While we build the 2021 agenda, explore last year's tracks built upon our latest research that addressed the challenges most critical to IT infrastructure, operations, and cloud leaders. These key topics kickstarted conversations around priorities and initiatives so that attendees could tackle what was most important to them.
2020 track highlights
Track A: Leadership in the Next Normal
Cultural-change leadership matters now more than ever. Explore the drivers of culture, how it influences goals and objectives, and how team and workplace factors affect it.
Track B: Cloud Computing and Migration Strategies
Learn how to develop a successful cloud strategy and strike the right balance between value and risk — both real and imagined.
Track C: IT Operations in a Hybrid World
Discover the infrastructure and operational processes, technologies and human capabilities that enable desired business outcomes.
Track D: Disruptive Technologies
Explore the balance between ensuring operational stability and tapping into emerging trends.
Track E: Tomorrow’s Infrastructure
Explore the methods and options available today for maintaining these workloads and creating an agile enterprise.
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A look back at 2020's agenda
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 12:30 PM - 12:55 PM GMT
Gartner Opening Keynote: Reinvent Your Digital Foundations to Drive the Resilient Enterprise
Christopher Mixter, VP, Advisory, Gartner
As I&O leaders emerge from COVID-19 cost optimization pressures into the "renew phase," it is imperative to apply cost intelligence to look beyond cost optimization to investment in innovation. Partnering with other IT and business leaders will be needed to transform, drive innovation and grow your business. Learn how I&O leaders can innovate, transform and market their capabilities for business success.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Prepare I&O to Enable the Everywhere Enterprise
Roger Williams, VP Analyst, Gartner
Infrastructure is everywhere, and customers and staff are becoming more distributed as well as our organizations become "everywhere enterprises." This session will explore how I&O leaders must reposition their teams to enable remote ways of working, expand remote operational capabilities and exploit the digital business opportunities that are now possible.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Scaling for Digital Success — Tackling the I&O Skills Gap
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
As enterprises large and small attempt to scale up their digital efforts, the demands of perpetual renewal, swift delivery and increasing interaction are relentless. Gain practical advice on how to navigate the I&O skills gap to survive and thrive in a world of consistent, unending change.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
Organization Structures for I&O: Which Approach Is Best for Infrastructure-Led Innovation
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
The dynamic nature of infrastructure-led innovation (ILI) requires leaders to rethink how to organize their teams for the work of today and tomorrow. We discuss how ILI changes the requirements placed on I&O, and how team structure and function need to evolve. Several options of organization structures exist, and we discuss the benefits and limitations of each.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Midsize Enterprise Peer Conversation: Top I&O Challenges Facing Midsize Enterprises
Duncan Prosser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Working in the mid-sized enterprise sector presents a unique set of challenges and requirements for I&O leaders. Join this lightly facilitated session to exchange thoughts and ideas with your peers.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Public Sector Peer Conversation: Top I&O Challenges Facing Public Sector Organizations
Rakesh Kumar, Managing Vice President, Gartner
Working in Federal, State and Local government organizations presents unique challenges and requirements for I&O leaders. Join this lightly facilitated session to share your experiences and ideas with your peers.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
I&O Leaders Response to Covid-19
Milind Govekar, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
I&O Leaders Response to Covid-19
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: How to Repair a Failing IT Services Deal
David Groombridge, VP Analyst, Gartner
Whether due to poor strategic guidance, last-minute tactical changes or inheriting a deal already done, every I&O management team will have to handle a failed outsourcing deal at some point. This session will explore how to recover when deals go wrong, looking at:
1. What are the root causes of failed deals?
2. How do you decide what to do with the deal?
3. What actions should you take to fix a failed deal?
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
The I&O Leaders' Guide to Cost Intelligence in 2021
Duncan Prosser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The COVID-19 pandemic led to quick cost cutting actions across the board for many I&O leaders in 2020. While the cuts have been made, what are things that I&O leaders should be thinking of in the realm of cost intelligence moving into 2021? The session will review Gartner’s cost management framework — exploring cost reductions, cost optimization and business value realization.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: How to Use BuySmart for Your Vendor Negotiations to Optimize Costs and Mitigate Risk
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This clinic will illustrate Gartner’s BuySmart process which is Gartner’s view of the end-to-end buying process. The clinic will illustrate the process with scenarios and examples focused on the importance of collaboration to determine requirements, select competitors and alternatives, analyze pricing proposals and contract T&Cs, and create the tactics and strategy to effectively negotiate the deal.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
The I&O Operating Model: What It Is, Why It Is Important, and How It Can Transform Your Organization
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
The long-term success of I&O is dependent upon providing maximum value to the business while simultaneously aligning to the operational requirements to the organization. A well-constructed operating model facilitates this alignment and allows I&O Leaders to effectively devise a strategy and plan of execution. We discuss what an operating model is and how it can elevate and transform I&O.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Helping I&O Staff to Navigate New Skills and Career Paths
Christopher Mixter, VP, Advisory, Gartner
Helping I&O Staff to Navigate New Skills and Career Paths
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM GMT
Keynote: Crisis Culture Hacking — How to Keep Your Employees Sane Over the Long Haul
Katherine Lord, VP Analyst, Gartner
If you feel like your team is demotivated and could use a shot of morale, you’re not alone. I&O Leaders are being asked to rally employees to carry their teams through perhaps the most challenging business conditions they have ever encountered. In this environment, I&O leaders can use crisis culture hacking to keep employees positive and motivated. This keynote session shows you how.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Midsize Enterprise Peer Conversation: Best Practices for Enabling the Remote Workforce
Nathan Hill, VP Analyst, Gartner
Working in the mid-sized enterprise sector presents a unique set challenges and requirements for I&O leaders. Join this lightly facilitated session to exchange best practices for Enabling the Remote Workforce and compare notes with peers.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
8 Powerful Tips, Tactics and Techniques to Enhance Your Negotiation Playbook
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will guide IT leaders how to use a powerful set of negotiation tips, tactics, and techniques (the “TTTs”) as an integral part of the negotiation planning process. These TTTs should be used for all major technology negotiations to ensure the right questions are asked and the right detail is revealed in vendor proposals to optimize and reduce cost and risk. Attendees will have access to ready-to-use templates and checklists that will help them put these TTTs in action in their organization.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Infrastructure Outsourcing and Cloud IaaS
David Groombridge, VP Analyst, Gartner
When engaging IaaS providers, contract structures, schedules and negotiation best practices are quite different as compared to traditional service deals. Use this interactive session to improve your IaaS deals by optimizing key contract clauses in simpler agreements, building key best practice SOW, SLA and pricing schedules, and optimizing negotiation strategies to avoid standard IaaS contractual constraints.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Roundtable: Optimizing AWS Infrastructure Costs for I&O Leaders
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable is an opportunity to join with your peers in discussing optimization challenges, and learning from other's optimization successes, specifically for adopters of AWS.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
I Like the Idea of SASE, but How Do I Put SASE Into Practice in My Network?
Nat Smith, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
We are buying into digital transformation so our network and security architectures need to take advantage of secure access services edge (SASE), but SASE seems like a framework for vendors. How do I best take advantage of SASE? Where do I start and how do I get the most value from my existing investments? What should be my goals for the next year, next three years and the next five years? Come get some guidance and structure to help you succeed with SASE.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
The Essentials of Remote Work
Lisa Pierce, VP Analyst, Gartner
Going forward, organizations expect to support remote work. In doing this, I&O leaders want to be sure the quality of the remote work experience suffices to support the quality and quantity of output the employees produce. This session recommends the key technology and nontechnology actions and considerations clients should take to optimize remote work value, risk and cost.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Time for Your I&O Checkup: Using IT Score as a Means to Improve the I&O Value to the Organization
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
Establishing a baseline and benchmark for how an organization is functioning is critical in getting better. Gartner's IT Score offers clients an approach for such measurements, as well offering proven methods, approaches, and best practices necessary for score improvement. Learn about the recipe of I&O success and how you can take tangible steps in getting better.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 04:00 PM - 04:35 PM GMT
Guest Keynote: How to Future
Magnus Lindkvist, Trend Spotter and Futurist,
When we define tomorrow as a set of deterministic trends - from job-stealing robots to climate apocalypse - we inadvertently become slaves to the future. What if we redefine future as a verb - to future? Based on studying groundbreaking innovators, creative organizations and historical discoveries, this talk isolates a set of key insights about what it takes to future, i.e. what it takes to create tomorrow, not just talk about it
A counter intuitive talk about the secret history of innovation aimed at arming the audience with a set of tools to solve problems in new ways and build truly unique organizations.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 04:45 PM - 05:15 PM GMT
Women in I&O Peer Conversation: Attracting and Retaining More Women in I&O
Yinuo Geng, Sr Director, Research, Gartner
Please join this lightly facilitated session to exchange thoughts and ideas with I&O peers around how to attract more women in I&O. Compare notes around best practices and brainstorm new ways to attract more women in I&O.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
DACH Peer Conversation: Your Top Take-Aways from the IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Virtual Conference (Facilitated in German)
Ilona Hansen, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Please join your peers to discuss top takeaways from the conference. (This session will be in German)
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Public Sector Peer Conversation: Your Top Take Aways from the IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Virtual Conference
Neil Rickard, VP Analyst, Gartner
Was there a key “AHA” moment or moments for you over the past few days? Compare notes and share your top take-aways from the event with public sector peers.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Best Practices for a Remote Agile/DevOps Team
Manjunath Bhat, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This session will be a chance for participants to ask an expert about remote DevOps teams. Given the recent impacts of COVID-19, what experiences do you want to share or questions do you have in regards to what worked, what didn't work, what would you do again and what would you not?
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Case Study: ABB’s Project to Rationalize IT Operations — 'RIO'
Daniele Lisetto, Global Head IT Strategy Office, Group VP, ABB
This case study presentation will explain how ABB has successfully transformed its IT infrastructure and operations to improve agility and flexibility, while reducing total cost of ownership , covering the drivers, key steps and lessons learned.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Roundtable: Practical Ideas for Cost Optimization in Challenging Times
Leinar Ramos, Director, Advisory, Gartner
The current pandemic is severely impacting business and continuity of operations on a global scale. I&O leaders must prioritize and execute cost reduction actions to deliver savings to their organizations. This Roundtable will deliver practical Ideas for Cost Optimization in Challenging Times.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Use the Right Metrics to Demonstrate Business Value
Ron Blair, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
I&O provides a lot of metrics. But these metrics often miss the mark with decision-makers, resulting in increased technical debt and strategic obsolescence. “Business alignment” is spoken about frequently, but execution is challenging throughout the Gartner client base. Gartner has developed a methodology to integrate value-add, risk and corporate performance that helps achieve these goals.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: How to Build a Cloud Center of Excellence?
Miguel Angel Borrega, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
A cloud center of excellence allows I&O leaders to drive infrastructure-led disruption for both new and existing infrastructure. This Ask the expert session will answer questions on how a CCoE can further drive successful cloud adoption.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM GMT
Guest Keynote: Igniting Innovation
Lisa Bodell, FutureThink, Founder & CEO
Winning innovators embrace change - do you? What holds you and your organization back from better innovating, every day? In too many organizations, we’re stuck in the land of status quo. We’ve forgotten how to think differently and lack the simple tools to solve problems creatively. The very structures put in place inside organizations to help them grow all too often hold them back. This keynote is an inspirational call to arms: to start a revolution in how we think and how we work. Participants will learn the critical approaches and techniques that innovative orgs use to create a culture of innovation every day.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Building an Enterprise Cloud Strategy
Raj Bala, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Public Cloud IaaS is now a mainstream technology platform adopted by enterprises of all shapes and sizes. The question “how to adopt the cloud the right way?" is the one in which many enterprises struggle.
This session will provide actionable advice on creating a comprehensive, enterprise cloud strategy, while offering guidance as to the what, where and when for enterprise workloads.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
The Cloud Computing Scenario: The Future Is Distributed Cloud
David Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Distributed cloud brings together edge, hybrid and new use cases for cloud computing. It represents the future of cloud and addresses specifically the issue of location. Just when you thought you had cloud figured out, new use cases and terms (such as distributed cloud and cloud native) are introduced. Understanding and balancing the current needs with the new uses of cloud are crucial to benefiting from the cloud.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Best Practices for Moving to the Cloud
Miguel Angel Borrega, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The breadth and depth of options and possibilities enterprises face in moving to the cloud are vast. This session will allow participants to ask questions about how to frame the journey, and identify the questions and frameworks they should use to maximize the benefits while minimizing risks and wasted efforts.
Please Note: based on availability and eligibility you may sign-up for this session via Conference Navigator after you register for this conference.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
How Pandemics Impact Cloud Migration Today, Tomorrow and Beyond
Sid Nag, VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will discuss the impact of pandemics on cloud migration and what IT leaders should consider today, tomorrow and beyond to address their cloud migration challenges as an outcome of such events.The session will discuss steps taken by MSPs to address concerns during a pandemic, which services to focus on, skills required to handle migration and new challenges today, tomorrow and on the rebound.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Building Cloud-Friendly Networks
Andrew Lerner, VP Analyst, Gartner
This session describes modern best practices for building cloud-friendly and cloud-native networks. This includes guidance for connecting to the cloud, across the cloud and within public and private cloud data centers. In addition to technological aspects, we also cover the people and cultural changes required.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
When to Consider Multicloud and Why?
David Wright, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
With so many vendors pushing the concept many enterprises mistakenly think that multicloud should be part of their cloud strategy. This session will cover the pros and cons to such a deployment and provide practical guidance for enterprises.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Public Cloud Governance and Other Cat-Herding Strategies
Douglas Toombs, VP Analyst, Gartner
The pace of innovation in cloud computing has brought significant changes to data processing, but these changes have also highlighted the challenges that established organizational structures face. This session will focus on evolving organizations toward more adaptive governance strategies, aiming to make organizations more nimble while also managing risk, and investment prioritization decisions.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Six Steps to Strategize Software and SaaS Negotiations to Optimize Costs and Mitigate Risk
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This clinic illustrates and walks through how to use six powerful steps for planning negotiations with both existing and new software and cloud vendors. These steps should be used for any major negotiation to ensure the right questions are asked and the right detail is revealed to analyze proposals from a cost optimization and risk-mitigation standpoint. Clinic attendees will have access to ready-to-use checklists and templates to execute these six steps effectively in their organizations.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
The Cloud Strategy Cookbook — Taking Control of Your Cloud Strategy
David Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
The top question in cloud computing has been “how do we build a comprehensive cloud strategy?” With today’s uncertainties, enterprise leaders more than ever struggle with prioritization and ensuring that their cloud strategy aligns with business outcomes — immediate and longer term. We take a “cookbook approach” to cloud strategy, that starts with context and aligns with other strategies and operational plans.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Creating an Edge Computing Strategy
Thomas Bittman, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will allow participants to ask questions and to share experiences and success stories they have encountered as they advance along the path toward cloud and/or edge computing and IT.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
How to Approach Workload Migration From On-Premises to the Cloud
Miguel Angel Borrega, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This track focuses on the work required to discover the on-premises environment, align it with different cloud options and migrate the workloads in a structured and planned manner. It also examines the help available in the market to assist you.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Disaster Recovery for Public Cloud-Based Workloads
Brian Adler, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Organizations need to have a disaster recovery plan in place for their public cloud-based workloads as classical tools and processes used in on-premises and data center environments are not applicable in the public cloud. This session provides insight and guidance into desgining and implementing disaster recovery solutions for public cloud-based workloads.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: How to Choose Between AWS Outposts, Azure Stack and Google Anthos?
Tony Harvey, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Hyperscale cloud providers now offer ways to install and run their services directly in customer data centers. This Ask the expert session will offer answers to commonly asked questions on about these hyperscale providers and guide Infrastructure and operations leaders to avoid pitfalls.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Preparing I&O Teams to Succeed With Cloud Cost Optimization
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Comprehensively optimizing cloud infrastructure costs requires proactive collaboration across multiple teams. This session helps I&O leaders move beyond tactical responses, by building a team approach that empowers cloud adopters with ongoing cost optimization services and expert insights.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Assuring Office 365 and UC Performance Against the Chaos of Covid-19
Lisa Pierce, VP Analyst, Gartner
The network approach used to connect users to public cloud services, especially digital workplace and cloud office, is a significant factor impacting performance and the associated end-user experience. This session highlights the key network considerations to factor in when architecting for these services, with guidance for optimizing cloud office service performance.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Building an Enterprise Edge Strategy for Data
Julia Palmer, VP Analyst, Gartner
In next three years, more than 50% of enterprise data will be generated and processed outside of a data center or cloud. The session highlights optimal storage edge topologies, architectures, and technologies you will be leveraging when building a strategy for the data processing at the edge. We describe a diverse range of innovative data storage technologies and vendors across multiple domains.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Microservices and Containers: How Do You Monitor What Barely Exists?
Dennis Smith, VP Analyst, Gartner
Application developers are rapidly adopting new architectures such as microservices and containers in order to be more agile and responsive to customer demand. But how do I&O teams, who are used to managing infrastructure that persists for weeks months or years manage in a world where it now lasts minutes or seconds?
In this talk:
1. What are these new technologies and why are they important?
2. How to monitor micoservices and containers?
3. What team and cultural changes need to happen to support this?
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Roundtable: Optimizing Microsoft Azure Cloud Infrastructure Costs for I&O Leaders
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable is an opportunity to join with your peers in discussing optimization challenges, and learning from other's optimization successes, specifically for adopters of Microsoft Azure.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Cloud Providers Extending to the Edge
Thomas Bittman, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and Microsoft have differing strategies and offerings for edge computing, IoT and 5G. We compare and contrast the vendors, discuss strengths and challenges, and when to choose.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
The Impact of Tethered Cloud (e.g. AWS Outposts, Microsoft Azure Stack Hub) on Your Infrastructure
Jeffrey Hewitt, VP, Research, Gartner
Hybrid IT is the new normal and cloud vendors like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have introduced hybrid cloud products like Outposts, Anthos and Azurestack that tether your private cloud and edge systems to their public cloud. This presentation will provide an overview of the competitive landscape of tethered systems, how they compare to offerings from traditional vendors and how they can fit into your data center and Edge strategies. Applicable use cases will be outlined, and guidance will be provided on how this market will impact you and your infrastructure choices.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Top I&O Cost-Optimization Ideas
Jonathan Forest, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
I&O leaders are always looking for ways to operate more efficiently. Cost optimization is at the core of that and it is beyond just cost savings. Rather, it is optimizing value and implementing an effective ongoing process as opposed to a one-off project. In this session, we will go through a comprehensive list of areas across I&O to evaluate and also discuss how to make this an ongoing process.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Use 8 Simple Steps to Get DevOps Right
Daniel Betts, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
DevOps can provide compelling business advantages, but many organizations are uncertain about how to start their transformation. I&O leaders must take eight steps to establish a successful DevOps initiative that maximizes delivery of customer value and guards against common failures.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:30 PM GMT
Roundtable: Managing Infrastructure Life Cycle Fitness in a Cost-Constrained Environment
Roger Williams, VP Analyst, Gartner
Reducing technical debt is an ongoing priority for I&O leaders, yet obtaining support for these investments is often challenging, especially when cost optimization is the focus. Join other I&O leaders as they discuss challenges and approaches to infrastructure life cycle planning, assessment, and improvement.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: NetOps 2.0 — Taking Networks From Fragile to Agile
Andrew Lerner, VP Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable discusses how to automate and monitor on-prem. and cloud-resident network environments in a proactive, dynamic fashion, versus reactive and manually-driven. Attendees are asked to share their approaches to network operations, including automation and monitoring tools that drive network agility.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
Success With Automation Drives I&O Success
Milind Govekar, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Automation enables Infrastructure and Operations teams to reduce costs, build scalable infrastructure and achieve operational efficiency. I&O teams must leverage automation to drive business agility. This session covers the trends, technologies, tools and best practices needed to leverage and scale automation within your organization.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: How to Successfully Implement Your ITSM Tool
Mark Cleary, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
ITSM tools are a significant investment in both time and money and it is important that I&O leaders recognize the necessary aspects that contribute to a successful implementation. This roundtable will provide advice and guidance on the best practices involved in implementing your ITSM tool.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Improve Operational Agility With These Top Five Methods
George Spafford, VP Analyst, Gartner
I&O leaders face constant pressure to increase their organizations’ ability to respond rapidly to changing digital business demands. This research explains five methods that can help I&O leaders optimize workflows to improve operational agility and meet the evolving needs of the digital business.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Future of IT Monitoring — Observability, AIOps and Business Insights
Federico De Silva, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Enterprises clinging to IT monitoring just to understand the health of IT resources will be tomorrow's digital business losers. The simple truth is that IT monitoring will increasingly become a critical element in an organization's overall digital business service delivery strategy.
Attend this session if you want to not only survive, but to thrive with the rapid pace of change occurring on the path toward an increasingly digital future.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: How Do I Select the Right Cloud Management Platform?
Dennis Smith, VP Analyst, Gartner
Infrastructure and operations leaders who need to provide automation, governance, life cycle management and brokering across multicloud environments will need a rapidly evolving cloud management platform market that meets enterprise requirements. This session will answer questions on the key issues that must be considered when selecting a CMP.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Creating a Modern Workplace Computing Strategy for 2020 and Beyond
Chris Silva, VP Analyst, Gartner
This session talks about creating a modern workplace computing strategy for 2020 and beyond.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Hybrid Management: How to Navigate Through the Fog
Dennis Smith, VP Analyst, Gartner
Enterprises are struggling while managing their existing infrastructures, this will only increase in the future as requirements are extending to situations involving on-premises, public cloud and the edge. These requirements also involve infrastructure, platform and software services. This session will present a framework that aids in selecting the correct solutions for these requirements.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Limit the Business Impact of Outbreaks by Improving Infrastructure Resilience
Henrique Cecci, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The coronavirus has grown into a pandemic and is affecting the global supply chain. This session helps I&O leaders respond to infectious disease incidents by improving infrastructure resiliency to protect their organizations from significant business disruptions.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Cost Optimization: Top Recommendations to Stretch Network Budgets
Lisa Pierce, VP Analyst, Gartner
As enterprise computing shifts to the cloud, network expenses increase — even more than anticipated. Combined with continual growth in mobile expenses, recent and sudden growth in telecommuting further exacerbates the strain on network managers and budgets. I&O Leaders attending this session will hear what’s working for other organizations and receive Gartners’ top recommendations on how to control seemingly uncontrollable costs.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Roundtable: Best Practices for Remote Work
Stuart Downes, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable discusses technologies and processes to enabling remote work focusing on digital workplace infrastructure and operations including endpoint management, desktop virtualization (VDI, DaaS) and collaboration technologies. Attendees are asked to share their concerns and approaches for enabling remote work and supporting a distributed workforce.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
How to Start Executing a Successful Automation Strategy
Chris Saunderson, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Automation promises significant cost, quality and speed improvements, but realizing those benefits requires an action plan. This session guides I&O leaders in executing an automation strategy by identifying required processes, skills and tooling based on the organization’s automation maturity level.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Streamline Workplace Infrastructure and Support for Increased Remote Work
Stuart Downes, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how traditional workplace infrastructure and operations practices failed to enable remote work. 72% of companies plan to shift to more remote work after movement restrictions ease. This presentation helps digital workplace I&O leaders streamline and scale infrastructure and support for increased remote working.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
How to Manage and Secure a SaaS-Driven Digital Workplace
Chris Silva, VP Analyst, Gartner
The adoption of SaaS applications in digital workplace and digital business initiatives profoundly changes the roles, skills and expectations from IT. I&O leaders must reorganize, reskill and retool to enable agile ways of working, and deliver customer value through the adoption of SaaS.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Is ITSM Dead?
Mark Cleary, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The advent of product teams and agile methodologies is placing more and more pressure on traditional ITSM disciplines as they struggle to adapt ITSM to meet the ever changing demands, prompting the question whether ITSM teams still have a role to play? This presentation will look at the issues that are creating this dilemma and provide answers to how to respond and demonstrate that your ITSM teams can still add value.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Roundtable: Best Practices for Acquiring and Implementing Effective IT Monitoring
Federico De Silva, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable discussion will help clients learn key best practices to acquire and deploy IT monitoring technologies, including pricing negotiation tips.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
How to Use Three Powerful Financial Models for Vendor Cost Optimization and Negotiation Leverage
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will illustrate three financial models that negotiators should use as part of their negotiation planning process. The session will illustrate and walk through three negotiation scenarios to show attendees how these models are requisite for cost transparency and also to use as negotiation leverage with vendors. The analysis models will include TCA (total cost of acquisition), NPV, and Cash Flow vs. P&L Impact. Attendees will have access to downloadable attachments with Gartner's ready-to-use templates, financial calculation guides, and steps for each model so attendees are prepared to put these models in action in their organization.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Don't Forget Security in Your DevOps Journey!
Daniel Betts, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
I&O leaders must work with application leaders to integrate security into their DevOps initiatives by driving cultural change, transforming security practices and leveraging automation tools.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Desktop as a Service: It's When, Not If
Mark Lockwood, VP Analyst, Gartner
What are the real obstacles for adoption of desktop as a service? How has DaaS positively impacted companies using it for work from home? Learn about the four barriers to adoption, and the reasons DaaS is inevitable for most organizations.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Top Trends Impacting Infrastructure and Operations
Jeffrey Hewitt, VP, Research, Gartner
The situations created by Covid-19 have had a significant impact on the world. This impact is having an influence on almost all of the trends that infrastructure and operations leaders will be facing. This presentation identifies the top emerging trends that are impacting I&O and provide recommendations as to how best to respond to those trends in order to help lead innovation to achieve optimal results.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
The Strategic Roadmap for Edge Computing
Bob Gill, VP Analyst, Gartner
This session applies Gartner's strategic roadmap framework to edge computing. This framework describes an idealized future state where edge computing is widely deployed, then examines the drivers, challenges, and milestones Enterprises should follow to maximize the potential benefits.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
IT Automation Scenario — Conquering the Next Digital Frontier
Chris Saunderson, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
How should I&O leaders implement systematic automation that will drive the organization beyond cost optimization to service delivery improvements, agility and ultimately to deliver continuous customer value.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
5G Hype, Trends and Directions
Leif-Olof Wallin, VP Analyst, Gartner
5G is at the peak of inflated expectation. This session helps infrastructure and operation leaders responsible for delivering a digital workplace to separate the hype from reality and cover topics like what 5G really is, in which use cases it has the best outlook to deliver value and when not to wait for it.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Strategies for Consistent Security and Compliance in a Hybrid Multicloud World
Neil MacDonald, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Most enterprises will have data centers for years to come and most have adopted a multicloud strategy by design. This presentation will outline strategies for the consistent management and security of a hybrid multicloud environment composed of physical machines, virtual machines, containers and serverless workloads.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Technical Insights: The Road to DevOps — How to Build the Continuous Infrastructure Automation Pipeline
Paul Delory, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Automation is the watchword of modern, agile IT. And it often begins by automating server and application delivery. This talk offers in-depth, concrete guidance on (1) automating server provisioning and configuration management, and (2) building a continuous delivery pipeline. It takes a close look at the tools you’ll use, and the challenges you’ll face, in implementing a DevOps methodology.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Enhance Your SRE Success With Chaos Engineering
Hassan Ennaciri, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Apply chaos engineering techniques to assess and improve your SRE maturity. This session will focus on how chaos engineering can be applied to SRE and the metric improvements and outcomes that can be realized.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
IT Leader’s Guide to Containers, Kubernetes and Microservices
Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Containers can enable the transition to a service-based architecture, which is scalable and agile. Kubernetes has emerged as the de facto standard for orchestrating these services. This session will look at the business value of deploying microservices infrastructure and offer recommendations on deployment best practices and vendors to choose.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Inside the Infrastructure Automation Factory
Paul Delory, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Infrastructure automation is no longer optional. But it is complex, and no one tool can do it all. Join us to see a detailed blueprint for an automation factory, including: infrastructure-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-code-models, DevOps and DevSecOps pipelines, tool choices, infrastructure modernization, orchestration, software delivery, patching, compliance, and governance.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: The Best Way to View Serverless Computing
Jeffrey Hewitt, VP, Research, Gartner
This session will explore serverless computing and its implications for I&O. It will look at how serverless may influence management processes and be used to drive cost optimization.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Five Traps That Will Impact Every AI Operationalization Initiative and How to Avoid Them
Chirag Dekate, VP Analyst, Gartner
For most organizations, IT leaders struggle to evolve artificial intelligence initiatives struggle beyond POCs and pilots. Gartner has identified five common traps that stifle AI operationalization and how successful enterprises navigate them to deliver production AI.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Three Ways to Accelerate Your AI Operationalization Using Cloud Services
Chirag Dekate, VP Analyst, Gartner
IT leaders can strategically leverage cloud services to accelerate AI operationalization. Cloud providers have curated a broad portfolio of AI-specific technologies, including APIs, SaaS and IaaS. Gartner has devised a decision framework to help select the right cloud ecosystem to accelerate your AI operationalization.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Technical Insights: The Race for Quantum Supremacy Is On, but the Real Race Is for the Quantum Developer
Matthew Brisse, VP Analyst, Gartner
In this session we discuss the facts, not marketing hype, about quantum computing and the need for the next generation of NISQ developers. The race for quantum supremacy makes for splashy headlines but the real race is for the quantum developer. Computational efficiency is the part and parcel of any good algorithm and that included quantum algorithms. Controlling and tuning a quantum systems for a specific problem is extremely difficulty and often requires deep understanding of the quantum hardware, software stack, physics, mathematics, algorithm development, data scientists not to mention the specific domain expertise. Workforce development is a critical priority for CIO's as there is a shortage of quantum development expertise now and throughout the NISQ era.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Software Platforms for Edge Computing
Thomas Bittman, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
Containers, virtual machines, operating systems, tethered cloud solutions, distributed computing architectures are all vying for the role of the new platform for edge computing. Edge-native is not cloud-native, and introduces new architectures and applications. We discuss the landscape and future.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
From Cloud to Edge, or From Edge to Cloud — There Is a Difference
Bob Gill, VP Analyst, Gartner
Much of the focus on cloud and edge integration has centered on extending hyperscaler services to the edge. This may not be the optimal model in the long run.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Edge Computing in Action
Thomas Bittman, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
A deep dive into use cases for edge computing, including a few diverse reference examples, focused on the art of the possible.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Container Technology
Michael Warrilow, VP Analyst, Gartner
This will be an "Ask the Expert" session for any container related questions the attendees might have. These have been done for the past few years; they have been well attended and well received.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 01:45 PM GMT
What’s Next for Servers, Storage and Networking Infrastructures
Daniel Bowers, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This session describes the trends and emerging technologies that should guide your choices when modernizing the servers, storage, and networking equipment in your datacenter. We discuss a variety of key topics including automation, containers, NVMe-oF, artificial intelligence, and hybrid cloud.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 02:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Network Sourcing and Contracting
Neil Rickard, VP Analyst, Gartner
As demands on the network are changing due to the adoption of cloud, the most effective strategies for negotiating and contracting are also evolving. This clinic will discuss the challenges modern WANs face today, including price, performance and availability. Attendees will be asked to share their concerns and approaches to WAN design and contract negotiations.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Building Trust, Belonging and Psychological Safety to Boost Mental Health in the Workplace
Leah Johnson, VP, Advisory, Gartner
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the day-to-day lives of employees in a multitude of ways. The abrupt transition to remote work for tech-enabled employees, the hazardous work of frontline and essential employees, and the continuous juggling of work, parenting, and caregiving responsibilities have all contributed to a high stress and emotional environment. Learn how your peers are rethinking their approach to mental health and how they help employees maintain their mental well-being by establishing psychological safety, trust, and belonging.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
Wi-Fi6, Wi-Fi7, 5G and CBRS, What Enterprise Networks Really Need and Why?
Tim Zimmerman, VP Analyst, Gartner
What kind of communication infrastructure do enterprises really need. This session will discuss the use cases that determine enterprise end-user needs and the current state and advances in network communication technologies. The goal is to provide a strategic framework that looks needs, options and costs to navigate the explosion of new devices and the hype of emerging technologies.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
The Future of Enterprise Data Centers in a Post-COVID-19 World
David Cappuccio, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
As clients consider how to continue supporting compute capabilities for the business, they need to evaluate which workloads need to stay on-premises, which should migrate, and if they continue to manage their own DC, or begin to use partners. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a series of questions related to how staff should be used, and what needs to be in place to insure continued operations.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
How to Modernize Your Infrastructure Through SRE, IaC and Immutable Infrastructure
Chris Saunderson, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
I&O groups that survive and thrive in the future will adopt at least one of the following: SRE, IaC and/or immutable infrastructure. This session explores the risks and rewards of each technology along with practical guidance on how to apply each within your environment.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Using Public Cloud to Reduce DR Costs
Nik Simpson, VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will look at the options available for using public cloud as a DR site for on-premises workloads.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
DevOps Best Practices for Operationalizing Artificial Intelligence
Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
AI initiatives are evolving across organizations, but innovation leaders continue to face significant challenges in moving them to production. In this session, we provide best practices on how and where DevOps can help in accelerating operationalization on AI.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Roundtable: WAN Strategies in the Digital Era
Andrew Lerner, VP Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable discusses recent trends in designing WANs, including hybrid WAN, SD-WAN, internet-only WANs and SASE. Attendees are asked to share their concerns and approaches to WAN design, especially to address the proliferation of utilizing cloud resources.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
4 Must Do’s to Take Control of Your Storage Infrastructure and Data Services to Support Change
Julia Palmer, VP Analyst, Gartner
I&O leaders are looking to modernize their storage and data services are reevaluating their strategy and reconsidering future investments. The question of “how to build infrastructure to support change” is one in which many enterprises struggle. This session highlights steps to ensure they are investing in future proof practices, technologies, and architectures.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Is Hyperconverged Right for Me?
Daniel Bowers, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Many Gartner clients are adopting hyperconverged systems when modernizing on-premises infrastructure, but it's not right for everyone. Eliminate some of the uncertainty about pros and cons of hyperconverged for your environment by getting your questions answered in this Ask the Expert session.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
Navigating Hybrid Cloud Storage: Explore Use Cases and Trends
Julia Palmer, VP Analyst, Gartner
Hybrid cloud integration is among the top three infrastructure and operations challenges as enterprises are now looking for storage solutions to deliver seamless storage across the edge, core data center, and public cloud. In this session, we uncover how to leverage public cloud to build infrastructure storage and data services for tomorrow's infrastructure.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Security and Operations for the Remote-Work Era
Josh Chessman, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Infrastructure and operations leaders can leverage shared data and tools to optimize budgets, avoid duplication of effort and improve the end user's experience in today's new world of remote-work environment. This session will discuss how to strengthen cross-functional communication strategies and improve tool-set use by sharing the IT operations' team's skill sets with the security operations team (and vice versa).
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Tips to Enhance Your IT Disaster Recovery Program
Jerry Rozeman, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Despite advances in IT disaster recovery technology, IT DR remains a common challenge. After reviewing hundreds of well-intended DR documents, we identified areas that are often problematic. I&O leaders should follow these practices to improve their IT DR strategy, documentation and exercises.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Data Center Hardware Purchases (Servers, Storage, and Networking)
Daniel Bowers, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This clinic will demonstrate best practices for negotiating purchases of data center equipment. We'll cover RFP writing, vendors and reseller selection, choosing optimal products and options, common (and uncommon) contract terms and conditions for hardware, and negotiation steps to ensure the best deal possible.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
State of Containers: 2020 Through 2025
Dennis Smith, VP Analyst, Gartner
Containers continue to be a hot but not fully understood topic. This session with discuss the current state of container technologies, including the technologies involved, use cases, deployment challenges and participating vendors. It will also discuss where the market is headed over the next 3-5 years.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM GMT
10 Steps to Reduce Your IT Operations Monitoring Costs
Padraig Byrne, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Monitoring tools are expensive and form a significant portion of IT spend in many organisations. As modern architectures such as hybrid cloud, microservices and containers are adopted, legacy monitoring application may no longer be providing value. This presentation will look at key ways to optimize costs related to IT monitoring tools.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Technical Insights: How to Choose What to Automate?
Bill Holz, VP Analyst, Gartner
The demand for increased speed of delivery of applications has never been higher, and is increasing with no end in sight. Agile and DevOps practices help IT teams increase the frequency of delivery as compared to the traditional processes they once used. But many of these teams continue to be burdened with inefficient manual processes that waste valuable time and resources — constraining velocity. In order to realize the full value of agile development, therefore, teams must embrace pervasive automation. This is the only way to free them from the drudgery of manual builds, deployments, tests and patches.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Tips to Optimize Unstructured Data Storage Costs
Michael Hoeck, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Jerry Rozeman, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Unstructured data accounts for nearly 80% of the data footprint of an organization. I&O teams are consistently pushed to expand data storage solutions due to its constant growth. This session covers strategies for I&O teams to better assess existing data usage, establish and enforce data retention policies, and leverage existing investments and hybrid cloud storage strategies to optimize costs.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: Infrastructure as Code — Gateway to Agile Infrastructure Delivery
Hassan Ennaciri, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Why should organizations adopt infrastructure as code? This session will cover principles, best practices for implementation and building a foundation for agile infrastructure delivery.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Top Five Trends in Enterprise Backup
Santhosh Rao, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This session describes the top trends in data protection and the intersection of data management responsibilities with backup solutions. It's no longer just backup and recovery, but building a data protection strategy for tomorrow, which also encompasses disaster recovery, cloud and information governance.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Ask the Expert: What Are the Best Practices for Running Kubernetes in Production?
Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
The container ecosystem is immature and lacks operational best practices, but adoption of containers and Kubernetes is increasing for legacy modernization and cloud-native applications. We outline best practices for I&O leaders to enable and expedite container deployment in production environments.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 01:15 PM - 02:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Network Sourcing and Contracting
Neil Rickard, VP Analyst, Gartner
As demands on the network are changing due to the adoption of cloud, the most effective strategies for negotiating and contracting are also evolving. This clinic will discuss the challenges modern WANs face today, including price, performance and availability. Attendees will be asked to share their concerns and approaches to WAN design and contract negotiations.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: How to Repair a Failing IT Services Deal
David Groombridge, VP Analyst, Gartner
Whether due to poor strategic guidance, last-minute tactical changes or inheriting a deal already done, every I&O management team will have to handle a failed outsourcing deal at some point. This session will explore how to recover when deals go wrong, looking at:
1. What are the root causes of failed deals?
2. How do you decide what to do with the deal?
3. What actions should you take to fix a failed deal?
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Six Steps to Strategize Software and SaaS Negotiations to Optimize Costs and Mitigate Risk
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This clinic illustrates and walks through how to use six powerful steps for planning negotiations with both existing and new software and cloud vendors. These steps should be used for any major negotiation to ensure the right questions are asked and the right detail is revealed to analyze proposals from a cost optimization and risk-mitigation standpoint. Clinic attendees will have access to ready-to-use checklists and templates to execute these six steps effectively in their organizations.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Infrastructure Outsourcing and Cloud IaaS
David Groombridge, VP Analyst, Gartner
When engaging IaaS providers, contract structures, schedules and negotiation best practices are quite different as compared to traditional service deals. Use this interactive session to improve your IaaS deals by optimizing key contract clauses in simpler agreements, building key best practice SOW, SLA and pricing schedules, and optimizing negotiation strategies to avoid standard IaaS contractual constraints.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM GMT
Contract Negotiation Clinic: Data Center Hardware Purchases (Servers, Storage, and Networking)
Daniel Bowers, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This clinic will demonstrate best practices for negotiating purchases of data center equipment. We'll cover RFP writing, vendors and reseller selection, choosing optimal products and options, common (and uncommon) contract terms and conditions for hardware, and negotiation steps to ensure the best deal possible.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 02:45 PM - 03:30 PM GMT
Roundtable: Managing Infrastructure Life Cycle Fitness in a Cost-Constrained Environment
Roger Williams, VP Analyst, Gartner
Reducing technical debt is an ongoing priority for I&O leaders, yet obtaining support for these investments is often challenging, especially when cost optimization is the focus. Join other I&O leaders as they discuss challenges and approaches to infrastructure life cycle planning, assessment, and improvement.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
The I&O Leaders' Guide to Cost Intelligence in 2021
Duncan Prosser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The COVID-19 pandemic led to quick cost cutting actions across the board for many I&O leaders in 2020. While the cuts have been made, what are things that I&O leaders should be thinking of in the realm of cost intelligence moving into 2021? The session will review Gartner’s cost management framework — exploring cost reductions, cost optimization and business value realization.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Roundtable: Optimizing AWS Infrastructure Costs for I&O Leaders
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable is an opportunity to join with your peers in discussing optimization challenges, and learning from other's optimization successes, specifically for adopters of AWS.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Cost Optimization: Top Recommendations to Stretch Network Budgets
Lisa Pierce, VP Analyst, Gartner
As enterprise computing shifts to the cloud, network expenses increase — even more than anticipated. Combined with continual growth in mobile expenses, recent and sudden growth in telecommuting further exacerbates the strain on network managers and budgets. I&O Leaders attending this session will hear what’s working for other organizations and receive Gartners’ top recommendations on how to control seemingly uncontrollable costs.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 12:15 PM - 01:00 PM GMT
Roundtable: Optimizing Microsoft Azure Cloud Infrastructure Costs for I&O Leaders
Ross Winser, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
This roundtable is an opportunity to join with your peers in discussing optimization challenges, and learning from other's optimization successes, specifically for adopters of Microsoft Azure.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Tips to Optimize Unstructured Data Storage Costs
Michael Hoeck, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Jerry Rozeman, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Unstructured data accounts for nearly 80% of the data footprint of an organization. I&O teams are consistently pushed to expand data storage solutions due to its constant growth. This session covers strategies for I&O teams to better assess existing data usage, establish and enforce data retention policies, and leverage existing investments and hybrid cloud storage strategies to optimize costs.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
How to Use Three Powerful Financial Models for Vendor Cost Optimization and Negotiation Leverage
Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
This session will illustrate three financial models that negotiators should use as part of their negotiation planning process. The session will illustrate and walk through three negotiation scenarios to show attendees how these models are requisite for cost transparency and also to use as negotiation leverage with vendors. The analysis models will include TCA (total cost of acquisition), NPV, and Cash Flow vs. P&L Impact. Attendees will have access to downloadable attachments with Gartner's ready-to-use templates, financial calculation guides, and steps for each model so attendees are prepared to put these models in action in their organization.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Public Cloud Governance and Other Cat-Herding Strategies
Douglas Toombs, VP Analyst, Gartner
The pace of innovation in cloud computing has brought significant changes to data processing, but these changes have also highlighted the challenges that established organizational structures face. This session will focus on evolving organizations toward more adaptive governance strategies, aiming to make organizations more nimble while also managing risk, and investment prioritization decisions.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Technical Insights: The Road to DevOps — How to Build the Continuous Infrastructure Automation Pipeline
Paul Delory, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Automation is the watchword of modern, agile IT. And it often begins by automating server and application delivery. This talk offers in-depth, concrete guidance on (1) automating server provisioning and configuration management, and (2) building a continuous delivery pipeline. It takes a close look at the tools you’ll use, and the challenges you’ll face, in implementing a DevOps methodology.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Inside the Infrastructure Automation Factory
Paul Delory, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Infrastructure automation is no longer optional. But it is complex, and no one tool can do it all. Join us to see a detailed blueprint for an automation factory, including: infrastructure-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-code-models, DevOps and DevSecOps pipelines, tool choices, infrastructure modernization, orchestration, software delivery, patching, compliance, and governance.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Technical Insights: The Race for Quantum Supremacy Is On, but the Real Race Is for the Quantum Developer
Matthew Brisse, VP Analyst, Gartner
In this session we discuss the facts, not marketing hype, about quantum computing and the need for the next generation of NISQ developers. The race for quantum supremacy makes for splashy headlines but the real race is for the quantum developer. Computational efficiency is the part and parcel of any good algorithm and that included quantum algorithms. Controlling and tuning a quantum systems for a specific problem is extremely difficulty and often requires deep understanding of the quantum hardware, software stack, physics, mathematics, algorithm development, data scientists not to mention the specific domain expertise. Workforce development is a critical priority for CIO's as there is a shortage of quantum development expertise now and throughout the NISQ era.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM GMT
Technical Insights: How to Choose What to Automate?
Bill Holz, VP Analyst, Gartner
The demand for increased speed of delivery of applications has never been higher, and is increasing with no end in sight. Agile and DevOps practices help IT teams increase the frequency of delivery as compared to the traditional processes they once used. But many of these teams continue to be burdened with inefficient manual processes that waste valuable time and resources — constraining velocity. In order to realize the full value of agile development, therefore, teams must embrace pervasive automation. This is the only way to free them from the drudgery of manual builds, deployments, tests and patches.
Thursday, 10 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Technical Insights: Desktop as a Service: It's When, Not If
Mark Lockwood, VP Analyst, Gartner
What are the real obstacles for adoption of desktop as a service? How has DaaS positively impacted companies using it for work from home? Learn about the four barriers to adoption, and the reasons DaaS is inevitable for most organizations.
Monday, 07 December, 2020 / 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
Organization Structures for I&O: Which Approach Is Best for Infrastructure-Led Innovation
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
The dynamic nature of infrastructure-led innovation (ILI) requires leaders to rethink how to organize their teams for the work of today and tomorrow. We discuss how ILI changes the requirements placed on I&O, and how team structure and function need to evolve. Several options of organization structures exist, and we discuss the benefits and limitations of each.
Tuesday, 08 December, 2020 / 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GMT
The I&O Operating Model: What It Is, Why It Is Important, and How It Can Transform Your Organization
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
The long-term success of I&O is dependent upon providing maximum value to the business while simultaneously aligning to the operational requirements to the organization. A well-constructed operating model facilitates this alignment and allows I&O Leaders to effectively devise a strategy and plan of execution. We discuss what an operating model is and how it can elevate and transform I&O.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Streamline Workplace Infrastructure and Support for Increased Remote Work
Stuart Downes, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how traditional workplace infrastructure and operations practices failed to enable remote work. 72% of companies plan to shift to more remote work after movement restrictions ease. This presentation helps digital workplace I&O leaders streamline and scale infrastructure and support for increased remote working.
Wednesday, 09 December, 2020 / 03:15 PM - 03:45 PM GMT
Time for Your I&O Checkup: Using IT Score as a Means to Improve the I&O Value to the Organization
Mark Margevicius, VP Analyst, Gartner
Establishing a baseline and benchmark for how an organization is functioning is critical in getting better. Gartner's IT Score offers clients an approach for such measurements, as well offering proven methods, approaches, and best practices necessary for score improvement. Learn about the recipe of I&O success and how you can take tangible steps in getting better.