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Q&A: Forrester Talks About the Future Technology Management Cycle - Part 2

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

Jean-Pierre "J.P." Garbani, VP, Principal Analyst serving Infrastructure & Operations Professionals at Forrester, discusses his new report: Transform Infrastructure And Operations For The Future Technology Management Cycle. In Part 2 of APMdigest's exclusive interview, he talks about the changing role of the I&O organization.

Start with Part 1 of the interview.

APM: In the transformation to the Business Technology Era, how does the role of the Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) organization change?

JP: This transformation requires I&O to transition from a provider of technology components to a broker of technology and business services. Thus, the I&O organization must focus on roles that assemble, design, oversee, and evaluate.

APM: Are there services I&O provides today that will no longer be needed?

JP: In terms of user demands to IT, there may be changes to the way user demands are met by technology: end user devices are an example. If we are talking about typical demands about applications and infrastructures, I anticipate that the demands will not change, but the way they are answered does: for example cloud instead of on-premise infrastructures or SaaS instead of in-house application development. But that is transparent for the user.

APM: What new demands will users start to expect from the I&O organization?

JP: Delays in provisioning, configuring and deploying specific infrastructures will no longer be tolerated from the I&O organization. Deployment of applications must be fast and agile to support agility in application development.

APM: What new roles will be needed in the I&O organization?

JP: Today's I&O organizations combine the roles of technology and production experts. As we transition from the typical plan-build-run model to a plan-procure-manage model, the new roles require different skills: While doers are part of the external service provider organization, the added value to the service broker role of I&O will be to assemble complex solutions, which may require a "collage" of service providers. Planners, designers, system engineers, and vendor/service managers become the lynchpin of technology management in the enterprise.

APM: How do you advise today's I&O organizations to prepare for the BT era?

JP: Today's I&O is mostly a siloed and hands-on organization. As it progressively shifts toward a service-oriented organization, it must assume more and more the role of technology expert and service broker on behalf of other organizations such as business units or development groups. This means that I&O must train and acquire new skills that are adapted to these roles.

APM: With these changes in mind, how do you see APM evolving? Will app performance remain a key consideration?

JP: A well-executed strategy will ensure that customers are continually engaged with your firm and employee productivity is optimized via mobile apps. Thus, I&O professionals must be able to proactively measure and guarantee mobile app performance.

As systems of records are involved in the systems of engagement performance, APM will also be relevant for traditional services.

ABOUT J.P. Garbani

As Forrester's VP, Principal Analyst, Garbani serves Infrastructure & Operation Professionals in predicting and quantifying IT disruptions. His expertise is in the IT management software and IT operations market, and his research examines the shifting industry dynamics caused by economic pressures and the impact of new technologies such as virtualization on the IT organization. Garbani has several decades of experience as an IT technology designer and marketer and also as a client of IT technology. He has broad experience in designing advanced technology solutions in industrial and commercial applications and bringing them to market.

Garbani came to Forrester through the acquisition of Giga Information Group, where he was the research director of the computing infrastructure group. He started his IT career in early 1968 as a software engineer working on the automation of nuclear power plants in France. He then joined Bull General Electric in Paris (subsequently Honeywell Bull), where he was a designer and project leader of very large network infrastructures in France, Scandinavia, and the US. Garbani moved to the US in 1984 and filled several engineering and marketing positions with Bull Information Systems. In 1994, Garbani created Epitome Technology Corporation, a middleware software company focused on manufacturing execution systems. Prior to joining Giga, Garbani worked as an IT management consultant for several large financial institutions in the US. He graduated from Ecole Superieure d'Electricite (Supelec) in Paris (MS in computer science).

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Q&A: Forrester Talks About the Future Technology Management Cycle - Part 2

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

Jean-Pierre "J.P." Garbani, VP, Principal Analyst serving Infrastructure & Operations Professionals at Forrester, discusses his new report: Transform Infrastructure And Operations For The Future Technology Management Cycle. In Part 2 of APMdigest's exclusive interview, he talks about the changing role of the I&O organization.

Start with Part 1 of the interview.

APM: In the transformation to the Business Technology Era, how does the role of the Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) organization change?

JP: This transformation requires I&O to transition from a provider of technology components to a broker of technology and business services. Thus, the I&O organization must focus on roles that assemble, design, oversee, and evaluate.

APM: Are there services I&O provides today that will no longer be needed?

JP: In terms of user demands to IT, there may be changes to the way user demands are met by technology: end user devices are an example. If we are talking about typical demands about applications and infrastructures, I anticipate that the demands will not change, but the way they are answered does: for example cloud instead of on-premise infrastructures or SaaS instead of in-house application development. But that is transparent for the user.

APM: What new demands will users start to expect from the I&O organization?

JP: Delays in provisioning, configuring and deploying specific infrastructures will no longer be tolerated from the I&O organization. Deployment of applications must be fast and agile to support agility in application development.

APM: What new roles will be needed in the I&O organization?

JP: Today's I&O organizations combine the roles of technology and production experts. As we transition from the typical plan-build-run model to a plan-procure-manage model, the new roles require different skills: While doers are part of the external service provider organization, the added value to the service broker role of I&O will be to assemble complex solutions, which may require a "collage" of service providers. Planners, designers, system engineers, and vendor/service managers become the lynchpin of technology management in the enterprise.

APM: How do you advise today's I&O organizations to prepare for the BT era?

JP: Today's I&O is mostly a siloed and hands-on organization. As it progressively shifts toward a service-oriented organization, it must assume more and more the role of technology expert and service broker on behalf of other organizations such as business units or development groups. This means that I&O must train and acquire new skills that are adapted to these roles.

APM: With these changes in mind, how do you see APM evolving? Will app performance remain a key consideration?

JP: A well-executed strategy will ensure that customers are continually engaged with your firm and employee productivity is optimized via mobile apps. Thus, I&O professionals must be able to proactively measure and guarantee mobile app performance.

As systems of records are involved in the systems of engagement performance, APM will also be relevant for traditional services.

ABOUT J.P. Garbani

As Forrester's VP, Principal Analyst, Garbani serves Infrastructure & Operation Professionals in predicting and quantifying IT disruptions. His expertise is in the IT management software and IT operations market, and his research examines the shifting industry dynamics caused by economic pressures and the impact of new technologies such as virtualization on the IT organization. Garbani has several decades of experience as an IT technology designer and marketer and also as a client of IT technology. He has broad experience in designing advanced technology solutions in industrial and commercial applications and bringing them to market.

Garbani came to Forrester through the acquisition of Giga Information Group, where he was the research director of the computing infrastructure group. He started his IT career in early 1968 as a software engineer working on the automation of nuclear power plants in France. He then joined Bull General Electric in Paris (subsequently Honeywell Bull), where he was a designer and project leader of very large network infrastructures in France, Scandinavia, and the US. Garbani moved to the US in 1984 and filled several engineering and marketing positions with Bull Information Systems. In 1994, Garbani created Epitome Technology Corporation, a middleware software company focused on manufacturing execution systems. Prior to joining Giga, Garbani worked as an IT management consultant for several large financial institutions in the US. He graduated from Ecole Superieure d'Electricite (Supelec) in Paris (MS in computer science).

Hot Topic
The Latest
The Latest 10

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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