As mentioned in focus and collaboration, it is important to help the organisation you work with actualize its vision and mission.
Keeping things simple is key.
That has been a guideline for me for many years:
- Simplicity is the most important aspect of a solution that meets the needs.
- A solution there should be dramatic improvements over what one already has.
- Solution that work well do not get revisited unless there is a strategic reason to do so.
- We collaborate, learn from each other and share.
Examples where I successfully applied this
- Around 2008 I discovered Zscaler. Zscaler’s cloud solution added intelligence and consistency to our Internet filtering from a single interface for all our locations. Deep content inspection, visibility and ongoing feature improvements backed by an unwavering support still make us happy after many years. Zscaler went public in 2018, doubling its value on the first day. This confirms that solutions the provide simplicity in security are recognized as valuable.
- In 2009 I discovered how Meraki networking makes it simple to understand what is going on in our network. It is not that Meraki has better networking gear, but that Meraki made it very easy to understand what is going on in the network. The value of that clear visibility allows us to forget about network complexities whilst we understand what is going on. Combined with their easy to reach support Meraki quickly became the solution of choice for many and it was acquire by Cisco in 2012 for $1.2B.
- In 2012 we needed a storage solution and chose again for the vendor that would make our life simple. I chose Nimble storage and we longer had to understand any of the complexities of where and how to store data for the best performance. Nimble was acquired by HPE in 2017.
- In 2014 we started buying Google Chromebooks instead of laptops and by 2016 we pretty much stopped buying Windows PCs. The simplicity of managing, maintaining and using Chromebooks and Chromebases makes a windows PC seem near unusable with its constant need for updating and patching. We did need to add a good remote access to our core network.
- In 2015 we needed a simple secure access for all users, including the hundreds of Chromebooks. I found a startup, Soha, that provides painless, secure and uncomplicated access to any internal or cloud resource. Any user on a device with a browser, now uses its Enterprize Application Access for accessing cloud, internal or hybrid applications. Their solution simplified our prior solution, Citrix, by a large margin providing more for less. Soha was acquired by Akamai.
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