Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2024 Sydney: Day 1 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2024, taking place this week in Sydney, Australia. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference.

On Day 1 from the conference, we are highlighting the opening keynote; leaderhip actions to take for I&O automation success; and how to avoid the top mistakes in cloud strategies.

Presented by Padraig Byrne, VP Analyst, Hassan Ennaciri, Senior Director Analyst and Autumn Stanish, Director Analyst, Gartner

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and platform engineering practices promise to accelerate decision making, simplify operations and enable an adaptable infrastructure. In this session, Gartner analysts Padraig Byrne, Hassan Ennaciri and Autumn Stanish, shared how infrastructure & operations (I&O) leaders empower their people to limitless growth and transform their company’s I&O future.

• “GenAI gives I&O leaders a powerful tool for generative transformation, but it’s important to establish guardrails to protect data and mitigate risks. Also, keep skills at the forefront and remember it’s about staff augmentation, not replacement.”
• “Infrastructure platform engineering is your future. It is the second important ingredient in your generative transformation.” 
• Platform engineering transformation focuses on four principles:
  • Platforms need to be delivered as products.
  • Start with the thinnest viable platform.
  • The platforms need to be demand driven.
  • Platforms should provide easy, paved roads for users.
• "Start by shifting to outcome-based hiring that focuses on capabilities, while encouraging existing staff to explore new skills."
• “Empower your teams not just with new tools and skills, but with a generative mindset. Create an inviting culture where failure is an acceptable part of the learning process.”

Presented by Chris Saunderson, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner

Automation is not just key to success in today’s digital world, it is the only way I&O leaders can scale their workforce and ensure services meet the needs of stakeholders. In this session, Chris Saunderson, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, discussed actions I&O leaders should take to improve both the value of I&O automation and the capacity of their organization to deliver and sustain automation success.

• “Demonstrate to stakeholders that the value delivered by automation initiatives is more than the cost of delivering the automation or staying static.”
  

• “Measuring and communicating automation goals and the progress toward them is critical. It not only ensures that the journey is visible to stakeholders, it sets you apart as a leader."

• “When you adopt an automation-first approach, you’re embedding five principles as the default delivery method: product focus, phased strategy, feedback-driven, value focus, and adaptation and adjustment.”

• “Make investments into roles that drive adaptive automation, particularly automation leaders and architects. Both are critical enablers of automation-first initiatives.”

• “Communicate progress and opportunities in business value terms, not I&O measures. Start with operational efficiency, then expand to include productivity gains as you build up automation credibility.”

Presented by Dennis Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

Many organizations think they have a working cloud strategy or are lacking one altogether. They often consider IT needs without input from other parts of the organization. In this session, Dennis Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed the top mistakes Gartner sees most often when reviewing cloud strategy documents.

• “The most common mistake is assuming a cloud strategy concerns only IT. It’s about producing new business outcomes resulting from the availability of new services and models.”
• “Many organization’s don’t believe they need an exit strategy, yet it’s vital to the success of any cloud strategy. It’s like having an insurance policy that you’ll hopefully never need to use.”
• “A cloud strategy is often confused with an implementation plan. It’s important to keep them separate so the strategy sets the foundations and direction, while the implementation plan puts that strategy into effect.”
• “Many believe it’s too late to devise a cloud strategy as they’ve been using cloud for years. Driving adoption without it will cause resistance from those not aligned on key drivers and principles, which will slow down adoption and potentially jeopardize the entire project.”
• “Outsourcing a cloud strategy may sound attractive, but avoid doing so as outsourcers don’t know as much about your business strategy as you do.”