Professional Development and Staffing for the Cloud

Joanne Kossuth

Vice President for Operations and CIO, Franklin W Olin College

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Are You Ready?

• Cloud services will change the way we hire and educate our staff.

• What new skills will be required?

• What skills will be obsolete?

• How will technical work change?

• How will the changes impact the work of the CIO?

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Reworked Skills

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Technical Skills Example

• Microsoft server and administration skills• MS has stated that all Windows skills will be

transferrable to the cloud• Complexity may or may not increase

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Communication

• Transferring information in a way that translates for the listener

• Understanding the impact of styles• Global considerations

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Project Management

• Different way of planning and managing resources in the cloud

• Goal and objective focus• Understanding new timelines and

expectations

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Negotiation

• Contracts• Relationships• Collaborations

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Legalese

• Understanding the legal framework for agreements

• The role of non-disclosure agreements?

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Due Diligence

• When entering relationships– Financials– Resumes– RFPs– Guarantees– Incentives– References

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Obsolete Skill Sets?

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New/Increased Skills

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Creativity

• Thinking out of the box• Ability to focus on solution sets not just

technologies• Originality• Brainstorming

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Openness to Change

• Speed of change• Pressure to “keep up” • Build agile and flexible• Using operating funding as opposed to capital

funding• Comfort with failure

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Teamwork

• Value of collaboration• All of us are better than one of us• Owners of process or position are open and

receptive• Recognize, reward, model

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Collaboration

• Ability to accomplish joint work• Intersection of common goals• Consensus building

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Entrepreneurship

• Taking advantage of opportunities• Revenue generation potential• Reinvestment of cost savings

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Data Analysis

• Determining and tracking metrics• Highlighting useful information• Understanding trends

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Assessment

• What do we know?• What does it mean?• What do we do next?

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Budget Development

• Operating costs versus capital costs• On premise versus off premise• Hosting

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Compliance

• Insuring 3rd party compliance with institutional as well as regulatory and legislative mandates

• Enforcing policy• Enforcing contracts

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CIO Role

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Leadership

• Establishing a vision• Driving the vision to completion• Finding common ground

– With colleagues– With providers

• Engaging with integrity• Planning with people in mind

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Organizational Behavior

• Understanding your organization as an eco-system

• “Systems engineering”• What does your engine look like now?• How will your organization change as a result

of cloud services availability?

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Research

• Comparison shopping of the options• Emerging companies• Emerging laws • Precedent establishment• Do you have an organization that does this

already?• If not, how will you plan for one?

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Potential New Jobs

• Virtualization architect• Virtualization systems analyst• Cloud architect• Private cloud administrator• Cloud engineer• Cloud software architect• Cloud application developer• Others?

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Questions

• Can higher education create certification programs around new skill sets?

• What can EDUCAUSE do to help prepare your organization?

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