This document discusses how cloud computing can improve business agility through faster decision-making loops, enabled by decentralizing IT resources and allowing small teams self-service access. While cloud may decrease individual workload costs due to efficiency gains, organizations may actually see increased overall IT spending as cloud enables new applications and use cases. The key is that cloud supports more profitable uses of IT resources.

1. Air Combat and Coal
Understanding Business Agility and
IT Spending in the Age of Cloud
Dave Roberts
Sr. Director, Solutions Marketing
david_roberts@bmc.com
@sandhillstrat
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2. 2

3. 3

4. Air Combat and Coal
Understanding Business Agility and
IT Spending in the Age of Cloud
Dave Roberts
Sr. Director, Solutions Marketing
david_roberts@bmc.com
@sandhillstrat
4

5. What are the benefits of
cloud computing?
5

6. 2. Decreased IT spending.
1. Improved business agility.
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7. How?
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8. Most people don’t have a
good answer.
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9. The ones who do will win.
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10. History doesn’t repeat
itself, but it does rhyme.
-- Mark Twain
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11. 11

12. 12

13. What is agility?
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14. 14

15. USAF Fighter Weapons School, Nellis AFB
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16. John Boyd, USAF
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17. Student
Boyd
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18. Student
Boyd
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19. 19

20. 20

21. 21

22. “40 Second Boyd”
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23. Boyd never lost the bet.
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24. Why?
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25. OODA
Loop
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26. O
O
D
A
bserve
rient
ecide
ct
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27. 27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. Worst&
Slightly&
Be/er&
Best&
Fast Transients
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32. Predictability is bad.
32

33. 33

34. 34

35. Lesson:
Whoever can handle the
quickest rate of radical
change survives the fight.
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36. How can we engineer
this outcome?
36

37. 1. Small loops (small teams)
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38. 1. Small loops (small teams)
2. Communicate high-level
intent
38

39. Central(
Authority(
OODA(
High3Level(
Objec9ves(
High3Level(
Objec9ves(
OODA( OODA( OODA(
OODA(
39

40. 40

41. Although al Qaeda's decision-making loop was
quick, their ability to apply that in a systemic manner
was slow because it would take weeks or months to
put together a dramatically staged event like a bomb
attack in a crowded market. And that often gave the
coalition the ability to counter the insurgent’s efforts.
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42. “So by the time the surge comes along, what
[Gen. David] Petraeus did, which was brilliant,
was to decentralize our own OODA loop, if you
will, by delegating the responding authorities
down to brigade and, in some cases, battalion
level,” Scales said.
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43. “The enemy was still stuck with a classical Maoist-
type of decision-making apparatus while the
coalition had a much more streamlined decision-
making apparatus that allowed them to react very
quickly on the street.”
43

44. Central(
Authority(
OODA(
High3Level(
Objec9ves(
High3Level(
Objec9ves(
OODA( OODA( OODA(
OODA(
44

45. 45

46. Self-service access
shrinks the loops
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47. Cloud enables small
groups to create
“fast transients.”
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48. 48

49. 49

50. 50

51. What sort of IT cost reduction should
we expect from cloud computing?
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52. 1865
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53. 53

54. William Stanley Jevons
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55. When would Britain
exhaust its coal mines?
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56. 56

57. Greater Efficiency ➡ More Consumption
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58. The Jevons’ Paradox
Greater Efficiency ➡ More Consumption
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59. ?
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60. The Jevons’ Paradox
Greater Efficiency ➡ More Consumption
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61. The Jevons’ Paradox
Greater Efficiency ➡
More Consumption
New Applications
New Applications ➡
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62. 62

63. Cloud may make individual
workloads less expensive.
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64. Cloud may make individual
workloads less expensive.
But you’ll use more, and
thus costs will increase in
aggregate.
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65. But you won’t care if
each of those uses is
profitable.
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66. Caveat:
IT intensity matters
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67. 67

68. 68

69. @sandhillstrat
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70. @BMCcloud
@sandhillstrat
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71. Thank You
Dave%Roberts%
Sr.%Director,%Solu3ons%Marke3ng%
Email:% % %david_roberts@bmc.com%
Twi@er: % %@sandhillstrat%
Google+:% %h@p://gplus.to/sandhillstrat%
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