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Embrace digital, or get disrupted

David Avery, Transformation Analyst, Zscaler

The pandemic accelerated IT’s adaptation of infrastructure to meet rapid change. As the world recovers, we’re seeing a new hybrid work model: some people working from home, some in the office, and many mixing and matching between the two. IT’s ability to control devices, locations, and connections is a luxury of the past. Now, teams must oversee people working from anywhere, using non-corporate devices, and accessing apps and assets in the cloud via direct internet connections. CXOs need to execute a strategic vision that makes the most of this new paradigm or risk disruption from others who do.

Former Great-West Life CIO and current CXO REvolutionary Phil Armstrong knows as much as any IT leader about moving large corporate infrastructures into the digital age and securely leveraging the cloud for better organizational agility. Recently, on CXO REvolutionaries, Phil discussed the importance of not "saving face" as an IT leader, explained how CIOs navigate a "perfect storm" of technology and change, and how to raise the "anchor of legacy debt" in order to move into the future.

Phil also joined Head of Transformation Strategy at Zscaler, Dan Shelton, in the inaugural episode of The CIO Evolution podcast, which highlights how enterprise CIOs plan and upgrade their legacy networks, the financial and operational transformation challenges they’re facing, and what security measures are needed in the new work-from-anywhere, mobile- and cloud-based world. Listen now

From the Office of the CTO:

Don’t forget to measure OPEX savings when planning

Liza Lorenzin, Senior Director Transformation Strategy, Zscaler

Companies making the case for cloud-based zero trust architecture (ZTA) typically use ROI calculations that focus on CAPEX: what equipment can be eliminated, replaced, or not even purchased in the first place? (Answer: legacy VPN and security appliances.) Switching to ZTA eliminates the upfront cost of those devices. Is that enough to justify a ZTA investment? For most enterprises, probably. But there are efficiencies to be gained by eliminating the hidden OPEX costs associated with operating legacy appliances.

Operating within a legacy environment is inefficient: How much time do IT administrators spend writing the same access policy in multiple languages for data center firewalls, AWS security groups, Azure access controls? How many log formats does IT have to correlate to really understand what happens to user traffic accessing a remote application? How much time is spent updating software across all security stacks in all offices?

	Zero trust architecture in the cloud eliminates OPEX costs:
	With ZTA, internet-bound traffic travels directly over local providers using zero trust identity-based management, supplanting the need for MPLS networks (and the cost and performance-degrading backhauling associated with them).
	In a ZTA environment, direct, seamless application access improves performance, reducing user complaints and thus IT support costs.
	Using the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange eliminates the administrative overhead of security-stack patching, maintenance, and upgrading.

What F1 cars can teach us about
5G and top speed

“If 3G is a Volkswagen Beetle, 4G is a Porsche. 5G is the Millennium Falcon,” writes Nathan Howe, VP, Emerging Technology at Zscaler. In his latest analysis, Howe points out that a combination of high-tech innovations allow F1 race car drivers to push the limits and 5G works in a similar way. Open standards and advancements like Multi-access Edge Compute (MECs) enable virtualized, highly distributed workloads with low latency. Widely touted 5G speeds, however, are only possible in the best conditions, and overall performance in an enterprise will be determined by how IT fine-tunes infrastructure, services, and security.

Howe urges IT leaders to use 5G as an opportunity to reconsider their security strategy and embrace inline security and local internet breakouts so that employees can be productive with secure, fast access to internet and cloud resources. Read more

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