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Bi-Modal IT inherently means two teams, two processes, two sets of resources and two different ways of thinking, and somehow these converge in the end. Achieving agility with Bi-Modal IT thus comes at a cost, siloes impeding innovation, with the legacy back office systems and potential team conflicts.
CIOs need to have one team, one common mission, one shared set of resources, one way of thinking, with agility, and stability in mind, with operations and innovations in mind, wiBi-Modal IT with different teams and siloed solutions. But does Bi-Modal IT solve things?
The real challenge is enabling innovation across all IT functions, at the application level, within on-prem solutions and in the cloud, at the infrastructure middleware level, and the back-office (CRM, billing systems, etc.), so for a solution that is agile and innovative and can respond with security that is built-in to accelerate with the pace of innovation, can’t be hampered by legacy systems, which had security as an after-thought, or legacy business models hard-coded in. Bi-modal IT assumes that Agile, DevOps-based systems lack the legacy IT’s abilities of – reliability, scalability and availability – and cannot function with newer Agile, DevOps-based developments and practices, which is untrue.
The Solution: Perhaps newer thinking is needed in re-architecting the legacy systems and making everything Agile using tools, software busses, and platforms that bridge legacy ALM (Applications Lifecycle Management) solutions with DevOps-based solutions.
The Industry Trends and Business Challenges:
Source: Kovair Software, Inc.
With vendors like Kovair with Application Lifecycle Management platforms for both legacy Waterfall systems and newer Agile, DevOps systems, MuleSoft having newer API middleware to both legacy and newer systems, vendors like Compuware touting Java-like development to mainframe systems, and vendors like IBM with cloud-based AI systems and analytics-tools, perhaps the solution is making it all collaborative, with integrated solutions.
Integrated Applications Lifecycle Management with DevOps
Source: Kovair Software, Inc.
While Mode 1 is predictable, and stable, Mode 2 in Bi-Modal IT is Agile, relatively unstable, based on the mantra: “Fail fast, Recover fast, and if successful, go to market quickly”. This mode in the DevOps world assumes that new technologies are brought in, tested fast, and discarded if failed, but launched quickly across all markets if successful. This can occur with quick fallback to existing operational systems that are upgraded only if the new Agile solutions are proven, as long as the OPs-part in DevOps is up to the challenge.
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What is needed?
- The silos of the past need to be broken down, as retraining, and newer teams need to be cross-functional.
- Championing from a legacy Lifecycle Process-based world to a newer Real-time Event-Driven world
- Forming teams with an Adaptive and DevOps-style Deployment Architecture
- Establishing next-gen Orchestration Frameworks for Services and Infrastructure using API Middleware, Agile developments tools, Low-Code principles, newer Software Bus middleware with adaptors to 3rd-party systems, with Real-time Diagnostics and Analytics to drive change
- Business Process Re-engineering Across Cloud Applications and Virtualized Networks but including legacy systems as needed.
- Directing Technology and Capabilities Decisions to Realize a Distributed Team approach
- Organize Cross-Functional Teams with CTIO members and CMO teams for Programmable Business Programs
- Cultivate Capabilities for Programming the Business Logic
- Retire Those Legacy Elements and Practices Early That Impede Technology Change Management
Connecting the dots with APIs, Data Lakes, Software Busses
Source: Kovair Software, Inc.
The creation of broad IT transformation strategies needs to be coupled with a culture of organizational improvement with newer tools, API middleware, and platforms from vendors like Kovair, MuleSoft, Compuware, and others. Employing DevOps, with IT analytics to measure and diagnose deployments quickly from vendors like IBM, and others will help to speed change and deliver new products and services within existing business and technology processes.
Implications for Business Leaders:
A new holistic solution (organizational, technical) is essential as we transition from legacy siloed Waterfall-based systems, to newer, Agile, DevOps-based systems in the cloud, whereby it’s all integrated.
CTOs and CIOs need to think of holistically and consider new approaches to connect the dots.
However, traditional systems typically don’t have the processes, tools, nor innovative business models to support newer concepts of cloud-based, pay-as-you-grow models, AI with Machine Learning within an agile, cloud-enabled, analytics-driven, innovative framework.
But, the tried-and true legacy systems typically are fault-tolerant, and linearly scalable, which is needed for newer services like cloud-based DevOps service launches.
Newer organizations with newer middleware platforms coupled with AI and Machine Learning platforms support analytics-driven solutions, which allows CIOs to adapt to the new business models to protect and grow revenue.
Next Steps for CIOs: Harmonize and synchronize the goals and strategies for your CIO team’s digital business initiatives. Legacy platforms can be virtualized with the goal to deliver seamless value to the clients in digital business transformation.
Enter the Agile Business, with innovative thinking. We will soon see that successful companies will be those that can execute with newer solutions and business models that create value, based on holistic offerings as opposed to siloed point solutions of the past.
Interesting post! Thank you for sharing. My team would learn a lot just by reading this.