Dell’s four new year resolutions for CIOs

For CIOs, New Year resolutions provide an opportunity to look at their tech decisions and see where they can improve. As such, while most tech companies focus on predictions for the new year, Dell Technologies has taken a different approach. This year, the tech giant outlined four resolutions it feels businesses should take note of next year if they want to remain competitive and protect their organization in the future.

Speaking at a media briefing, John Roese, Global Chief Technology Officer at Dell Technologies, shared New Year’s resolutions for CIOs and organizations to commit to make the most of emerging technologies in 2023 and highlighted how digital solutions will shape the future of society in APJ.

The four resolutions are:

• Resolution 1 – I will not use the cloud without understanding the long-term cost
• Resolution 2 – I will define my zero-trust control panel
• Resolution 3 – I will determine where to first deploy quantum-safe cryptography and I will establish early skill sets to take advantage of quantum
• Resolution 4 – I will decide what my multi-cloud edge architecture needs to be.

The first resolution highlights a common problem businesses are facing in their cloud adoption today. In fact, Roese believes that managing the long-term costs of cloud and deciding nature of multi-cloud edge architecture are amongst the top CIO priorities for 2023. Organizations can no longer afford to be over budget due to inefficient distribution IT capabilities on the cloud and it is important to understand long-term architecture planning and the costs involved.

“Cloud adoption has often been driven by tech or emotional decisions and not driven by the understanding of actual cost in long term. We’re not saying don’t use cloud, but over the past year there have been conversations with CIOs who were surprised by the cost of cloud services. This indicates an immature multi-cloud strategy when they realize the bill is high,” stated Roese.

The second resolution is about empowering customers and partners to align their cybersecurity strategy across the data center, clouds, and at the edge. Roese states that it is important for organizations to understand the Zero-Trust control plane to achieve consistent identity, policy, and threat management for the total enterprise. Zero Trust will become an essential cornerstone of data security and trust in this multi-cloud world.

“If you want to make zero trust work, it is critical that all infrastructure is under the same security control plane for identity and trust management. However, most businesses have several that interlap. They need to define the control plane for zero trust. Choose what it will be and commit to using it over every cloud, and don’t have multiple systems. Just look to have one authoritative control plane,” explained Roese.

The next resolution is focused on determining quantum-safe cryptography risks for the organization and establishing early skill sets to take advantage of quantum computing. For Roese, quantum computing is getting real and soon there’ll be access to large enough quantum systems to pose risks to encrypted data across public networks. He believes organizations can use current tools to protect quantum data through cataloging cryptographic assets and identifying threats, then invest in quantum simulation and enable data science and AI team to learn new languages and capabilities of quantum.

The final resolution for 2023 is that technology will continue to be pivotal to driving the future of society in APJ. APJ’s technology growth is expected regardless of the macroeconomic climate, hence it is important to think about how we can harness technology better. Roese added that technology has the potential to advance economic well-being and equality, but it also comes with the importance of creating connected, digitally powered societies for all.

“We are in the multi-cloud era. The fact that most customers struggle with the economics of cloud, the smartest thing they can do right now is to be aware of the cost of their decisions. All four are resolutions that can be made without significant investments.

We’re entering a complex economic cycle, but we are ready for it. Businesses need to prepare and make decisions without a huge investment and be prepared for emerging tech and get the best value out of a multi-cloud environment. It’s not hard to do and if you do them, you will get significant improvement to navigate the multi-cloud world,” concluded Roese.

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