LinkedIn : les astuces d’un profil performant pour un consultant IT/Aprico consultants. Un profil LinkedIn bien pensé et bien exploité permet de booster votre branding personnel. En tant que partenaire de carrière, Aprico vous dévoile les astuces et conseils concrets à mettre directement en application.
LinkedIn ? ‘C’est quand on cherche du travail’. ‘Pas besoin de remplir mon profil entièrement’. ‘Les réseaux sociaux, ce n’est pas pour moi’… autant d’idées reçues que l’on peut avoir à propos de ce réseau professionnel pourtant utilisé par plus de 4.000.000 membres en Belgique. Consultant IT : LinkedIn permet de structurer votre image (et de mettre en valeur votre expertise métier) Trucs et astuces…
Votre branding personnel
Construire un réseau, rester en contact, mettre en avant ses compétences et interagir. C’est l’objectif de base de LinkedIn. Mais saviez-vous que 2 personnes sur 3 y cherchent votre profil avant une réunion ? Mieux encore, 71 % des c-level associent visibilité et crédibilité. Quoi qu’il en soit, 80 % de la population active effectuent des recherches en ligne à propos d’autres personnes. « On a une seule chance de faire bonne impression. Autant soigner son image en ligne. Bien utilisé, LinkedIn est un outil professionnel très performant » souligne Tom Baeten, formateur et consultant LinkedIn.
Les settings de base
Ne l’oublions pas, LinkedIn n’est pas qu’un réseau social. C’est aussi un moteur de recherche. L’astuce est donc d’utiliser les mots-clés pertinents pour vous en tant que consultant IT. Pour continuer l’optimisation de votre profil, assurez-vous qu’il soit visible en mode ‘public’ et que l’URL créée automatiquement par la plateforme soit personnalisée afin d’obtenir www.linkedin.com/in/votreprénomvotrenom/. Vous êtes actif sur le plan national, voire international ? La plateforme propose 24 langues ! Pensez donc à dupliquer votre profil dans les langues judicieuses pour votre job.
Pas de photo, pas de visite
Votre photo de profil : pas besoin d’être photogénique, choisissez une photo sur laquelle vous êtes reconnaissable. Portez les vêtements que vous porteriez au travail et optez pour un fond neutre. Regardez l’objectif (rien de pire qu’un regard fuyant) et souriez. Finalement, c’est comme si vous regardiez la personne qui visite votre profil. « Démarquez-vous en utilisant la Cover Story, un nouveau format vidéo de 30 secondes directement lié à votre photo de profil. Soyez créatif dans votre message, les meilleurs recruteurs reconnaitront l’option à l’anneau orange qui apparaît automatiquement autour de votre photo » conseille Tom Baeten.
Votre titre n’est pas votre fonction
Votre titre est l’headline qui se trouve directement sous votre nom. Une place stratégique souvent mal exploitée selon Tom Baeten : « Elle ne sert pas à renseigner votre fonction ni le nom de votre entreprise – ou celle pour qui vous travaillez – mais bien à préciser vos talents et vos compétences en un clin d’œil ! En d’autres mots, pour quels talents et quelles compétences puis-je faire appel à vous ! » Un exemple ?
Ce qu’on dit de vous quand vous n’êtes pas dans la pièce…
Ensuite, soignez votre résumé. Car il y a de fortes chances que le visiteur de votre profil s’y attarde immédiatement. L’objectif de ce texte libre ? Refléter votre valeur ajoutée en tant que consultant, démontrer ce que vous pouvez apporter, vos motivations et votre personnalité. Un peu comme ce que les gens disent de vous quand vous n’êtes pas dans la pièce. « Inutile d’en faire un CV, pensez plutôt en termes de mots-clés utilisés – et recherchés ! – dans votre scope de compétences. Structurez votre texte. Aérez-le avec des paragraphes, des puces, des énumérations… et soignez l’orthographe » explique Tom Baeten.
3 astuces pour prouver votre expertise
Jouez avec l’algorithme
Of course, LinkedIn fonctionne sur base d’un algorithme. Il évolue en continu, mais une chose est certaine, vous devez rester actif(ve) et mettre à jour votre profil régulièrement. Maintenant que votre profil de consultant est optimisé, il serait dommage de ne pas l’exploiter. Vous avez obtenu une nouvelle certification ? Partagez la bonne nouvelle. Un ‘like’ est également apprécié par votre réseau et par l’algorithme. « Ne partagez rien sans commenter. Ajoutez de la valeur à votre action et démontrez votre expertise. Consacrez-y 10 minutes par jour, vous verrez déjà la magie opérer… » dévoile Tom Baeten.
Votre check-list de base
Envie d’ajouter Aprico Consultants dans vos expériences ? Nous prendrons soin de votre carrière.
Qui de mieux placés que les consultants d’Aprico pour témoigner de la vie au sein de l’organisation. Comment Aprico est devenu leur partenaire de carrière, quelles valeurs apprécient-ils le plus et quels sont les outils à leur disposition ? Découvrez les témoignages…
Créer de la valeur. Finalement, c’est ça qui compte et qui nous motive chaque jour. Car jongler avec les technologies et les infrastructures ICT est une chose, mais le réalisez-vous au sein d’une organisation en phase avec vos attentes de carrière ? Challenge accepted, nous avons directement poser la question à nos consultants. Voici leurs réponses…
Proximité, confiance, excellence
Culture d’entreprise ou culture organisationnelle, chaque entreprise s’efforce de mettre en place des mécanismes qui favorisent la confiance, engendrent la performance, augmentent la satisfaction (clients) et boostent l’implication des collaborateurs. « La culture d’Aprico est une vraie locomotive dans mon travail journalier. Je pense d’abord à la proximité. Cette sensation de faire partie d’une grande famille dans laquelle s’inscrivent autant les collaborateurs internes et externes que le management . Je souligne aussi le dialogue ouvert qui consolide la confiance au sein de l’organisation. Sans oublier l’excellence. Aprico stimule notre développement personnel, nous pousse à toujours aller plus loin. Une dynamique autant appréciée par le consultant que par le client » explique Jenna Loubris, Business Analyst.
Quality first
En tant qu’Account manager, Thomas Ashdown est en première ligne avec les clients. « Ce que j’apprécie dans mon travail au sein d’Aprico c’est le focus dédié à la qualité. Si beaucoup d’entreprises utilisent cet argument, je pense pouvoir affirmer qu’ici, nous nous surpassons réellement. Le revers de la médaille est probablement le caractère exigeant d’Aprico. Oui, mais si vous accordez de l’importance à la rigueur ou encore à la valeur ajoutée, c’est une organisation qui vous conviendra à 200 %. »
Orientation consultant et boite à outils
Sandrine Mathoul est Chef de projets et de programmes depuis plus de sept ans. Elle adhère complètement aux valeurs d’Aprico. « L’orientation client est bien sûr primordiale mais je souligne également l’orientation consultant. Une nuance importante qui fait d’Aprico mon partenaire de carrière . Nous disposons d’une belle boite à outils afin d’atteindre nos objectifs, et donc ceux du client. Nous pouvons, par exemple, faire appel à un ‘Subject Matter Expert’. Il s’agit d’une personne de référence dans un domaine d’expertise précis qui nous transmet son expérience. Une vraie source d’inspiration.
Cohésion et ambiance au top
C’est connu. L’entraide fait partie de l’ADN des développeurs. Chez Aprico, nous stimulons cet esprit d’équipe et nous ne laissons aucune question sans réponse concrète. L’objectif est de faire de nos consultants des talents toujours plus compétents. « C’est très reconnaissable. Les valeurs d’Aprico se traduisent par cette grande cohésion interne. Nous nous retrouvons régulièrement entre consultants pour des moments de partage. Idéal pour apprendre à se connaitre et échanger les bonnes pratiques » ajoute Sandrine Mathoul.
Projets ambitieux, société à taille humaine
« Une société à taille humaine. C’est ce qui m’a convaincu chez Aprico. Cela se traduit par un partage d’expériences avec des collègues et une proximité avec le management. Une caractéristique qu’on ne retrouve pas forcément dans les plus grandes structures » confie Sébastien Chatel, Software engineer. « Honnêtement, je suis fier de pouvoir participer à des projets ambitieux auprès de clients prestigieux » conclut Alain Deschamps, Infrastructure architect.
Une carrière de consultant au sein d’Aprico ?
Envie de rejoindre Aprico pour déployer vos compétences en stratégie et transformation ICT ? Laissez-nous devenir votre partenaire de carrière.
Sur un marché en pénurie, les consultants IT sont approchés de tous les côtés et par toutes sortes de bureaux de recrutement. Découvrez comment Aprico inverse la tendance en adoptant le rôle de partenaire de carrière.
Une procédure de recrutement exigeante vaut plus qu’un CV perdu dans une base de données. Isn’t it ? S’il existe mille manières d’approcher et d’accompagner les talents IT sur le marché, Aprico s’inscrit dans une démarche qui place l’humain au centre. Découvrez comment identifier le partenaire de votre carrière (plutôt qu’un body shopper).
Partenaire de carrière et valeur ajoutée
En tant que consultant IT, l’objectif n’est pas d’obtenir le plus de missions possibles, mais bien celles en parfaite adéquation avec vos compétences. Alors bonne nouvelle, car la pénurie de talents sur le marché IT s’avère très stimulante pour la créativité des entreprises en quête des meilleurs profils. Chez Aprico, nous voulons marquer notre différence, offrir une vraie valeur ajoutée et être le partenaire de carrière de nos consultants. « Je pense que notre approche lors du recrutement est un avantage clé pour les candidats. En visant la qualité et le vrai match avec le profil, nous sommes aux antipodes du body shopping » souligne Btissam Chairi, HR Manager.
Qualité vs quantité
Eh oui, aussi excellent que puisse être votre profil, l’art est de le lier à la bonne mission. Un objectif qu’on n’atteint pas en achetant des CV ou en centralisant le plus possible de curriculum sur un serveur. Et certainement pas en présentant votre profil au plus grand nombre de clients possible. En tant que candidat, vous devez exiger de votre interlocuteur qu’il ou elle soit capable de valider le contexte de la mission et son objectif. Une fois de plus, visez la qualité plutôt que la quantité.
Prendre le temps nécessaire
En tant que consultant IT, vous ne comptez plus les appels téléphoniques et les messages des recruteurs. Une certaine fatigue s’installe et il n’est pas toujours facile de trier les nombreuses demandes. Chez Aprico, nous adoptons une approche humaine. Nous prenons le temps d’apprendre à connaitre les candidats grâce à un travail structuré et une analyse en profondeur. « Nos clients le savent : nous présentons des candidats, pas des CV. Et rien ne se fait sans l’accord express de la personne. Nous formalisons même certaines relations par un ‘Right to represent’.
Accompagnement de A à Z
Que vous soyez indépendant ou employé, le degré d’autonomie est important dans votre travail. Être autonome ne veut d’ailleurs pas dire être seul. Les consultants d’Aprico bénéficient tous d’un accompagnement tout au long de leur carrière. Une approche sur mesure dans un environnement de travail en mode agile. En première ligne, on retrouve l’équipe interne afin d’anticiper le volet humain et le trajet de formation (soft et hard skills). Seconde couche : le middle management. Il se positionne comme ressource et offre un coaching personnalisé aux consultants. « Last but not least, nous stimulons l’esprit de groupe, l’interaction et les échanges professionnels via différentes initiatives innovantes » explique Btissam Chairi.
Démarche en mode win-win
Les meilleurs commerciaux d’une organisation ne sont-ils pas ses collaborateurs ? Chez Aprico, nous devons notre position de premier plan à nos consultants eux-mêmes. L’effet ‘tache d’huile’ permet d’accéder à un flux continu de missions passionnantes et enrichissantes. Les projets s’enchainent. D’où l’importance d’un travail minutieux lors de la sélection d’un candidat consultant. Nous sommes le partenaire de nos consultants et nous attendons une attitude d’ambassadeur en retour. C’est aussi ce qui nous différencie des intermédiaires.
Les 3 conseils de Btissam Chairi, HR Manager :
Pourquoi Aprico ?
Envie de rejoindre Aprico pour déployer vos compétences en stratégie et transformation ICT ? Mettez-nous au défi lors d’une première rencontre.
With the emergence of the Internet of Things and other systems for collecting large data volumes, especially in the field of marketing and through social platforms, companies are awash with data. However, data projects require other methodologies and approaches than those commonly used; DevOps in particular. Hence the concept of MLOps, which combines machine learning and operations to automate the management process.
In traditional development projects, companies are more and more relying on the DevOps approach (in which development and operations are closely embedded from the start of the project) or even on the DevSecOps approache (aiming to design the security of the application and of the infrastructure from the start of the process).
ML and AI
However, with the emergence of the machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), companies are considering to better exploit the data they collect, preferably in real time. These data are always becoming bigger and emerging in an unstructured form, which requires new analytical approaches based on algorithms defined by ‘data scientists’. Nevertheless, the traditional methodologies turn out to be rather unsuitable for such data projects.
Indeed, the data come from various sources such as databases, flat files, data lakes, data warehouses, messaging systems, and more. Before any processing, it is necessary to prepare these data (by means of techniques such as exploratory data analysis or features engineering) so that they can subsequently be processed by means of tools such as AI or ML. If this processing can be performed by data scientists, who understand the scheme and features of these data, it will also be possible to rely on algorithms allowing to automate several manual tasks, before proceeding to the design of algorithms able to process larger data volumes.
Subsequently, the automation of the process will allow to generate models which will be progressively evaluated and compared to other models, but also analyzed in terms of performance, so that they can be refined.
Finally, these models can be put into production in the intended environment. This deployment can be performed by means of a Rest API, by integrating the model on a terminal or smartphone, or by installing it on a ‘batch’ prediction system.
In order to ensure the maximum performance of the model, it must be continuously monitored, with an iteration process to constantly improve it.
Automation! Yes, but…
In an MLops strategy, several maturity levels can be defined. Level 0 consists of entrusting the construction of the models to specialists who will subsequently train and improve them throughout the iterations; the major disadvantages being the slowness of the process and the more limited adaptability of the model in case of new data. Maturity level 1 involves the automation of the training process, which allows to experiment more rapidly and to deploy models closer to reality and its evolution. Finally, at level 2, the entire process is automated without any human intervention, whether in terms of development, testing, supervision or production.
In other words: MLops is meant to be a central point for the deployment, supervision, management and governance of all machine learning models, regardless of how they have been created and where they are being deployed.
Although such an MLops process might seem idyllic, several challenges must be taken into account. It will, for instance, be necessary to bring together teams with very varied skills (data scientists and business experts in particular) and to encourage them to apply the defined methodology. Moreover, the use of machine learning imposes several constraints. The incoming data must be of high quality, while the generated predictions must be analyzed and must feed the iteration process (for the constant improvement of the models).
Other aspects shouldn’t be neglected either, e.g. the diversity of the languages and frameworks used, the importance of the experimentation stage (with a history of the data used and of the models implemented), the need to include in the tests not only the data, but also the software components, the duration and complexity of the process stages (even if automation will offer a solution in the long term) and the obligation to constantly monitor and adjust the models in order to improve their quality (and performance).
Step by step
To reach the objectives linked to MLops, there are several axes of intervention: the company culture (which requires the acceptance of new ways of working and of collaboration between teams from different backgrounds), the technique (automation, tests, monitoring tools), the organizational aspect (by associating data scientists with field experts) and governance (especially if the data are considered sensitive, in particular within the framework of compliance with GDPR). Finally, we need use cases to experience the limited, but tangible benefits of the technology in the short term.
Aprico Consultants is a leading consultancy company guiding your ICT strategy and transformation in order to stimulate the performance, productivity and competitiveness of your organization. We combine cutting-edge expertise with a perfect understanding of the context and of the customer experience, as well as an end-to-end approach in all sectors; from consultancy to solution deployment.
Initially conceived for Industry 4.0, the concept of ‘digital twins’ - aiming to copy and model any object in digital form in order to virtually edit it - is now also up and coming in process development. This simulation allows the real-time and continuous adaptation of the ‘real’ twin.
In its report ‘‘Future Disrupted: 2021 technology trends’, the IT service provider NTT mentions digital twins as one of the major technology trends of 2021. In its report ‘Top strategic technology trends for 2021’, research firm Gartner considers it as one of the emerging technologies.
Definition
According to Gartner, a digital twin is the virtual copy of any object made dynamic by the data coming from this object. Consequently, it is not a simple copy, but a real ‘double’ which can be adapted in real time.
Various research firms (including Gartner and IDC) estimate the global digital twin market between 13,9 billion dollars in 2022 and 15,6 billion dollars in 2023; the maturity of the technology should be reached around 2027. These firms consider that companies which will be investing in digital twins, will see their critical processes improve by circa 30%.
Initially, the digital twin was implemented in Industry 4.0 in order to reproduce often very expensive equipment (such as in the aerospace industry). Subsequently, this technology has been applied to predictive maintenance, product design, the optimization of production processes, agriculture, construction, the hospital environment and even smart cities. Nowadays, the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) is giving this technology a new boost.
The continuous supply with field data not only allows to improve the ‘real’ twin, but also to anticipate its evolution over time, and in particular the risks of failure or wear; all of this at a (significantly) lower cost. Moreover, the use of algorithms associated with machine learning allows to perform simulations in near real-time, as the processing power available in the cloud enables unmatched performances.
Design and process
Furthermore, progress in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning, associated with the processing of large data volumes, has opened up new opportunities for the technology, especially since competition is forcing companies to adapt ever faster, to reduce their costs and to anticipate the market evolutions. To put it briefly: they are being forced to innovate within the framework of new business models.
This is why the digital twin can thoroughly modify the development cycle of a product or process. Indeed, rather than conceiving this product or process before testing it and subsequently applying the necessary modifications or improvements to the physical product, the digital twin can emerge as a clone which can be edited continuously and in real time, without interfering in the operational process. This allows us to understand, anticipate and optimize its performance without having to modify the original item.
With the digitalization projects currently running within companies, the digital twin takes an important place in the development strategy of organizations, since such a twin can serve as a field of experimentation without jeopardizing the global functioning. Moreover, it will make the organization more agile and adaptable.
Challenges
However, this approach induces a fundamental culture change within the organization, which should be collaborative and flexible if it wants the innovation to take on its full dimension. In addition, the notion of continuous learning must be present, while all internal or external players (customers or suppliers in particular) must be involved in the process. We will also need a maximum of data sources which can be used to feed the twin and to acquire artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in order to process and enrich these data.
And if the technology becomes widespread, it would be ideal to have a certain level of standardization (a common development language in order to create twins or coherent data models), which would allow the different players to participate in their adjustment and improvement, and the technology integrators to collaborate more closely.
Aprico Consultants is a leading consultancy company guiding your ICT strategy and transformation in order to stimulate the performance, productivity and competitiveness of your organization. We combine cutting-edge expertise with a perfect understanding of the context and of customer experience, as well as an end-to-end approach in all sectors; from consultancy to solution deployment.
Developers launching a project are always looking for the best technology at time T, of course. However, they often – if not always – need to take into account what already exists in order to integrate it into their project. This is the technical debt. Still, without entirely avoiding it, it is possible to manage this debt.
Very often, it is impossible to launch an IT project from scratch. Even if project developers, architects or managers are obviously looking for the best technology in terms of development language, database or hardware, they should take into account what already exists – the so-called legacy. Moreover, the product code won’t always be perfect. This is the technical debt: a debt which the company isn’t worrying about often enough and which will only grow throughout the years, given the technological evolutions and changes linked to new user requests from the business in particular.
Understand…
According to Wikipedia, the technical debt is a software development metaphor invented by Ward Cunningham. He gets inspired by the existing concept of ‘debt’ within the context of corporate financing and applies it to the field of software development. Cunningham adds: “All compromises, whether in terms of time constraints, budget, negligence or ignorance, accumulate a ‘technical debt’ that will have to be paid off sooner or later.”
However, only few companies know and quantify their IT debt. Still, different techniques exist in order to identify it – since it seems impossible to entirely avoid it. We can find tools to recognize the technical debt. For this purpose, it is important to have an updated directory of libraries and components, in order to avoid obsolete items that will disturb the new application. However, it isn’t advisable to focus only on the latest trendy technology, since it might be unstable or too quickly outdated. Moreover, open source code often burdens the technical debt because of its sometimes questionable quality. In this case, we shouldn’t deduct that the developers will absolutely have to write a perfect code – the better being the enemy of the good – and reusing the existing code might be interesting.
… in order to act
In the light of these findings, we can privilege various options in order to limit the technical debt. For instance, we don’t necessarily have to choose the ‘fashionable’ technology, but we should rather focus on listening to the user’s needs. Likewise, the more the company relies on different technologies, the more the integration will be complex and the more updates will be required. By relying on tests and good practices, we can add rigor, while strict coding rules will guarantee an easier deployment in the existing environment. Moreover, the agile methodology will prevent us from going too far in development before taking into account the user’s remarks, even if the economic constraints are often pushing us to accelerate deployment.
Furthermore, we must avoid that the developers would be too specialized and would therefore write a code that is too specialized and difficult to exchange with other teams. In addition, it would be interesting to regularly bring the developers together, so that they can share their work with the other members of the organization, which will allow us to improve the code, to intervene if the developer concerned is not available and to reuse it in the future, if necessary.
Of course, an agile scrum-type methodology will facilitate the continuous improvement of an application and will allow the faster and more efficient testing of the application, before any deployment.
Of course, compliance with the standards, documenting a project and managing the lifecycle of an application will also be items allowing us to limit the technical debt.
Added value
Managing – or at least reducing – a company’s technical debt isn’t only a financial issue. It also allows to strengthen the partnership between the IT department and the business. It also allows us to better manage and anticipate the risks linked to useless developments or developments not really meeting the true needs.
In this context, a DevOps or – even better – SecDevOps strategy (see our previous blogs) will allow us to ensure more consistency in the field of IT.
Supporting companies is Aprico Consultants’ mission. This support is strategic as well as technological. In order to support its strategy, Aprico has developed an original work methodology based on three axes: smart, lean and agile. Aprico’s transversal approach, combining business, technology and methodology, all of this associated with our high standards, is one of the key factors for its success.
Although green IT is often associated with data center infrastructure, development can also be made green in order to limit the energy consumption and to make software design more environmentally friendly, even when processing power has become almost unlimited in the cloud.
As far as infrastructure is concerned, green IT now occupies an important place within the strategy of organizations. Especially since the data centers, the true backbone of the digitalization of companies, would represent more than 1% of the global electricity consumption, or an annual consumption of 205 TWh; an increase of 6% during the period 2010-2018, mainly thanks to the success of data-driven technologies such as cloud computing. In practice, air conditioning and cooling systems represent 40 to 50% of the energy consumption of the data centers. According to the experts, IT would be responsible for circa 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Another remarkable finding: the annual amount of CO2 emissions linked to IT would be twice as big as that of the commercial aerospace industry. According to Greenpeace, the IT sector as a whole would represent 7% of the global electricity consumption.
Internet and software programs
Nevertheless, not only infrastructure is responsible for this situation, although it is an important part of it. Consequently, by limiting IT processing, we could reduce IT’s ecological footprint. A few examples: an hour of e-mail exchange corresponds to 3.500 round-trip flights between Paris and New York, and 1.000 searches on the Internet produce the CO2 equivalent of a car driving one km. Besides, Google itself estimates that the 3,3 billion daily searches represent 660 tons of CO2 per day (or 241.000 tons per year).
However, making IT greener also involves software and its development. Indeed, more virtuous practices in terms of writing computer code could help reducing the impact of IT on the environment. The elderly among us will say that we are basically back to the early computer days, when memory and storage capacity were limited – and therefore expensive -, which forced IT specialists to be creative and to save on IT resources (this was also the case in the Soviet Union, where IT specialists had become very inventive given the limited IT power at their disposal).
Green code
Although ‘green code’ isn’t so popular yet, the awareness of the need for IT specialists and software publishers to make the code greener, is growing. In practice, it comes down to writing a ‘more sober and better conceived code’, to use the words of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency. “The optimization of the code has a direct impact on the amount of energy required to run a software program.”
But how can we optimize computer code? First of all, by removing useless features. In other words: by refocusing the software on its core message while avoiding unnecessary code lines. For this purpose, contact with the business is essential since the users are supposed to be the closest to their needs and desires.
Of course, IT specialists have a ‘natural’ propensity to overload their program in order to ensure that all the requested features will be present. Likewise, IT often tends to leave the code as it is since there is no real economic interest in optimizing it (resources are more and more often in the cloud – and therefore abstract – even if the financial aspect will always emerge in the end).
In order to concretely improve the energy performance of the applications, there are also various tools allowing to identify the ‘greedy’ code and to propose solutions aimed at reducing the overconsumption of resources. Furthermore, the Green Code Lab community provides good practices in terms of sustainable software development and a repository of eco-design rules.
The choice of the programming language can also have an impact on energy consumption. For instance, the scripts of languages such as JavaScript or Python tend to consume more resources than compiled programs written in Fortran, C ++ or Rust. Object-oriented languages consume more than imperative languages. Moreover, a faster language isn’t necessarily greener.
“The essence is not to optimize a code already written, but to remove useless functionalities,” concludes Frédéric Bordage, digital expert and founder of the GreenIT blog.
Various measures
In addition, all users can contribute to more environmentally friendly IT, for instance by regularly emptying their mailbox, not sending too many heavy attachments, avoiding to duplicate too many large files and only printing strictly necessary e-mails (preferably recto/verso)… Other ways to contribute: not massively buying the latest smartphone or computer and focusing on recycling.
Since Aprico wants to act in a responsible and sustainable manner, it has decided to integrate a voluntarist approach in terms of sustainable development, combining social, economic and environmental imperatives. Within the framework of our activities, we take the environmental dimension into account and monitor its main impacts while trying to reduce them.
IT consists of acronyms and trends. Even if Gartner is already naming it the ‘top strategic technology trend for 2021’, the Internet of Behavior (IoC) is an extension of the Internet of Things. It seeks to deduce behaviors and decisions (purchasing decisions in particular) based on connected objects.
How to convert IoT into knowledge
Meanwhile, everyone knows the Internet of Things (IoT). Gartner estimates that in 2020, 75 billion objects were interconnected, versus 27 billion in 2019, or circa 5 devices per household. However, some of these connected objects are associated with human beings, such as smartphones, connected watches, GPS and trackers.
IoB
So far, the data collected by these devices haven’t really been exploited. Of course, the legitimate questions of privacy and security arise. But in fact, big data is what we are talking about here, rather than information. By 2023, however, it will be possible to digitally track more than 40% of the population, according to Gartner. That is no less than three billion people!
It should be possible to exploit all data. Of course, we immediately think of analyzing these data in order to determine purchasing behavior and to provide consumers with (more) targeted advertising. Some examples: the possibility of analyzing a person’s medical data within the framework of the treatment or prevention of a disease. In the professional world also, such IoT devices would allow to anticipate system failures, to proactively work on equipment maintenance, or to optimize the operation of a production line.
Consequently, the Internet of Behavior (IoB) aims to convert the data collected by all these devices in order to extract information and subsequently to deduce behaviors and decision trends. By ‘behavior’, we shouldn’t only understand the way an individual acts, whether in his private or professional life, but also how a machine or process works.
Besides, Gartner considers IoB as one of the ‘top strategic predictions for 2021 and beyond’ for IT directors in 2021. According to Gartner, by 2025, half the world’s population will be subject to an IoB commercial or government program.
Collect, process, analyze
Note that ideally, IoB should be part of an ecosystem of companies and not just involve only one organization. An example: an insurance company will be able to obtain data from a car manufacturer in order to ‘adjust’ the insurance contract to a specific driver. Likewise, it will be able to collect information from social networks, in particular to refine the profile of each policy holder. Indeed, the famous GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) and other Internet giants (Amazon, Twitter, Alibaba and many more) are collecting lots of data about anyone of us. To put it shortly: the ‘big data’ is a reality.
Associated with automation, artificial intelligence, facial recognition and algorithm technologies, IoB is clearly opening up a new era, providing added value to the business.
Infrastructure
IoB requires the implementation of appropriate infrastructure and tools. Although the cloud can appear as a solution to provide (temporary) additional processing capacity on demand, such a platform generates latency which is often incompatible with the needs of real-time processing. Moreover, IoB requires a certain computing power that is not always available in the cloud, especially in terms of data analytics, not to mention the number of users and devices involved.
In addition, an ‘edge’ type architecture should be promoted to allow data processing as close as possible to its source, i.e. most often, decentralized and mobile devices, which allows to reduce latency, to reduce the burden on the network and to limit the necessary resources at central level.
At the same time, it will be important to strengthen and secure the network, knowing that IoB (often) implies the processing of sensitive data.
Ecosystem
Understanding the behaviors – of human beings and machines – by means of IoB clearly offers added value to the organization. Of course, the implementation of adapted tools and platforms is a crucial step for the success of such a project. But it is also important to surround yourself with the right skills, whether in terms of understanding the business or in terms of technical knowledge. Likewise, we can’t stress enough the importance of security and compliance, in particular compliance with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Aprico Consultants is a leading consultancy company guiding your ICT strategy and transformation in order to stimulate the performance, productivity and competitiveness of your organization. We combine cutting-edge expertise with a perfect understanding of context and customer experience, as well as an end-to-end approach in all sectors, from consultancy to solution deployment.
Considered by Gartner to be one of the major technological trends of 2021, the future looks bright for the distributed cloud. The concept allows data to be processed and stored as close as possible to their source, provided that their safety is guaranteed.
The distributed cloud: the new generation cloud?
From now on, no company can afford to ignore the private, hybrid or public cloud anymore. However, in its Top Strategic Predictions for 2021, Gartner refers to the distributed cloud, combining these three variations of cloud with the emergence of technological trends such as edge computing (processing and storing data near the equipment generating it) or the Internet of Things (the interconnection of intelligent objects able to produce data about all kinds of events). Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic has forced organizations to (sometimes urgently) deploy telework, which has required the implementation of remote access tools to information for employees, customers and business partners.
The best of both worlds
Obviously, companies remain hesitant about an ‘all public cloud’ strategy, favoring a combination of private and public cloud. It must be said that the public cloud hasn’t always led to the expected benefits, whether in financial terms (cost savings) or in terms of management. The expected flexibility hasn’t always been obtained, not to mention the sharing of responsibilities, especially in terms of security. Therefore, many organizations have opted for a combination of solutions in the form of a hybrid cloud: one part is designed, controlled and managed by the customer, the other is designed, controlled and managed by a cloud provider. In this model, the customer is still responsible for the operations, but benefits from the assets of the public cloud provider in terms of economies of scale, innovation, technological skills and investments.
Furthermore, the public cloud has been penalized by networks which aren’t sufficiently efficient yet and suffer from high latency, making it difficult to work in real time. 5G promises to significantly improve data flows up to 20 Gbit/s, or 10 times more than the current 4G. This will reduce transit delays by 10 in comparison with 4G. Globally speaking, the distributed cloud is a synonym for ‘network computing’. This network is constantly adapting (offering maximum elasticity), mobile, secure, guaranteed and omnipresent. However, other technologies should favor the implementation of this distributed cloud, in particular serverless computing, open source and containers.
Besides, Gartner estimates that by 2024, most cloud platforms will offer a certain number of distributed cloud services. As far as KPMG and Harvey Nash are concerned, they consider in their latest CIO Survey (conducted among 4.200 IT directors around the world) that the number of IT managers actively considering the distributed cloud will double within only 12 months (from 11% to 21%).
Deployment
Still according to Gartner, the deployment of a distributed cloud should be performed in two stages. In the first place, companies will have to implement ‘substations’: local branches offering proximity services to their internal and external business partners. These branches will be equipped with processing, storage and networking functionalities in order to reduce latency and to form the basis of a hybrid cloud. At a second stage, public administrations, telecom operators, universities and energy suppliers in particular will open cloud substations, a bit like Wi-Fi hotspots, in order to add new functionalities. Of course, maximum transparency will have to be ensured to allow all customers to define their needs and to allow the supplier to automatically configure the service accordingly.
Challenges
Several questions still need to be answered before we can speak of the massive adoption of this distributed cloud. Therefore, we must know how many functionalities will be available in a cloud and thus whether this cloud will be fully or partially distributed. Similarly, we must know how this distributed cloud will be remunerated, since a large number of customers and suppliers will be involved. And yes, the higher this number, the more successful it will be. One last question: will these substations be permanently connected to the cloud?
Moreover, the lack of expertise and security (in particular in terms of GDPR and governance, especially in Europe, where national sovereignty is an important principle) will constitute obstacles to the deployment of the distributed cloud. “Since the distributed cloud market is currently immature, the costs can be high and the deployment models can be complex”, says Jeffrey Hewitt, Research Vice President at Gartner. “Organizations should still consider it as part of the future of cloud computing, because most cloud service platforms will provide at least some distributed cloud services in the next four years.”
Partnership
David Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, adds: “The next generation of cloud computing retains the advantages of cloud computing while extending the range and use cases of cloud.” To put it briefly: the implementation of a distributed cloud implies that the CIO will have to team up with both the business and the cloud provider in order to imagine new applications or use cases.
In this context, Aprico offers value-added services and solutions in terms of strategy, ICT transformation and business applications, allowing to reduce the overall IT expenses as well as to improve business performance and operational productivity.
While acronyms such as PaaS, IaaS or SaaS are flourishing, some people imagine that all products can be commercialized ‘as a service’ from now on. Hence XaaS, in which X refers to any product at all, with the possibility to convert an investment into a subscription.
For a few years already, several ‘aaS’ concepts have been part of the IT strategy of organizations. The principle is simple: don’t buy a product, but rent it as a service at a fixed cost and defined in time. In other words: rather than an investment to be amortized, it concerns a rent, meaning you turn Capex (capital expense) into Opex (operating expense). Nowadays, financial managers are more and more sensitive to this argument since the crisis (and not only the one related to Covid-19) has a hard and sustainable impact on businesses.
Several versions
Several versions of ‘aaS’ are already widespread within organizations. Indeed, SaaS or Software as a Service allows an organization to no longer buy software, but to use it on the Internet. Microsoft 365 is the perfect illustration of it, but other software programs are also partially or entirely commercialized as a service (especially in the fields of office automation, ERP, human resources and finance).
Similarly, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) prevents an organization from buying hardware to be deployed internally, since this hardware (CPU, RAM, disk storage, networking) can be installed at a host and can be remotely accessible. Platform as a Service (PaaS) aims to provide a complete application platform allowing the customers to develop, host and run their own applications. Probably, the best-known PaaS is Engine, a Google tool allowing users to develop applications in Python, Java, PHP or Go.
However, there are also other versions of ‘aaS’, such as DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service), which allows to recover not only an infrastructure, but also applications in case of a disaster, DaaS (Desktop as a Service), according to which the provider offers a virtual desk in the cloud, by taking care not only of the hardware and the applications, but also of security, storage and backups, for instance. There is even an acronym covering two realities, namely SaaS, in which S not only means Software but also Storage, since an organization can rent external storage capacity.
Towards XaaS
We can imagine that in the future, a company will no longer buy a product, but that it will rent it according to a service model accessible on the Internet. This can be compared somehow to the emergence of the sharing economy among individuals, according to which a product (such as a bike or a car) is being rented when its user needs it.
Such an approach implies many benefits. In the first place, there is the financial aspect, of course, since you no longer need to invest in purchases made by means of your own funds. All you do is pay a monthly rent (operating expenses). Moreover, this rental system allows you to dispose at all times of the latest version of software, applications, hardware or processes without having to reinvest each time and without having to perform your own upgrades. Security can also be improved since the service provider will be responsible for securing the service he offers.
Flexibility is another argument raised by the promoters of XaaS since the service can be extended or reduced according to the evolution of the activity or of the strategy of the client. Moreover, by outsourcing this service, the client will be able to focus on his core business, to allocate his internal resources to operations offering added value to the company and to stand closer to the business. To put it briefly: these are the benefits traditionally associated with outsourcing. The fast and easy implementation as well as the mastering of the obsolescence of the infrastructure and of the applications are also part of the arguments raised.
Restraints
However, XaaS should not be considered as a magic solution. Indeed, rental isn’t interesting in all cases, nor for all organizations; sometimes, it can be smarter to invest in your own equipment. It can, for instance, concern a strategic service according to which purchasing would make you less dependent on an external provider. You should also consider the sustainability and responsiveness of the provider, especially if the service will change regularly. Likewise, if the service is complex and closely related to specific needs, rental can be problematic, while the integration of different XaaS providers can quickly cause difficulties. Security and compliance are other aspects you must consider when negotiating an XaaS contract.
As for the financial aspect, it isn’t only limited to the Capex vs Opex debate, but it must take into account the needs in the medium and longer term. Moreover, the availability of the service must be analyzed since XaaS forces you to rely on an external partner. Security (whether it concerns securing data or the infrastructure, or even confidentiality and traceability) is an essential item, of course, even if a specialized provider can sometimes offer better guarantees for an internal IT service.
Dependence = trust
Obviously, XaaS makes the organization dependent on an external provider. This is why a relationship of trust with this provider is very important. Aprico Consultants is a leading consulting company guiding the strategy and transformation of your organization in order to stimulate its performance, productivity and competitiveness. We combine specialized expertise with a perfect understanding of your context and customer experience as well as an end-to-end approach in all sectors; from consultancy to solution deployment.