in frustration and growing ragged from lack of sleep because of the burden that comes from launching one big bang project after the other.

Instead, gradual, incremental changes to your mission-critical software assets will be much more effective and will help your organization stay on track. Many larger organizations have recognized this not only as a possible way to gain a long-term competitive advantage but also a way to significantly cut cost and resources. 

In this 3-part series, we are exploring vital stepping stones that pave the way to achieving this. Last week, we talked about software asset lifecycle management, and today we will look into application normalization. In a few days, we will take a closer look at software cataloging. With that in mind, you may be wondering how important application normalization is to your Windows 10 and Evergreen IT projects.

On October 15th of 2016, Microsoft released Windows Server 2016. There's been a lot of buzz about the new release, and with good reason! The latest version of the Microsoft server operating system adds some much-needed functionality to Windows environments, as well as a few key security features that previous versions were lacking. If you're not sure whether the hype train is worth getting on, then buckle up.

Here are the top features of Windows Server 2016 that, in our opinion, make it well worth the excitement.

According to Gartner, worldwide IT spending is expected to reach $3.5 trillion in 2017 — representing a modest annual growth of 2.9%, which is mostly driven by new software purchases ($357 billion) and the cost of IT services ($943 billion). 

That is a lot of money, especially if previous ascertations that 80% of enterprise IT budgets are not directly contributing to enhancing your competitive advantage or growing your business remain true, and are being used to simply keep the lights on!

But while we might have been able to accept that as a fact of life in the past decades, times are changing!

Historically, purchasing expensive hardware, servers and other costly equipment using Capital Expenditure, and stretching the investment as far as it could go before replacing, made financial sense.

However, now with technology infrastructure demand evolving much faster, and the requirement for a consistent and understandable IT budget, that calculation will not add up anymore. Aging infrastructure brings a lot of hidden costs as it results in performance degradation, rising maintenance costs, energy inefficiencies and much more, resulting in the kind of boom-bust budgeting of the past decade.

Are you dreading your next IT migration project because of all the overtime, late nights and short weekends that your team will face over the next months? Wouldn't it be nice if you could wave a magic wand and all those weeks of tedious pouring over spreadsheets would just magically go away? Unfortunately, we do not have a magic want to give you, but there are ways to significantly (I am talking weeks to even months) shorten you planning phase of your Windows 10 migration project (and other IT transformation projects) by deploying an IT migration project management tool, like Juriba's Dashworks. 

Let's walk through each of the planning phases of a typical Windows 10 enterprise migration project and compare the amount of effort and time it takes to get the job done manually versus with a tool:

Every organization handles their IT transformation projects differently, depending on their business requirements, applications used, IT team and other available project resources. However, there are some major commonalities when you look at enterprise migration projects larger than 5,000 seats. They are always incredibly complex, costly, and can seemingly take forever if not managed right.

Let's look at a Windows 10 migration as an example. There are different approaches to tackling a project of this scale: You can run it in-house with hand-cranked databases and spreadsheets, you can hire a service provider such as HP Enterprise Services, Atos, Microsoft Consulting Services, Wipro, Fujitsu or HCL to handle the migration on your behalf (they all use Dashworks by the way), or you can deploy Dashworks in-house to enable your team to get organized and stay in control with a central command and control center.

Irrespective of whether you are opting for keeping the project in-house, or using a service integrator, look out for these tell-tale signs that you should leverage the power of an IT transformation project management tool instead of going it alone.

 With the Windows 2003 Server end of life time bomb now passed on July 14^th 2015, we thought we would take the time to document our advice for Server 2003 migration project planning activities based on our own server migration experience. Download our Server 2003 Project Plan for free.

One of the most frequent questions we get when we talk to potential customers about tooling is: "What about Microsoft Upgrade Readiness? How does Dashworks compare to that?" It's a very valid question since the Microsoft tool is available free of charge and also built by Microsoft. Since no one knows Windows 10 as well as Microsoft does, one can assume that they also know how to best ready and deploy it using proven industry practices.

If you ask a bunch of different CIOs what is the biggest barrier to achieving his/her goals, you will likely hear the same answer: the current IT skill gap! 

However, this isn't as simple as the IT skill gap that the industry faced in the past 2 decades. For twenty years, we encouraged young men and women in universities around the globe to learn about Object-Oriented Programming, Network Technologies, Web Services, and Service-Oriented Architecture, and within a few years, there were plenty of programmers, network specialists, and other IT professionals available to satisfy the demands. 

This article was also published on The Technology Record magazine here.

You know you are in a pickle when you are six months into your migration project and you still haven’t gotten any numbers on the board. As the responsible project manager, you are frustrated. There are a thousand questions running through your head: What went wrong? Where did the time go? What can I do to get this back on track? Is there a way I can accelerate this to get back on schedule? Should I increase the number of resources dedicated to this project?

Throwing more people at it certainly seems like the right thing to do. After all, you need to be seen to be doing something! This is the route that many a project manager has trodden! But what most project managers have come to realize after the fact is that throwing more people at it doesn’t always translate into a faster project. Only automation and appropriate tooling will do that.

When it comes to technology, one thing is true: change is constant. In fact, technology today is changing faster than ever before. It changes the way we pay, shop, interact with other people, and even how we work. For businesses, this means they have to adapt — and fast — to exceed their shoppers' expectations by providing an outstanding omni-channel and digitally supported customer experience. Companies across all industries have to constantly push the innovation envelope to reach new customers and keep existing ones from wandering off to the competition. 

Despite the political and economic uncertainties within the past 12 months, CEOs around the globe are prioritizing growth (58%) — a huge jump from last year's 42%.  These growth innovations to improve customer experience and save costs are commonly known as "Digital Business Transformation" and often target a plethora of opportunities to outpace your competitors and reap untold savings. But achieving successful transformation is a journey full of potential roadblocks. In this blog we look at what those roadblocks are, and how to avoid them.

In 1876, a plant new to the United States called Kudzu, was introduced at the Japanese Pavillion at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Due to its fast growth, the Soil Conservation Service encouraged farmers to plant Kudzu as a ground cover to prevent soil erosion during the Great Depression.

One of the most frequent questions we get when we talk to potential customers about tooling is: "What about Microsoft Upgrade Readiness? How does Dashworks compare to that?" It's a very valid question since the Microsoft tool is available free of charge and also built by Microsoft. Since no one knows Windows 10 as well as Microsoft does, one can assume that they also know how to best ready and deploy it using proven industry practices.

According to the latest Gartner Report, 85% of enterprises are planning to migrate to Windows 10 by the end of 2017. I think this number won't pan out to be that high because realistically, IT Transformation project of this size and complexity take anywhere from 44 to 124 man-weeks to complete and large organizations aren't as far along in their readiness tasks as they think they are, 

But regardless of whether 70% of businesses complete their upgrade, or 85% of them are able to tackle the majority of the rollout this year, many organizations are becoming serious about starting as soon as possible! One of the biggest hurdles that project managers face when trying to get out of the gates fast, is that they struggle with understanding what they are getting themselves into. And rightfully so. For example,

• How are you going to put together a project budget if you have to base it on a vague idea or a guesstimate? 
• Do you know exactly how many of your PCs are compatible, can be refurbished, or need to be replaced?
• How many, and which resources you need if you don't know how many applications you will need to test, rewrite, or retire?

Most project managers don't have any means to get this kind of information at the start of the project. This creates a classic catch-22 situation: To kick off the project, you need budget and resources, but to get budget and resources, you need to know what you are dealing with. That's why we have partnered with HP, HPE, DXC and BDNA to build a low cost, fast value technology service to provide our clients with a full, simple to understand Windows 10 Assessment. Today, we want to share some of the real-world findings from these assessments, to help inform your decisions and hopefully ease the planning process. 

(Updated: This article was updated September 15th, 2017 to reflect the terminology changes.)

You probably heard about the malware attack WannaCry 2 just a few weeks ago that held 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries, including devices at the Britain’s National Health Service, at ransom. The thing is, this attack was entirely preventable — and I am not speaking about the NSA or WikiLeaks. Microsoft issued a fix for this vulnerability days before it spread like wildfire. 

Unfortunately, cybercrime and data breaches are becoming the norm. According to the Global Economic Crime Survey, 32% of companies said they were the victims of cybercrime in 2016. Because we are relying more on data and connectivity, the consequences of cybercrime are severe — costing us up to $2 trillion by 2019. These increased security threats have affected Windows 10 in two ways:

• First, Microsoft significantly improved the security of Windows 10 and designed the new OS as a Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS) — forcing enterprises as well as other customers to update frequently and often. As we have seen from the WannaCry attack, a safe OS version isn't doing you any good unless you have it installed.  
• Secondly, the improved security measures and the continuous commitment to fixing vulnerabilities are significant drivers for enterprise adoption — making it the fastest adopted operating system yet. 

To maintain Windows-as-a-Service, Microsoft releases new feature releases twice a year and monthly quality updates which are managed by servicing channels. 

(To learn more about Windows Servicing check out our always up-to-date guide.)

According to Gartner, 85% of enterprises are planning to get their Windows 10 migration under way before the year is out — making the newest version of Microsoft's operating system the fastest adopted release yet. While most of this velocity is driven by increasing security concerns, Jason Leznek, Director of Windows Commercial Product Marketing, believes it is more than that:

"We designed Windows 10 to be the most secure Windows ever, ease management efforts and create more personal and productive computing experiences across devices. Customer satisfaction is at an all-time high because of the security and productivity features, which are behind the strong adoption and overall satisfaction."

And to fuel the enthusiasm about Windows 10, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the subject which we want to take a closer look at today.

Bill Schmarzo, the CTO of Dell EMC Services, a.k.a. the “Dean of Big Data” and the author of several books on the same subject, recently published an interesting article entitled Driving Digital Business Transformation. In his article, he mentioned how he starts every client relationship by asking about the organization's effectiveness of leveraging data and analytics to power the business." He does this because his client's answers often reveal crucial information about the organization's ability to achieve digital business transformation.

As tidal-shift megatrends, such as social networks, mobile, cloud, and big data transform every aspect of our lives, organizations must adapt their key business processes to deliver the exceptional customer experiences their consumers have come to expect. Only those companies that adapt fast enough and stay sufficiently agile will leap ahead of their competition. The rest will wither away. That is what Digital Business Transformation is all about. 

Microsoft Inspire is now over and with so many announcements we think it is a good time to collect the big news all in one blog post. Many great discussions took place in Washington D.C. in July and with almost 18,000 attendees it was the biggest Microsoft partner event ever! As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in his Vision Keynote address on Day 1, "Attendees at Microsoft Inspire come from 140 different countries, and the joint efforts of all these partners create 17 million jobs worldwide". With so many different technologies and new announcements, let us summarize what we learnt from the show...

Alliance Extends Ability to Deliver Integrated Solutions that Accelerate IT Migrations and Optimize Time and Budget.

LONDON – June 27, 2017 – World Wide Technology (WWT), a market-leading technology solution provider, announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with Juriba, the company that has redefined Enterprise IT Migrations.

“Forging a strategic alliance with Juriba extends our ability to deliver truly innovative, integrated solutions to help our customers manage their IT Migrations, with Juriba Dashworks, WWT CPMigrator® and supporting tools like Tanium giving us a unique stack of technologies and services” said Bob Olwig, WWT’s vice president of business development and innovation.

Microsoft's biggest event of the year is now just over one month away and we couldn't be more excited! Not only will we have a booth (#1132), but many of the partners that use our Dashworks software daily will also be there, as well as hopefully some new partners interested in combining their services with our products. Formerly known as the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, the show was renamed Microsoft Inspire to align with other flagship conferences, including Microsoft Build and Microsoft Ignite.

Microsoft Inspire is scheduled to run July 9 to July 13 in Washington, D.C. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. As usual, current and future partners can look forward to connecting and also attending sessions and Vision Keynotes, which are slated to run from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on July 10-12. The keynotes that have been announced so far are those by Satya Nadella, Ron Huddleston, Judson Althoff, Gavriella Schuster, Toni Townes-Whitley, CVP, Public Sector and Industry; Kirk Koenigsbauer, CVP, Office Marketing, who will be presenting at the Verizon Center. Also, make sure you don't miss this year's Partner Celebration with Carrie Underwood on July 12 from 7 to 10.30pm at the Nationals park!

Over the past year we have talked to hundreds of IT professionals. Some are enterprise IT project managers heading up large Windows 10 migration or Office 365 roll out projects, while others are CIOs and CTOs concerned about creating an Evergreen IT environment that will enable them to stay nimble and on top of their IT landscape. Either way, their goal is to drive Digital Transformation as effectively and efficiently as possible.

No matter who we spoke to, there was one common thread in all conversations. Today's IT departments are already stretched thin just trying to chip away at the ever-increasing mountain of compounding IT technical debt. But they also must keep pace with the faster cadence of changes (e.g., Windows 10 Branching, Office 365 additions) and lead the charge of the digital transformation efforts their CEO is demanding and the industry is heading toward — regardless of whether or not they are positioned to do so.