One of the questions we sometimes get here in the Migration Expert Zone is how we can be so focused on “migrations.” How much is there to say about migrations? 

If you stop to think about it, most every major thing we do in any IT shop involves some kind of migration. We migrate from the last version of a platform to a new one. We migrate sometimes from one platform to another.  We migrate from aging end-of-life hardware to great new technology. From outdated utilities to new tools. We migrate users from desktops to laptops to tablets to smartphones to, who knows, wristwatch computers?  Subcutaneous implant phones?

Now that last example may have sounded trite, but it was meant to point out something that we sometimes forget; every migration represents a new wave of innovation.

Innovation is the great responsibility, the great driver and the great mission of everyone working in the information technology industry. When we innovate new technologies we impact the human condition. Steve Jobs recognized this when he asked John Sculley “o you want to sell bottled sugar water, or do you want to change the world?”  New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently challenged President Obama to create more Jobs, more Steve Jobs, saying “We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again.” Jobs himself observed that “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Dell President Michael Dell identified the key role IT plays in delivering innovation to the economy. “Leaders will continue to tap into IT for innovation and efficiency, and doing so now will help organizations set themselves apart as the global economy inevitably improves,” said Dell. “We’ve seen that many times before, including in the 1980s and following softness in 2001.”

This is the Migration Expert Zone Thanksgiving message to all of our readers. Be thankful for all the amazing colleagues we share in driving innovation to create new business advantage. The tools they create that enable us to deliver that innovation allow us to participate in the most exciting revolutions in innovation ever.  We should give thanks for these intellectual and technological gifts we receive from the many providers we work with, and from being part of the most progressive industry in the world.

Join Your Colleagues in Innovation

Microsoft sponsors an organization called Voices for Innovation (VFI), “a community of IT professionals, including Microsoft partners, engaged at the intersecting points where government, citizens and IT businesses share concerns. We stay informed -- and voice our ideas and concerns -- about governmental issues that affect our businesses and the technology sector as a whole.” 

Visit their website and find new ways to participate even more enthusiastically in the process.

Hope yours is the most comforting and warm Thanksgiving ever.