This week, Chris and Martin chat to Paul Stringfellow, CTO at Gardner Systems, about the realities of technology adoption. We hear lots of talk about Kubernetes, HCI, all-flash and even SCM technologies. But are all organisations deploying these technologies from day one?

In reality, businesses deploy technology in a timeline that matches a normal distribution curve. As detailed in “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore, there’s a gap between early adopters and the mainstream IT organisations.

What causes this inertia? Some of the challenges relate people and process, however there’s also a desire to implement more mature products. Who really wanted to use Microsoft Windows before version 3.0…

You can follow Paul on Twitter at @techstringy and of course, also listen to his excellent podcast, Tech Interviews. Paul also writes a regular blog.

Elapsed Time: 00:34:46

Timeline

* 00:00:00 – Intros* 00:02:00 – Technology adoption myths vs the reality* 00:05:30 – Are enterprises any better at adopting new tech?* 00:06:40 – What do we mean by digital transformation?* 00:10:00 – Who doesn’t like a new car?* 00:11:10 – Does technology adoption allow staff “redistribution”?* 00:12:15 – S&P 500 – 2 week replacement schedule* 00:13:20 – Focus on data and the data model, not just hardware * 00:16:20 – Do the CIO/CTO roles exist in smaller organisations? * 00:17:50 – Crossing the Chasm – why does adoption inertia occur? * 00:19:10 – Always wait for the 3.0 version of the product!* 00:19:50 – Dealing with”day 2” implementation* 00:23:55 – Vendors only turn up at licence renewal time!* 00:26:00 – “Keeping the lights on” is still an issue for IT teams* 00:29:05 – Always ask – does this technology solve a problem?* 00:30:40 – Make white papers free to download – no registration!* 00:32:40 – Wrap Up

Related Podcasts & Blogs

* #104 – Creating a Data Management Strategy with Paul Stringfellow

Copyright (c) 2016-2020 Storage Unpacked. No reproduction or re-use without permission. Podcast episode #NA5Y.