What is the Value of System Administration to Business?

Mark Burgess
Professor of Network and System Administration
CTO and Founder of Cfengine AS, Inc

Abstract

IT operations are often perceived as a cost centre in businesses –a more or less trivial job to be run as leanly and cheaply as possible. Yet many system administrators (especially Unix administrators) are highly skilled and creative people who could deliver significant value to business operations, with the right tools and organization. There is, however, a cultural divide between Business and IT services that, over the last few years, has prompted the question: could IT and business be better aligned? One example of how this realization is changing IT is the mysterious phenomenon of Cloud Computing –an economic repackaging of existing technologies which can now be sold as a commodity.

In this talk, Mark Burgess asks why there is a disconnect and surveys current ideas about Business-IT alignment, suggesting ways in which system administrators can raise their level of importance within their organizations.

Biography

Mark Burgess is professor of Network and System Administration at Oslo University College. He was the first professor with this title. He is also the Founder and CTO of the Cfengine company, as well as the principal author of the software.

Mark obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics in Newcastle Upon Tyne, for which he received the Runcorn Prize. His current research interests include the behaviour of computers as dynamic systems and applying ideas from physics to describe computer behaviour. He made important contributions to the theory of the field of automation and policy based management, including the idea of Operator Convergence and Promise Theory. He is the author of numerous books and papers on Network and System Administration and has won several prizes for his work.