HP: Cloud computing will cut 'dull' IT jobs
Summary
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Stephen Gill, vice president and managing director of HP UK and Ireland, said on Monday that many large organizations currently devote around 70 to 75 percent of their IT budget to managing their existing infrastructure, leaving little room for innovation that can bring value to the business.
However, by embracing the idea of cloud computing--where applications are hosted and computing power is virtualized and available as a utility--HP claims companies are able to effectively outsource the need for maintaining complex infrastructure and reduce their IT headcount as a result.
"Overall you will see less people but with different jobs [and] more exciting roles," he said. "The junior roles are the ones that are usually dull and that will be automated anyway." HP is hanging its vision of how cloud computing will affect the industry around the term "everything as a service".
Gill claimed HP had been undergoing an internal reorganization--although it is not clear how much the strategy is related to cloud computing--that had seen it cut its IT staff from 19,000 to 10,000 over the past three-and-a-half years. "Most IT departments want to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the business and that is hard to if you are spending 70 percent of your budget on infrastructure," he said.
HP is not the first company to sound the death knell of the traditional IT department. The trend towards hosted applications, utility computing and outsourcing have all combined to prompt other vendors and analysts to predict an upheaval in the way companies will manage their internal IT in the future.
Back in 2005, analyst Gartner predicted that by 2010 IT departments in midsized and large companies will be 30 percent smaller than they were in 2005. "Jobs in technology infrastructure and services will decline in end-user organizations but grow in service, hardware and software companies, but many of these jobs will be in developing economies," the analyst claimed.
Talkback Most Recent of 39 Talkback(s)
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Do you trust your data to China, Russia or Malaysia
you better...
roger@...8th Apr 2008 -
Thank you for saying that
In the headlong rush to outsource data services, data security is getting shuffled aside in the quest for more profit. Storing large amounts of Privacy Act and HIPAA data in a foreign data center...think about that for a minute. Putting that much juicy information about US citizens in the lap of a foreign government and expecting them not to start building detailed dossiers on American citizens.
If that doesn't scare you, think about negotiating a deal with a foreign company and the people across the table know everything about you. Where you shop, the meds you take, your credit card charges, medical history...what you spend your money on. Not just you, but all your fellow employees and senior execs in the company. Holy crap.
Imagine them having a complete financial history on the people being elected to Congress in the next few decades. Hey, Congressman, we noticed you're paying for an apartment in D.C....funny thing, there's a really cute little gal in that apartment. We're guessing that's a friend of your lovely wife (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). Now about that trade legislation....
Chad_z8th Apr 2008 -
It said developing countries ...
... the way the US is going atm, that will include it too.
This is really just about the US trying to host the world, to take a cut of every transaction that goes on ...
fr0thy28th Apr 2008 -
Just like the EU...
who, an it's typical, is a day late and a few Euro's Short.
ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008 -
And China, Russia and Malaysia are what...
top of their game?ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008 -
No I don't ...and is JA country that does
is in for a real surprise, unless those countries become stable.ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008 -
Typical response
Coming from one of the above mentioned countries, I find your comment offending
We are more honest, genuine and humble in our approach as we are improving/developing our country
It is the American we should be worried about. The so called "big brother" of the free world. And the arrogance that comes with it
ThinkFair10th Apr 2008 -
RE: HP: Cloud computing will cut 'dull' IT jobs
Another example of "Corporate Thinking", In their world ALL of the "dull" work will be outsourced and they will no longer have to deal with the "workers"
spikeone@...8th Apr 2008 -
Like it not -
I agree with the HP assessment. Evolving roles in the tech community are constantly changing. Change with them or move on to something else - whining/griping about it will not change it.
topry@...8th Apr 2008 -
The problem with this vision
Is that HP see's the IT department as going away. Just a minor question if a company outsources it's infrastructure and that infrastructure requires maintenance who does the work? I'd guess whoever the infrastructure has been outsourced to in the first place. The next piece is when that VP of marketing's PC goes belly up who they gonna call when the IT guys are gone? You think they're going to wait the week or so to schedule an appointment and have a tech come fix the problem or they gonna hire a guy on the departmental level to fix the PC. IT jobs aren't going away they are being moved out to the departmental level. Which is going to mean more turf wars and more corporate politics and less communication between departments. It really doesn't matter if your network is serviced by a 3rd party if when it breaks you don't have somebody who can fix it NOW not based on a service agreement.
maldain8th Apr 2008 -
Not what it says-
Low level jobs would be cut - assuming an organization moves applications to the proverbial 'cloud', SAAS continues to grow, then more users could be using thin clients / browser only devices for many services. As a result, fewer PCs / Servers / infrastructure devices for IT to maintain.
Your thin client dies, go the closet, get a new one, plug it in and go. The days of the 'x' IT techs for every 'y' employees are gone.topry@...8th Apr 2008 -
Yup, all the "me-too" idiots lose out
and about time too. That's gotta be bad for sales of Windows
fr0thy28th Apr 2008 -
ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008
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And Speaking of your Mum...
I guess that means Linux and Apple as well. You obviously do not work for a real company or you would realize how stupid that statemen is.ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008 -
Only problem with that...
SaaS and cloud are great "ideas", but at this point and time and at least in the next 10 years it's not grounded in the enterprise reality. My company is a fortune 1000 company (regulation changes moved us from 500). Our sales people - at this time - will not be able to use a "cloud" web based environment. The whole "teathered" scenario does not work.
- Wireless - too slow can costly
- Wireless - spotty at best would have to be available at every location - not there yet
- Network access - highspeed, etc. Some of our customers do not allow an outside laptop on their LAN etc.
Our guys need to have a un-teathered solution. That is at best vaporware, but heading in the right direction.
I see all of the college kids come into IT with their mobile devices and expect our sales people to use them - just not there yet. They have a very sharp reality cut that heals.ItsTheBottomLine9th Apr 2008
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