If there is one overused word in the world of technology it has to be change. Yes, I have changed a tire or two in my time just as I have changed houses and even countries. I have been forced to change travel itineraries more than once even as I have had to change because of inclement weather. And I am known to change my mind at the very last moment when ordering a meal off a restaurant’s lengthy menu.
From our earliest days we
are informed, politely or otherwise, that our attitude is poor and we need to
change. At school we have changed our course preferences even as we changed
allegiances. And when it comes to sporting teams, there are those among us that
just like to back winners and so change their support to match.
When it comes to technology,
standing still has never been an option. As a storyteller this is fine by me,
but then being able to pick up on new storylines every week has its benefits. For
the business world where investments in technology are heavily weighed to ensure
true value is provided, change is little more than an expense that needs to be
accommodated.
For as long as I have been a
participant in technological change it never ceases to surprise me how we treat
new as being good and something different as being worth an investment. The
competitive landscape of business today makes it hard to stand still even as
the thought of losing market share is abhorrent to most business leaders. Just
maintaining existing clientele in a market that is growing means you are going
backwards.
But is there an end to
change coming any time soon? Will there be a time when technology no longer
provides differentiation and where every business relies on exactly the same
set of solutions? Despite all the predictions of cloud services providers that
yes, you can leave it all to the cloud, even here there will be multiple cloud
services on offer for many years to come.
Looking closer to home, for
the NonStop community there has always been the question as to when and what to
change. The excitement that surrounded the support by NonStop of blade form
factors with RISC processors lasted only a short time before the introduction
of the Intel x86 Architecture turned everyone’s heads around. NonStop is going
mainstream! Virtualization came very quickly to where the NonStop team began
championing NonStop as Software! To think that today there are businesses
successfully deploying NonStop on their own x86 servers was unimaginable only a
decade or so ago and yet, it’s all changed.
To think in terms of change
ending at some point misses the mark by a long way. By definition, change means
making something different, altered or modified. It means too that what came
before will be replaced with something else and in the case of technology, this
usually means being replaced by something better, faster, cheaper and
inherently, more reliable. But does planning for change stop at the system
level or are there more important technology-related developments where change
is required?
I have been tracking the
NonStop community for many years and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that even
for a community that oftentimes is viewed as one that trails change, preferring
instead the perceived stability that comes with holding fast to what is in
place, there has been plenty of times when changing software has happened at a
rapid clip. Take for instance the change from SNAX to ICE in the 1990s.
Yes, timed to match changes
taking place externally (and driven by IBM), NonStop users changed up from SNAX
to ICE to where it was ICE that became the network standard. Look at GoldenGate
in the late 2000s where changing from RDF became an all too easy decision to
make. If I can go back far enough, NonStop NET/MASTER was more or less
stillborn as on its introduction Prognosis swept all before it.
But even today, change
continues. ICE losing ground to uLinga. GoldenGate to its fiercest Change Data
Capture (CDC) based competitor, DRNet®/Unified. Prognosis may in turn prove vulnerable
to cloud-based services even as open-source solutions are proving popular. As
for the change in payments solutions, where financial institutions are electing
to change from BASE24 to Lusis Payments, it is clear that considering changes
isn’t limited to swapping out tools and utilities.
What hasn’t changed has been
the NonStop community’s enthusiasm for events. Whether at the regional or
global level, the turn out to community events this year has been outstanding.
As I write stories and opinions having the opportunity to participate in as
many events as I have has proved to be yet one more source for storylines. It
is at these events where the idea that change might be considered is first
nurtured.
Is the new offering’s completeness
of functionality meeting all the requirements of the business? Is it the value
proposition and with it, an appropriate affordable price? Is it the service
that is provided gives an access to knowledgeable experts? Doing the job
required of it at a price that is low from people that know what’s needed has
been the driver of change since the first computer was shipped. Who would have
thought that the most popular third-party software in the late 1960s and early
1970s would be a simple printer spooling product for mainframes?
The simple answer to whether
change will continue unabated for as long as we are all involved in technology
answers itself. It will not end nor will the discussions over what might better
meet the needs of our business. What will not change are the intangibles we
often overlook; the integrity of the vendor, the commitment to development and
support by the vendor and the ecosystem of users and partners attracted to the
vendor.
All of which will be on show
at the upcoming NonStop TBC 2023 Conference. Colorado may indeed have the
reputation as being colorful but this is only because color changes occur
driven by the changes of seasons. With this in mind, will 2023 be the year of
change with your investments in technology? Will this be the season where the
way forward can best be served through change? Maybe that is what is install
for many NonStop users but before that occurs, there are stories to be shared
and there can be no better place to hear stories than at events.
I will be attending; will I
see you there? And yes, I am always good for a story or two!
Comments