IT as an Important Partner in Cloud and On-Premises Technology Management

This article focuses on the role of IT in cloud and on-premises tech management through a conversation with Solver CIO Hadrian Knotz.

In this constantly evolving enterprise software world, I wanted to interview someone who is an IT expert about the changing ways organizations manage technologies that are hosted on-premises or in the cloud. I knew the best person for this discussion: Solver CIO Hadrian Knotz. If you want to learn of the challenges IT departments are facing in supporting the technology demands and how these departments are providing solutions, continue to read.

Felzke: It’s been busy at Solver especially releasing BI360, a cloud deployment corporate performance management (CPM) suite option, after success with the on-premises offering. How have you seen technology management change since you joined the Solver team and started overseeing that team?

Knotz: The most notable trend we’ve noticed with our customers is the steady transition from managing all systems with an internal team to some type of IT outsourcing. Companies, across verticals, seem to be moving at different speeds. Industries that are more centered on finance, like banking, healthcare, and insurance have the propensity to be more aware in their approach to systemic change, which is not a surprise with the regulations they have to meet. It seems like smaller companies have adopted cloud-based tools more quickly as there is usually a lower level of system integration and dependency to consider when your IT applications are less complex. Within the past two years, with the announcement and launch of Microsoft Dynamics 365, we have seen larger organizations make the switch to D365. We expect this trajectory to build momentum as the product grows and more companies work through proof of concept implementations with D365 and other cloud ERPs.

Felzke: How does the technology application portfolio that Solver handles break down regarding to on-premises and cloud? What is hosted where?

Knotz: We have a variation of cloud and on-premises systems at Solver. Many of our central systems, like our CRM, ERP and Support platform stay on-premises since they are closely integrated with our on-premises BI360 product. Many of the externally facing systems that host HR, communications and marketing functions are using cloud-based tools. We consider where we can get the best return on investment when approaching where to host systems. For instance, because we are a software development company, we have many development and/or testing virtual servers running in an on-premises virtualization cluster that would break the bank to run in a cloud IaaS platform. We continue to be strong believers in a hybrid approach to designing infrastructure, but expect more systems will shift to a cloud-based environment in the future.

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