From PC Break/Fix to CloudMASTER®

It was late 2011 and Steven Donovan was comfortable working at SHI International Corporation, a growing information technology firm, as a personal computer break/fix technician. His company had been growing quickly from a $1 million "software-only" regional re-seller into eventually becoming a $6 billion global provider of information technology products and services.

At that time, cloud computing was just starting to explode onto the information technology scene. Although Amazon Web Services had been offering its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) since 2006, browser-based enterprise applications from companies like Google had only been around since 2009. Steven wanted to somehow elevate himself professionally so after hearing good things about the National Cloud Technologist Association's  CloudMASTER® certification , which was available at
the New Jersey Institue of Technology, he enrolled. After a short, but intense, online curriculum Steven earned NCTA CloudMASTER® Certificate 11002.

Shortly after earning his certification, Steven’s company recognized his newly learned expertise by reassigning him to serve as a Tier 1 Cloud Administrator.  Quickly honing and sharpening his skills, he soon found himself promoted to a Tier 2 Cloud Administration.  These new skills not only elevated Steven at work, but the experience also unleashed an entrepreneurial drive, leading him to start his own business developing applications for android smartphones.

“The CloudMASTER Certification is great for learning cloud computing basics.  It really helps you to pick your professional direction in the cloud computing industry. You can either support the cloud or develop for the cloud.  The money, however, is in development!”

Salary information credit: Indeed.com

Steven is now a Service Consultant with Flexera Software. Flexera helps application producers and enterprises increase application usage and security, enhancing the value they derive from their software. At Flexera, Steven specializes in implementing and configuring the company’s FlexNet Manager Platform/Suite (FNMP/S). Part of his job consists of building business adapters to connect
and import external data into FNMP/S. He also configures FlexNet Discovery and Inventory, including inventory beacons, agents, and connections to Oracle, Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware.



As more companies take advantage of cloud service benefits, the need for IT professionals to be skillful in the use and implementation of a wide range of cloud services becomes even more acute. This form of training also serves as a layer of protection against well-known cloud transition missteps like cloud service vendor lock-in and inadequate cloud service provider due diligence.

If you’re looking for a way to elevate yourself like Steven, the National Cloud Technologist Association (NCTA) and Logical Operations NCTA CloudMASTER® Certification Training Program is for you. This is the first time that NCTA content will be delivered outside of the association’s higher education partners. Through Logical Operations, NCTA content will be delivered through a broad channel that will provide outstanding delivery options to a wide spectrum of professionals interested in cloud computing.

For more information on this exciting program please visit https://goo.gl/0vPP3l


( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)


( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2015)

Is Data Classification a Bridge Too Far?

Today data has replaced money as the global currency for trade.

“McKinsey estimates that about 75 percent of the value added by data flows on the Internet accrues to “traditional” industries, especially via increases in global growth, productivity, and employment. Furthermore, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that about 50 percent of all traded services are enabled by the technology sector, including by cross-border data flows.”

As the global economy has become fully dependent on the transformative nature of electronic data exchange, its participants have also become more protective of data’s inherent value. The rise of this data protectionism is now so acute that it threatens to restrict the flow of data across national borders. Data-residency requirements, widely used to buffer domestic technology providers from international competition, also tends to introduce delays, cost and limitations to the exchange of commerce in nearly every business sector. This impact is widespread because it is also driving:

• Laws and policies that further limit the international exchange of data;
• Regulatory guidelines and restrictions that limit the use and scope of data collection; and
• Data security controls that route and allow access to data based on user role, location and access device.

A direct consequence of these changes is that the entire business enterprise spectrum is now faced with the challenge of how to classify and label this vital commerce component.

Figure 1- The data lifecycle

The challenges posed here are immense. Not only is there an extremely large amount of data being created everyday but businesses still need to manage and leverage their huge store of old data. This stored wealth is not static because every bit of data possesses a lifecycle through which it must be monitored, modified, shared, stored and eventually destroyed. The growing adoption and use of cloud computing technologies layers even more complexity to this mosaic. Another widely unappreciated reality being highlighted in boardrooms everywhere is how these changes are affecting business risk and internal information technology governance. Broadly lumped into cybersecurity, the sparsity of legal precedent in this domain is coupled almost daily with a need for headline driven, rapid fire business decisions.

To deal with this new reality, enterprises must standardize and optimize the complexity associated with managing data. Success in this task mandates a renewed focus on data classification, data labeling and data loss prevention. Although these data security precautions have historically been
glossed over as too expensive or too hard, the penalties and long term pain associated with a data breach incident has raised the stakes considerably. According the Global Commission on Internet Governance, the average financial cost of a single data breach could exceed $12,000,000 [1] , which includes:

• Organizational costs: $6,233,941
• Detection and Escalation Costs: $372,272
• Response Costs: $1,511,804
• Lost Business Costs: $3,827,732
• Victim Notification Cost: $523,965

So is adequate data classification still just simply a bridge too far?

While the competencies required to implement an effective data management program are significant, they are not impossible. Relevant skillsets are, in fact, foundational to the deployment of modern business automation which, in turn, represents the only economical path towards streamlining repeatable processes and reducing manual tasks. Minimum steps include:

• Improving enterprise awareness around the importance of data classification
• Abandoning outdated or realistic classification schemes in order to adopt less complex ones
• Clarifying organizational roles and responsibilities while simultaneously removing those that have been tailored to individuals
• Focus on identifying and classifying data, not data sets.
• Adopt and implement a dynamic classification model.[2] 

The modern enterprise must either build these competencies in-house or work with a trusted third party to move through these steps. Since the importance of data will only increase, the task of implementing a modern data classification and modeling program is destined to become even more business critical.

( This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit Point B and Beyond.)

[2] Recommended steps adapted from “Rethinking Data Discovery And Data Classification by Heidi Shey and John Kindervag, October 1, 2014, available from IBM at http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=WVL12363USEN
( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2015)

Vendor Neutral Training: Proven Protection Against Cloud Horror Stories

Cloud computing is now entering adolescence.  With all the early adopters now swimming in the cloud pool with that “I told you so” smug, fast followers are just barely beating the early majority. The gold rush to cloud is also driving the IT herd to get cloud computing training.  Training vendors from multi-billion dollar behemoths to little Mom and Pop shops are ready to cash in with fast and easy, vendor-specific certifications for just about any cloud service provider.

Although at first glance, all is well with this vision, the industry’s adolescent hubris has started to show some troubling warning signs. The source of the trouble, however, is not with the Cloud Service Provider (CSP). The problems are actually caused by the CSP customers themselves!

Driven by an almost reflexive assumption that the planet’s largest providers are always best, most customers fail to conduct even the most basic CSP adoption due diligence tasks. These same customers also have a very limited appetite for learning foundational cloud computing concepts. These facts have combined to make cloud computing pilot errors typical and CSP transition failures much more common. The broadening use of hybrid cloud solutions and the rapid growth in the sheer number of cloud service provider options have also contributed to this unfortunate trend. Although there is always great value in vendor-specific training, this type of focused investment should be made after enterprise IT professionals have been well grounded in cloud computing fundamental and well versed in the now plentiful cloud service provider options. This is why vendor-neutral cloud computing training is so critical to today’s IT professional and, by extension, the modern business enterprise.
As more companies take advantage of cloud service benefits, the need for IT professionals to be skillful in the use and implementation of a wide range of cloud services becomes even more acute. This form of training also serves as a layer of protection against well-known cloud transition missteps, cloud service vendor lock-in and the multitude of other cloud computing horror stories. Provider agnostic training can give protection against operational failures by providing a strong foundation in cloud technologies, cloud architectures and in the management of cloud infrastructure.

This is even more important now because in about thirty days the National Cloud Technologist Association (NCTA) and Logical Operations will be jointly launching the NCTA CloudMASTER® Certification Training Program. This global event represents the first time that NCTA content will be delivered outside of the association’s higher education partners. Through Logical Operations, NCTA content will be delivered through a broad channel that will provide outstanding delivery options to a wide spectrum of professionals interested in cloud computing.




( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)



( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2016)