Overview
A
ccording to a 2012 survey, 51% of Americans believed inclement weather affects Cloud Computing. Has this perception changed over the last 7 years and how are persistent misconceptions impacting institutional funding and strategy decisions? Will we carry forward with our feet planted firmly on the ground, or can we see silver linings and sunbreaks on the horizon – while avoiding a career epitaph of “Cloudy with a Chance of Data Loss”?
Cloud-First, Cloud-Centric, Hybrid-Cloud are common themes as we look to the future of our institutional IT infrastructure. Many of us have already completed the move of one or more strategic enterprise applications to the cloud. Strategic drivers include long-term sustainability, resource challenges, and our collective desire to deliver high-value solutions for our institutions.
NWACC’s 2019 Special Topics Conference will focus on strategic insights into the future of cloud-centric IT architectures and their potential impact (and benefits) for our institutions. We will hear from representatives of four leading cloud providers – Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and Google – about their organizational visions for the Cloudy Future for Higher Education.
The program will also feature related conversations by NWACC members, continuing on the Tapas concept we’ve used at prior meetings, which may include: regional/local providers/solutions; procurement approaches for cloud solutions; leveraging the cloud to improve agility; and, moving from Capex to Opex to support cloud solutions. Other suggestions welcomed!