Top 17 cloud cost management tools

Keeping on top of the outlay of your cloud estate is more important than ever. These platforms will help you get a pulse on your cloud use and associated costs, which can add up rapidly.

It feels like just yesterday that we were promised that cloud servers cost just pennies. You could rent a rack with the spare change behind the sofa cushions and have money left for an ice cream sandwich.

Those days are long gone. When the monthly cloud bill arrives, CFOs are hitting the roof. Developer teams are learning that the pennies add up, sometimes faster than expected, and it’s time for some discipline.

Cloud cost managers are the solution. They track all the bills, allocating them to the various teams responsible for their accumulation. That way the group that added too many fancy features that need too much storage and server time will have to account for their profligacy. The good programmers who don’t use too much RAM and disk space can be rewarded.

Smaller teams with simple configurations can probably get by with the stock services of the cloud companies. Cost containment is a big issue for many CIOs now and the cloud companies know it. They’ve started adding better accounting tools and alarms that are triggered before the bills reach the stratosphere. See Azure Cost Management, Google Cloud Cost Management, and AWS Cloud Financial Management tools for the big three clouds.

Once your cloud commitment gets bigger, independent cost management tools start to become attractive. They’re designed to work with multiple clouds and build reports that unify the data for easy consumption. Some even track the machines that run on premises so you can compare the cost of renting versus building out your own server room.

In many cases, cloud cost managers are part of a larger suite designed to not just watch the bottom line but also enforce other rules such as security. Some are not marketed directly as cloud control tools but have grown to help solve this problem. Some tools for surveying enterprise architectures or managing software governance now track costs at the same time. They can offer the same opportunities for savings that purpose-built cloud cost tools do — and they help with their other management chores as well.

What follows is an alphabetical list of the best cloud cost tracking tools. The area is rapidly expanding as enterprise managers recognize they need to get a grip on their cloud bills. All of them can help govern the burgeoning empire of server instances that may stretch around the world.

• Anodot
• AppDynamics
• Apptio Cloudability
• CloudAdmin
• CloudCheckr
• Datadog
• Densify
• Flexera One
• Harness
• Kubecost
• ManageEngine
• Nutanix Xi
• ServiceNow
• Turbonomic
• VMware Aria CloudHealth
• Yotascale
• Zesty

Read more HERE

7 IT leadership lessons learned from COVID-19

IT leaders from HP, McAfee, Johnson Controls, and other enterprises reflect on what they learned after leading teams through a full year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, and soon after IT leaders rushed to mitigate the impact on their businesses, marshaling teams to work remotely.

CIOs boosted infrastructure capacity, shipped laptops to residences, and migrated applications small and large to software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and cloud software. Eighty-two percent of CIOs surveyed say they have implemented new technologies and IT strategies during the pandemic, according to IDG’s 2021 State of the CIO survey.

Beyond implementing new technologies at scale, CIOs embraced the mental-health hurdles associated with managing remote teams whose work-life balance has been disrupted.

“Like most organizations, the pandemic took us by surprise,” says Paul Herring, global chief innovation officer of accounting firm RSM International. “We had to adjust quickly.”

Here IT leaders reflect on what they learned from a year of leading teams during the pandemic, as well as how work will likely change going forward.

1. The way we work changed overnight
2. Collaboration evolved — but left spontaneity a little lacking
3. Product expedition became a priority
4. Automation curbed uncertainty
5. IT leaders learned to lead with empathy
6. The customer meeting flight may now be canceled
7. It may no longer matter where employees reside

Read more details HERE

7 interview mistakes that cost you key IT hires

A subpar interview process is a chief reason why IT pros turn down job offers. Here’s how your hiring team may be sabotaging its chances of landing top talent in a tight market.

If you were to call Sherlock Holmes to help you discover why top tech talent who you’ve interviewed declined your reasonable offer, he might call your mystery common. But the killer is not — as you might believe — the mercurial nature of candidates, a failure of education, or anything outside the room where the interviews happen. It’s more likely that your process or team are inadvertently undermining your own efforts.

“People blame the candidates, but the interview process is the main reason people turn down jobs,” says Barbara Bruno, author of High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting: How to Attract and Retain the Best Talent by Improving the Candidate Experience.

It could be the questions you ask, the people asking the questions, or a host of other missteps that telegraph a subtle message to candidates to move along.

I asked hiring managers, recruiters, and directors of talent what — specifically — hiring teams are doing to cost them those key hires they so desperately want.

You’re fishing with the wrong bait

Candidates end up in your interview room because they responded to your job description. That’s your bait. As with actual fishing, the bait you use has a lot to do with what you catch. You might want to check that you are targeting the right people and expectations.

“There seems to be a huge disconnect right now between traditional job requisitions — that are a laundry list of skills — and how candidates will be evaluated on the job,” Bruno says.

Bruno suggests ditching the laundry list and instead taking a hard look at what your team needs in this role. “I always ask employers, ‘Can you give me five performance objectives?’ or ‘How will the candidate be evaluated in six months?’” Bruno says.

Once they are forced to answer those questions, she finds hiring teams discover that much of their “must have” list won’t be needed in the position. Even worse? There are many more skills — like the ability to prioritize, problem solve, communicate, and ask for help — that aren’t in the job description but that anyone who hopes to succeed in the role will need to possess.

Step back from your shopping list and think instead about what success in the role would look like. Then come up with skills and experiences that would genuinely help.

Read more HERE

10 future trends and how CIOs can keep ahead in 2021

After a year disrupted by a global pandemic, the next normal is starting to take shape. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for IT organizations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, CIOs have faced epic challenges unlike any they’ve previously weathered. For many business leaders, recovery isn’t just a return to their former state but a top-to-bottom rethinking of what business they need to be in and how their business must be run. As the chief owners of the digital infrastructure that underpins all aspects of modern enterprises, CIOs must play pivotal roles in the road to recovery, seeking the “next normal” while still performing their traditional roles.

The following predictions, based on the IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2021 Predictions, present information about technologies, markets, and ecosystems to help CIOs better understand future trends and their impact on the enterprise, and offer guidance on complex, fast-moving environments, proposing prescriptive, actionable recommendations for the next five years.

1. By 2022, 65% of CIOs will digitally empower and enable frontline workers with data, AI, and security to extend their productivity, adaptability, and decision making in the face of rapid changes. Businesses need teams and workers to function more autonomously, making decisions in the face of great uncertainty. Frontline workers are in the best position to gain real-time knowledge of changes in customer behaviors and external environments. But they need access to data and intelligent tools embedded in their workflows in a seamless fashion. CIOs will need to bolster IT capabilities in data science, AI, and human-machine interface and advanced intelligent workflow design.

Recommendations:

  • Acquire talent through hiring, development, and partnering ahead of the curve to avoid critical gaps.
  • Create centers of excellence (COEs) for data/analytics, AI, machine learning (ML), and workflow and task automation.
  • Ensure strategies, policies, and tools are in place to secure sensitive data and ensure proper usage.
  • Plan for the evolution from directed digital workers to hybrid digital/human workers to self-governing digital workers.

2. By 2021, unable to find adaptive ways to counter escalating cyberattacks, unrest, trade wars, and sudden collapses, 30% of CIOs will fail in protecting trust—the foundation of customer confidence. According to a recent IDC survey, 63% of organizations are investing in cybersecurity to build digital trust for customers, employees, and partners. Despite these investments, almost one-third of CIOs will fail to fully surmount the fallout from adverse events as the intensity and diversity of threats escalate, resulting in degradation of trust in their businesses. CIOs will be expected to lead all technology aspects of risk management for the enterprise and its ecosystems at a time where funding is scarce and scrutinized.

Recommendations:

  • Rethink risk management strategies in the new context of high volatility, increased threats, and business uncertainty.
  • Embrace modern practices and leverage proven frameworks like NIST.
  • Create trust objectives and strategies to focus efforts on high-payoff initiatives.

Read more here

7 attributes every IT leader must have

Leadership has little to do with one’s title or seniority; it’s an attribute that’s earned over time through study, practice and commitment. Are you prepared to become a true leader?

Becoming a true IT leader — someone who inspires teams to consistently reach new heights — requires skills that can only be acquired over time through hard work and a commitment to succeed.

Transformational leaders are typically described as lively, passionate, engaging and energetic. Such individuals aren’t focused only on helping teams achieve their planned goals; they also work hard to help team members reach their full potential.

Becoming a respected and prized leader isn’t easy, but it’s a goal within reach of just about anyone who’s willing to commit to the task. Here are seven fundamental attributes every IT leader needs to possess — and how to acquire them.

  1. Agility
  2. Vision
  3. Empathy
  4. Steadiness
  5. Authenticity
  6. Accessibility
  7. Curiosity

Get more details HERE

How to build a resilient IT culture

The pandemic has underscored the importance of thriving through hardship and uncertainty. IT leaders discuss how they’re adjusting their leadership practices to help foster this key IT trait for the long haul.

The word ‘resilient’ is cropping up a lot lately as a cultural cornerstone for coping with the pressures the pandemic has foisted on IT. CIOs have played a significant role in enabling organization-wide remote work strategies at speed while accelerating digital initiatives central to the business in uncertain times.

For many, the ability to shift gears, double down and navigate hardship has been a testament to an IT culture capable of withstanding and recovering quickly from difficult challenges. For others, rising to the occasion has been a crash course in resilience, offering hard-earned lessons in what it will take to thrive in IT in the months and years to come.

“The last few months have been a huge social experiment for every company around the world,’’ says Jacqui Guichelaar, CIO of Cisco, who adds that many leaders discovered their staffs can be just as productive working remotely as in the office. The upshot? Leaders must model certain behaviors in this new way of working, she says. “Traditional tactics don’t work in the new reality.”

Here, IT leaders discuss what makes an IT organization resilient, and how they are adjusting their leadership practices to ensure IT can foster this key trait for the long haul.

Put people first
Keep connected
Find common purpose
Foster career growth
Establish mutual respect
Take care of yourself as well

More Details HERE

7 attributes every IT leader must have

Leadership has little to do with one’s title or seniority; it’s an attribute that’s earned over time through study, practice and commitment. Are you prepared to become a true leader?

Becoming a true IT leader — someone who inspires teams to consistently reach new heights — requires skills that can only be acquired over time through hard work and a commitment to succeed.

Transformational leaders are typically described as lively, passionate, engaging and energetic. Such individuals aren’t focused only on helping teams achieve their planned goals; they also work hard to help team members reach their full potential.

Becoming a respected and prized leader isn’t easy, but it’s a goal within reach of just about anyone who’s willing to commit to the task. Here are seven fundamental attributes every IT leader needs to possess — and how to acquire them.

  1. Agility
  2. Vision
  3. Empathy
  4. Steadiness
  5. Authenticity
  6. Accessibility
  7. Curiosity

Get the details HERE

Long-term Contract Procurement Opportunities With Great Company in Dallas, TX

Dear Applicant,

My name is Mike and I’m a recruiter at ProVisionTech Group. Our records show that you are an experienced professional with experience with Procurement Processes. This experience is relevant to one of my current openings.

If this opportunity is not a good match for your skills or you are not available but know someone who is, please forward this email to them as we pay referral fees for anyone you refer that we place with a client.

This is 3 year contract opportunity with the possibility of extension

Long-term Contract Procurement Opportunities With Great Company in Dallas, TX

Client needs one Sr Procurement Consultant and one Procurement Analyst for a 3 year contract that has the possibility to be extended.

Management/Organizational Development and Effectiveness

Consultants activities may include, but are not limited to:

a) Conduct an analysis of Client’s Procurement performance and effectiveness.

b) Identify peer transit systems and conduct a comparison of their performance to Client Procurement’s.

c) Identify performance gaps as compared to peers.

d) Develop recommendations to address any identified performance gaps.

e) Develop recommended changes required in key operations and processes to improve productivity and efficiency based on best practices, industry, or comparable transit experience.

f) Recommend overall organizational structure design and staffing needs based on maintaining current

levels of operation while improving efficiency.

g) Work directly with customer management in applying advanced principles, theories, and concepts to a wide range of work in the areas of planning, deployment, operation and/or enhancement of telecommunications and information technology systems.

Performance Optimization

Consultant activities may include, but are not limited to:

a) Assist Client with implementing and sustaining a continuous improvement process within Client Procurement, and related departments that applies to all levels of the organization.

b) Conduct reviews of functions and processes.

c) Assist Client with transitioning Client to sustain high performance, high reward teams, and culture.

d) Assist Client with customer, supplier and stakeholder surveys, including development of survey tools, conducting surveys and focus groups, and evaluating and reporting results.

Business System Performance and Operations

Evaluate Client Procurement and related Departments’ current and future business performance, processes, and operations. Specific consultant activities may include, but are not limited to:

a) Assist Client in an evaluation of its current and future business performance, processes, and operations. b) Apply process improvement and reengineering methodologies and principles to conduct process modernization projects.

c) Serve as key coordinator between multiple project teams to ensure Agency-wide integration of reengineering efforts.

d) Align and streamline its business functions with its objectives. e) Identify the organizational structure required to support and operate the business.

f) Assist Client with implementation of replacement procurement technology, including requisition/purchase orders, sourcing, contract management, and supply chain management.

g) Advise and assist with the development and implementation of supply chain management and strategic sourcing systems.

Project Management

Consultant activities may include, but are not limited to working with Procurement and related Departments to:

a) Translate customer requirements into formal plans that culminate in customer acceptance of the proposed solutions while meeting business objectives.

b) Lead a team in planning, initiating, controlling, executing, and closing tasks of a project or segment of a project to produce the desired solution.

c) Formulate partnerships between customers, suppliers, and staff to anticipate potential project related problems using refined techniques for identifying, eliminating, or mitigating solution, project, and business risks.

d) Apply a strong understanding of customer, industry, and business trends to analyze information or situations, and implement actions to ensure project objectives are met, either independently or through the management team.

e) Analyze new and complex project related problems, and create innovative solutions, involving finance, scheduling, technology, methodology, tools, and other components, as necessary.

Capacity Building

Work with the Client Procurement management team on efforts to ensure it has the appropriate capacity and skills to fulfill its goals and objectives.

Specific consultant activities may include, but are not limited to:

a) Development of a capacity and skills assessment.

b) Identification of appropriate training programs or delivery of targeted training.

c) Development of training materials or institutionalized support systems or initiatives.

Procurement Support.

Client may require support from professional procurement specialists to support or lead procurement processes for specific and complex transactions, including procurement planning, development of specifications, statements of work and sourcing documents, evaluation of offers, negotiations, and contract administration. The level of support required may range from procurement staff augmentation to complete outsourcing of a specific contract or contract portfolio. The procurement specialists must be or become thoroughly familiar with Client, customer, and government regulations, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance during procurement activities.

Examples of required procurement category expertise include:

a) Acquisition of complex capital assets such as locomotives, buses, and streetcars

b) Procurement of information and communication technology, including software, hardware, and related services

c) Contracting for complex systems, including a universal fare payment card “Rapidcard” and mobility management services using performance based contracts and Public Private Partnerships

d) Competitive outsourcing of services and systems, including “make or buy” analyses

e) Procurement of energy, including electricity, fuels, and associated services

The procurement specialists may be required to perform cost and price analyses of various contractual documents and transactions.

If you have this experience, feel you are a fit for this position, and are interested, please answer the questions below:

1) Do you have an updated Word copy of your resume?

2) What is your availability to start?

3) Are you open to a long-term contract position?

4) What is your current salary or pay rate?

5) Are you currently eligible to work for any employer in the US?

6) When is the best time to contact you and what # can you be reached at for this opportunity?

We pay for referrals, so if this opportunity is not a good match for your skills or you are not available but know someone who is, please forward this link to them.

Regards,

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171


“Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!”

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Contract-to-hire Senior CNC Administrator Opportunity with Great Company in Dallas, TX

We pay for referrals, so if this opportunity is not a good match for your skills or you are not available but know someone who is, please forward this link to them.

My name is Mike and I’m a recruiter at ProVisionTech Group. Our records show that you are an experienced professional with experience with CNC Administration. This experience is relevant to one of my current openings.

Senior CNC Administrator

Description:

The CNC (Configurable Network Computing) Administrator will be responsible for the daily technical support of the JD Edwards(JDE)  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System. The CNC Administrator has primary responsibility for maintaining the JDE EnterpriseOne 8.12 installation. This includes the administering of the user environment, security, backups and software/object change management, JDE EnterpriseOne Java Web Server, HTML Server, Portal installation and Support (Websphere), JDE Business Services installation and support, JDE EnterpriseOne ESU installs (Electronic Software updates), JDE EnterpriseOne Tools Release, JDE EnterpriseOne Software Update Installations, Object Management (OMW) Setup, Configuration & Maintenance, Development Support (EnterpriseOne Fat Client installs and support), performance monitoring, capacity planning, backup and recovery planning and Disaster Recovery (DR) execution. This position will maintain the necessary controls and procedures to ensure the integrity of the environments and the software levels. This individual must maintain a close working relationship with the Tech Services Database and Application Services Manager, Unix Systems Administrator, Oracle Database Administrator and JDE Development Manager in the coordination of overlapping responsibilities.

Requirements:

· Proficient in utilizing the JDE EnterpriseOne Technical Foundation tools and CNC functionality.

· Experience with installation, setup, configuration, package builds and deployments.

· Experience in JDE EnterpriseOne Application and Tools Release upgrades.

· Excellent technical knowledge and experience in server administration, networks, workstations, JDE EnterpriseOne application, troubleshooting and problem solving skills.

· Lead JDE Enterprise One maintenance, monitoring, and tuning activities.

· Work with DBA to monitor and troubleshoot application and database performance.

· Build and deploy packages for development, test, and production environments.

· Install and configure new environments as needed.

· Setup and maintain OMW for project promotion.

· Administer job and print queues.

· Work with Development team to tune and debug applications.

· Monitor and maintain application back-up and disaster recovery procedures.

· Maintain and audit application level security.

· Review and install application patches, ESUs, ASUs, and upgrades

· Configure and maintain application administration tools for monitoring performance and change management.

· Strong verbal and written communication skills.

· Solid working experience on Unix Servers, Oracle database and Websphere Windows.

If you have this experience, feel you are a fit for this position, and are interested, please answer the questions below:

1) Do you have an updated Word copy of your resume?

2) What is your availability to start?

3) Are you open to a contract-to-hire position?

4) What is your current salary or pay rate?

5) Are you currently eligible to work for any employer in the US?

6) When is the best time to contact you and what # can you be reached at for this opportunity?

We pay for referrals, so if this opportunity is not a good match for your skills or you are not available but know someone who is, please forward this link to them.

Regards,

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171


“Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!”

Posted via email from ptg’s posterous

Dallas News: Experts at Dallas cyber summit say speed essential in fight against high-tech crime

"We have to move at a speed that, frankly, these collaborations have not traditionally been capable of."

Cybercriminals certainly are speeding up.

According to the FBI, the cost of online scams and fraud for Americans more than doubled from 2008 to 2009, reaching nearly $560 million.

The organizers of the Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit planned from the beginning for the event to be a launching pad for concrete results.

The biggest component of the conference organized by the EastWest Institute was a series of workshops where attendees – security professionals, government officials and business executives – worked with industry experts to craft suggestions for how their industries could prepare for cyberattacks.

Read More

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Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

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