Kategorie: technology

Cresco lowers barriers to data science with IBM Cloud

Data is the new natural resource, but for many organizations, getting started with data science presents tough challenges.
As the volume, variety and complexity of data explodes, businesses can’t continue to rely on spreadsheet-based approaches to surface actionable insights. Yet, because experience in enterprise-class analytics platforms is in short supply, it can be difficult to get the most out of investments in new data science tools.
Drawing on decades of experience in cutting-edge analytics, Cresco International shaped an offering that empowers businesses to embed data science into their processes. To date, the company has helped hundreds of clients use data-driven technologies to find smarter ways of working.
Offering enterprise-class analytics to all
Today, Cresco uses IBM Cognos Analytics, IBM Watson Studio, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Decision Optimization and IBM Watson Analytics to provide industry-leading data science capabilities. IBM Analytics software is also the foundation for many of our proprietary analytics solutions, which harness IBM Db2 database technology.
For many of our potential clients, deploying these kinds of analytics solutions on premises would require substantial infrastructure investment. By offering the solutions as software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions on the IBM Cloud, Cresco enables small and medium-sized businesses to access enterprise-grade technologies previously restricted to big firms with big budgets.
As well as helping clients get started with data science quickly and cost effectively, the IBM Cloud enables Cresco to tailor its offering to individual client needs. By combining IBM technologies in the cloud using APIs, we can help clients achieve a shorter time to market and a faster return on investment.
Reaping the benefits
Since Cresco began bringing data science to businesses around the world, we’ve had many success stories. One of our clients, a leading distributor in the automotive business, wanted to ensure it delivered the right products to each customer on time.
Working with us, the distributor uncovered hidden insights into customers’ purchasing behavior, revealing where and when customers bought products. By optimizing stock placement, the company reduced the risk of delivery issues dramatically.
Based on the positive outcome of this engagement, we went on to help the company build machine learning algorithms to identify peaks in customer demand. Using these insights to tailor employee scheduling, the distributor saves hundreds of thousands of dollars on unnecessary overtime.
Our recent work with Dallas Area Transit (DART) was another high-profile success. By helping DART spot trends in how people use its services, Cresco enabled the company to plan its services more effectively. These changes helped DART achieve its goal of encouraging more passengers to ride its light rail, streetcar and bus services.
When our clients win, we succeed too. Cresco is proud to partner with IBM to help businesses transform for the digital age. To learn more about our work with IBM, read the case study.
The post Cresco lowers barriers to data science with IBM Cloud appeared first on Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

A distinguished engineer’s 6 trends to watch in 2019

Douglas Adams once wrote, “Trying to predict the future is a mug’s game. But increasingly, it’s a game we all have to play because the world is changing so fast and we need to have some sort of idea of what the future’s actually going to be like because we are going to have to live there, probably next week.”
Change continues apace. I’m once again dusting off my crystal ball to consider those trends I see clients facing as we move into 2019. Based on my experience in the field and looking back at my previous predictions — and trying to keep my track record going — these are the six trends I anticipate 2019 will bring:
1. Cloud professional skills will remain in demand.
Even with the massive growth in cloud, there is still a lack of good cloud skills among professionals. Speed of technology change makes growing new skills hard and many organizations are struggling to keep cloud-skilled professionals. The limited number of skilled employees means those with the right knowledge may be tempted to move as other companies pay premium rates. Automation may be part of the solution. These toolsets will free professionals from mundane cloud tasks and help hide complexity. This will help grow the pool of skilled people.
2. Serverless and container use will grow.
In 2019, “serverless” may be the trigger that moves enterprise workloads to the cloud. This model is becoming more established and better understood. Many enterprises are likely to use both serverless and containerization technology for their workloads. Clients concerned about lock-in to proprietary solutions will look to open source alternatives.
3. The hybrid multicloud approach will expand.
First we had cloud, then hybrid cloud, then multicloud. Organizations still disagree over what these all mean. All we can say is that what clients are doing in practice doesn’t fit the textbook definitions. New tools will make the integration of cloud and non-cloud, on- and off-premises simpler. Real choice over where to deploy what workload will improve as a result.
4. Bare metal will become “cloudy”.
Purists will tell you that “bare metal servers” are not cloud. Yet there is an increasing provision of these across all the major cloud platforms. For some workloads and use cases these are the right answer. Performance, isolation and unique workloads all benefit here. Forget purity and embrace pragmatism.
5. Focus on software costs will increase as value moves up the stack.
Rarely does a week goes by without some reduction in pricing of one cloud service or another. The greatest downward pressure to date has been in the infrastructure layer. As costs continue to fall here, more focus will fall on higher layers in the stack. Costs of platform and software services will come under greater scrutiny by clients. Expect to see price reductions here too.
6. Security will continue to be critical.
Time and effort protecting clouds and cloud applications will have benefits. Threats will change as clouds reach into new business areas. Many companies see exploitation of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices as the next likely way in, so new security methods will be needed. For the worst offenders, punitive GDPR penalties will result.
For readers concerned that this is all going in an uncomfortable speed and direction, look to Douglas Adams once again: “Don’t panic.”
Learn more about IBM Cloud.
The post A distinguished engineer’s 6 trends to watch in 2019 appeared first on Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

4 benefits microservices architecture can bring to integration

While some of its benefits go back to development practices as old as Unix, the modern concept of microservices architecture originated at born-on-the-web companies in the last decade. At first, many observers were skeptical microservices could work outside of a few web-based firms. These days, companies from a wide range of industries have successfully embraced the approach.
If you’re new to microservices, you might be wondering what makes them unique. The quick explanation is that developers build applications by putting together smaller, independent pieces of software, each with a specific purpose. These smaller services are aptly named microservices.
The development world’s push toward more fine-grained components can also apply to integration. Integration between applications can be more agile, too, with agile integration architecture (AIA).
Before exploring integration, first, it’s important to understand microservices. Microservices contrast with the monolithic application architectures traditionally used in most enterprise software.
Here are four benefits that make microservices so attractive to today’s development teams:

Productivity. Building software as independent services means teams can autonomously work on different pieces without waiting on one another for connected software. Testing is also much faster because each component can be tested independently. All of this means fewer coordination headaches and better productivity.
Organizational advantages. Building an application as a set of smaller, discrete pieces enables teams to have much more clearly defined goals, and, as a result, better focus on the business objectives. With microservices, each team will work autonomously on a functional service that is a lot like a miniature product. This is very different from the dependent projects and so-called “glue code” that teams would work on with more traditional architecture. Microservices are ideally suited to agile organizational structures and methodologies.
Maintenance advantages. In a monolithic application, changing any service can have major implications for the entire application since the boundaries between components are less strict. Microservices allow teams to fix a single service at a time without diving into the entire application. Not only does this make maintenance much easier, but it also means teams can reuse some of the same services in multiple applications.
Technology flexibility. Since each service is separated from the rest of the application, developers are free to use whichever language or technology works best. While it is possible to use multiple languages in a monolithic application, it is much easier with microservices.

These are only some of the many potential benefits of microservices architecture. It should be clear how these same benefits would be powerful in the integration space, too. Imagine, for example, if you could break up your existing centralized enterprise service bus (ESB) pattern.
To learn more about how to make the most of this powerful approach, register to download your free ebook or listen to the recent instructional guides on agile integration architecture.
The post 4 benefits microservices architecture can bring to integration appeared first on Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

Grupo IFM keeps pace with the fast-moving IT services industry with IBM Cloud

Increasingly, as businesses seek to drive digital transformation, they are looking to outsource the lower levels of IT management to specialist providers.
At Grupo IFM, we provide corporate services, including IT services, to our member companies. This includes helping them unify their information systems to optimize costs and resources. To deliver value, we constantly need to create new, better offerings. So it’s not just our group companies who need to focus on innovation; as a service provider, we need to innovate too.
Breaking the shackles of legacy systems
Innovation is difficult when legacy technology gets in the way. Over the years, we had built a highly customized, on-premises server infrastructure which we used to run many of our member companies’ core enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. It was complex to manage and too reliant on the specialist skills of a few employees.
We wanted to find a way to spend less time managing the infrastructure so that we could free up our IT team to focus on higher-value projects instead.
Finding freedom in the cloud
On the recommendation of one of our suppliers, we engaged S&M Cloud to help us transform our infrastructure. S&M Cloud showed us how we could harness IBM Cloud technology to replace our legacy on-premises servers and storage.
The IBM Cloud offered us a level of reliability, efficiency, scalability and manageability that we just didn’t see from other vendors. Above all, we were impressed with the quality of service that the IBM team provides. They’re very professional and proactive, and they take care of everything.
We now run our systems to IBM Cloud bare metal servers, which provide the performance we need to run a virtual server environment that supports our ERP applications. We are also using IBM Cloud Object Storage System as a reliable, cost-effective solution for storing backups.
Zero disruption for business users
Working with S&M Cloud and IBM, the implementation was seamless. In fact, our users didn’t even notice that anything had changed.
We were initially nervous about connecting to a remote server in the cloud instead of having everything on our local network, but in reality, there has been no impact on performance or reliability. Everything just works.
Throughout the whole project, we only had one technical issue, and the IBM team was able to fix it in less than two hours. The environment is critical for our business, so having that level of service is extremely important.
Saving cost, reducing risk
With the new IBM Cloud solution in place, Grupo IFM has achieved its two main goals.
First, we have minimized risk by replacing a complex, hard-to-maintain infrastructure with a modern, flexible environment that is easy to manage. We are much less reliant on the specialist skills of key individuals. Instead, we can depend on the whole IBM support organization to keep our systems healthy.
Second, by outsourcing the infrastructure management to IBM, we have significantly reduced the workload of our IT team. This gives us about 10 percent more time to spend on higher-level, higher-value tasks.
Ultimately, the IBM Cloud solution helps us make better use of our resources to help our member companies innovate. That means we can become more than an IT service provider. We can be a true partner in the whole group’s digital transformation.
Read the case study for more details.
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Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud