Interesting recap of an event we spoke at earlier in the week… I agree with his observation that:
I found the discussion interesting, especially as an indication that the IT conversation is changing. This was the second huge IT-focused company that I've heard speak in the last few weeks about server consolidation and portfolio management. (Mark Hurd of HP talked about it at Gartner last week.)
For a long time, IT seemed to be about ever more servers and more applications. We now seem to be instead focused on how to get the most benefit out of a smaller amount of both hardware and software. That certainly makes sense in a time of financial uncertainty. But all the speakers agreed that an efficient IT infrastructure is important not just for saving money, but also for freeing resources, so IT can create new applications that will drive strategic growth in the future.