Mike Koehler, COO, EMC Global Services, discussed the IT transformation in the enterprise as companies adapt to the virtualized, hybrid ecosystem, with theCUBE co-host John Furrier and Dave Vellante, live at VMWorld 2013.

“It’s really all about IT transformation,” Koehler said, as the conversation moved into “how you talk about IT and change the fundamentals of rigid structures.” VMware and virtualization across the entire stack created new opportunities for businesses, and EMC helps them focus on how they transform and adapt, and support them in accelerating that journey.

People + processes : the heart of IT transformation

“The process and the people side, that’s the trick that gets missed a lot,” Koehler pointed out. IT organizations want to change, but “if people don’t see how their jobs are going to change and how their skill sets are going to grow,” they resist the change. The IT transformation can be likened to a house renovation, that’s done one room at the time.

As far as people in organizations are concerned, “it’s really about skill sets and capabilities.” As companies move to a more agile world, the lines between what they need and don’t need to know start to blur. There’s a need for “reaching out of your comfort zone” and learning a lot more about the server and network. “We have a lot of residency programs that help professionals learn the skills needed in the future,” said Koehler.

The Business World Does not Wait for Organizations to Transform IT

Asked how receptive customers were, Koehler said that when introducing EMC adviser services, top level executives were very interested in how to bring the organization alone. Such a change requires tool sets that are more adaptable and broader, thus EMC offers integrated sets  of tools that help manage virtualized environments. At the CIO level, people are “totally receptive, it’s a question of how and how long,” Koehler said. The business world isn’t waiting for them, thus the challenge is how fast can you move an organization or an IT organization, will it be in a time frame where the business stays with them instead of moving on to someone else.

As IT becomes more flexible, the IT process needs to change, Koehler explained, in order to integrate public clouds and other third party services and products in the ecosystem.

Asked if customers were scared to transition, as applications drive infrastructure and virtualization is expanding, Koehler said, “I think for a while we saw some IT organizations staying back and waiting.” They have now moved to “the other side of scared, we’re behind, how can I get some of that time back. It’s clear it’s a mandate. We really are talking about IT transformation, not about how you integrate our products and services.”

“One of the best things we did as a company, we started on this transformational journey a long time ago,” Koehler stated. “Financial metrics, templates on how you move from rigid infrastructure, we put that into intellectual property.”

Chasing the next generation application

Explaining the common denominator in the EMC customer base, Koehler said it was “this drive to get to the next generation applications. Follow the app, we see that by industry verticals. We’re really starting to see IT is becoming a broker of services,” not everything is going to happen on premise.  Companies are also focusing on the notion of fail fast -testing apps fast, without drafting long term budgets and see if it fails or succeeds.

The common trait of the winners, Koehler explained, was “picking a place to actually show success. The winners will pick one app or one organization,” which would breed more success later on.

EMC sees IT as a broker of services, managing things that are done through third-party brokers and providers. “We focus on helping IT organizations maintain security across infrastructures” when they don’t control all parts, said Koehler.

Asked about future developments of the industry, Koehler said it still lacks the right tools and capabilities to manage the hybrid environment. “We still need to grow to get there.”