The future of corporate IT

　　IT企業(yè)的未來

　　Surfing a digital wave, or drowning?

　　數(shù)字時代浪頭的弄潮兒還是浪下溺死鬼?

　　Information technology is everywhere.Forcompanies IT departments, that is a mixedblessing

　　信息技術(shù)無處不在，這點對于一個公司的IT部門來說禍福相依。

　　There is still plenty going on in the back office: the advent of cloud computing means thatsoftware can be continually updated and paid for by subscription, and that fewer companieswill need their own data centres.

　　但是在后勤部門仍有大量這種進程：云計算的出現(xiàn)意味著軟件能不斷更新并被訂購，而且越來越少的公司需要建立他們自己的數(shù)據(jù)庫。

　　But the truly dramatic change ishappening elsewhere.

　　但是真正戲劇性的變化卻在別處上演。

　　Demands for digitisation are coming from every corner of the company.

　　資料的數(shù)字化已經(jīng)成為公司各個方面各個層次的需求。

　　The marketing department would like to run digital campaigns.

　　市場部門想發(fā)起數(shù)字化運動;

　　Sales teams want seamless connections to customers as well as to each other.

　　銷售團隊想與客戶及彼此保持親密無間的關(guān)系;

　　Everyone wants the latest mobile device and to try out the cleverest new app.

　　每個人都想擁有最新潮的移動設(shè)備，使用最智能的應(yīng)用軟件。

　　And they all want it now.

　　這些他們都想現(xiàn)在就實現(xiàn)。

　　Rich prizes beckon companies that grasp digital opportunities; ignominy awaits those that fail.

　　抓住數(shù)字化機遇的公司得到了豐厚的回報，忽略它的公司則沒有得到它的眷顧。

　　Some are seizing their chance.

　　而有些則正在把握機遇。

　　Burberry, a posh British fashion chain, has dressed itself in IT from top to toe.

　　Burberry, 一個高檔的英國時尚連鎖店，從頭到腳都包裝上了信息科技。

　　Clever in-store screens show off its clothes.

　　智能的店內(nèi)屏幕展示他們的服裝。

　　Employees confer on Burberry Chat, an internal social network.

　　員工們則在其內(nèi)部社交網(wǎng)Burberry Chat上商討事宜。

　　This may explain why Apple has poached Angela Ahrendts, Burberry s chief executive, to runits own shops.

　　這或許解釋了為何蘋果公司挖走了Burberry的前主管Angela Ahrendts去經(jīng)營自己店面的原因。

　　In theory, this is a fine opportunity for the IT department to place itself right at the centreof corporate strategy.

　　理論上，這是IT部門將自己置于公司戰(zhàn)略中心的絕佳機會。

　　In practice, the rest of the company is not always sure that the IT guys are up to the jobandthey are often prepared to buy their own IT from outsiders if need be.

　　而事實上公司其他部門通常都不確信IT部門那些家伙是對工作負責(zé)的，于是需要的話，他們常會打算去外面購買自己公司的信息科技。

　　Worse, it seems that a lot of IT guys doubt their own ability to keep up with the pace of thedigital age.

　　更糟糕的是，IT部門的這些家伙也開始懷疑自己的能力是否跟上了數(shù)字化時代的發(fā)展潮流。

　　According to Dave Aron of Gartner, a research firm, in a recent survey of chief informationofficers around the world just over half agreed that both their businesses and their ITorganisations were in real danger from a digital tsunami.

　　據(jù)調(diào)查公司Dave Aron of Gartner一項最新的調(diào)查表明，全球首席信息官一半以上都表示他們的生意和IT組織都在數(shù)字化的風(fēng)暴中面臨危險。

　　Some feel excited, some feel threatened, says Mr Aron, but nobody feels like it s boring andbusiness as usual.

　　Aron先生說：有人感覺興奮，有人感到被威脅，但沒人覺得無趣，大家依舊照常做生意

　　One reason for worry is that IT bosses are conservative by habit and with good reason.

　　擔憂的其中一個原因是IT的大佬們習(xí)慣性的比較守舊，畢竟他們得保證必要的系統(tǒng)安全正常的運行。

　　Above all they must keep essential systems runningand safe. Those systems are undercontinual attack.If they are breached, the head of IT carries the can.

　　那些系統(tǒng)常會遭人襲擊，一旦有缺漏，IT的頭兒就會挑起大梁。

　　More broadly, IT departments like to know who is up to what.

　　更廣泛的說，IT部門喜歡分工明確。

　　Many of them gave up one battle long ago, by letting staff choose their own smartphones.When the chief executive insists on an iPhone rather than a fogeyish BlackBerry, it is hard torefuse.

　　他們通過讓員工選擇自己的智能耳機結(jié)束了很久以前為這的爭斗。當公司董事長堅持iPhone而不是之前的BlackBerry，這真的很難拒絕。

　　That has been no bad thing, given the enormous number of applications being churned outfor Apple s devices and those using Google s Android operating system, many of which can dowonders for productivity.

　　這也不是壞事，蘋果設(shè)備和那些使用谷歌安卓操作系統(tǒng)的許多應(yīng)用程序能極大地提高生產(chǎn)效率，問題是如何在人們喜歡用在工作上的應(yīng)用程序上也貼上這種標簽。

　　The trouble lies in keeping tabs on all the apps people like to use for work. With cloud-basedfile-sharing services or social media, it is easy to share information and to switch from a PCin the office to a mobile device. But if people are careless, they may put confidential dataat risk.

　　有了云計算文件分享設(shè)備和社交媒體后，分享信息或者從辦公室個人電腦里轉(zhuǎn)存信息到移動設(shè)備上也變得十分容易，但是如果不慎，機密文件就會處在危險之中。

　　They may run up bills as well. Many applications cost nothing for the first few users butcharges kick in once they catch on.

　　它們或許會讓你的賬戶瞬間歸零，很多的應(yīng)用程序在使用之初都是免費的，而一旦用戶進一步使用，收費則接踵而來。

　　The digital world, however, runs faster than the typical IT department s default speed.

　　然而數(shù)字世界的運行比IT部門缺席的速度要快得多。

　　Other bits of the business are not always willing to wait.

　　其他部門大都不愿等待。

　　Marketing, desperate to use digital wiles to woo customers and to learn what they arethinking, is especially impatient.

　　市場部格外亟需使用數(shù)字化手段引導(dǎo)顧客想他們之所想。

　　Forrester, another research firm, estimates that marketing departments spending on IT isrising two to three times as fast as that of companies as a whole.

　　另一家調(diào)查公司Forrester估計市場部在IT上的花銷上漲是整個公司花銷上漲幅度的二到三倍。

　　Almost one in three marketers thinks the IT department hinders success.

　　幾乎三分之一的營銷人員都認為IT部門阻礙了公司的發(fā)展。

　　The IT crowd worry that haste has hidden costs.

　　IT界則擔憂匆忙會有隱性成本。

　　The marketers, points out Vijay Gurbaxani of the Centre for Digital Transformation at theUniversity of California, Irvine, will not build in redundancy and disaster recovery, so thatnot all is lost if projects go awry. To the cautious folk in IT departments, this is secondnature.

　　營銷人員指出加州大學(xué)歐文分校數(shù)字轉(zhuǎn)換中心的Vijay Gurbaxani程序不會建立在冗余和災(zāi)難恢復(fù)之上，因此一旦項目出錯，我們并不會失去所有。對IT部門謹慎的員工來說，這是第二天性。

　　A lack of resources does not help.

　　缺乏資源無濟于事。

　　Corporate budgets everywhere are under strain, and IT is often still seen as a cost ratherthan as a source of new business models and revenues.

　　公司預(yù)算處處吃緊，而IT部門作為新的商業(yè)模式和渠道仍被視作入不敷出盡管有諸多關(guān)于命令上的分歧，

　　A lot of IT heads, indeed, report to the chief financial officeralthough opinions differ abouthow much formal lines of command matter.

　　許多的IT首腦也的確向首席財政官如此匯報。

　　But even if money is not in short supply, bodies are.

　　但是盡管不缺資金投入，卻缺人手。

　　When the whole company is looking for new ways to put technology to work, the ITdepartment cannot do it all.

　　當整個公司正想方設(shè)法使用科技手段時，IT部門卻什么都做不了。

　　Corporate IT bosses are right to fear being overwhelmed.

　　IT企業(yè)老板害怕被超越是理所當然的。

　　But cleaving to their old tasks and letting others take on the new unsupervised is not anoption. Forrester calls this a titanic mistake.

　　但是撇開他們過去的任務(wù)讓別人來承擔有沒有監(jiān)管卻不是個法子。Forrester把這個稱作titanic mistake。

　　The IT department is not about to die, even if many functions ascend to the cloud.

　　即使很多功能上升到云，IT部門仍不會湮滅。

　　However, those of its chiefs who cannot adapt may fade away.

　　然而那些適應(yīng)不了的IT主管或許會淡去。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.like to 喜歡

　　Which talent would you most like to have?

　　你最喜歡的旅行是哪一個?

　　Would you like to rent the house?

　　你想租那棟房子嗎?

　　2.try out 試用，試驗

　　It even provides lifelike manikins on which to try out new things.

　　它甚至還提供了栩栩如生的人體模型來試用新產(chǎn)品。

　　Employers often have groups of employees try out several chair models for a few weeks andsometimes take opinion surveys.

　　通常，雇主們會讓員工們分組對各種款式的座椅試用幾周，有時還會進行民意調(diào)查。

　　3.dress in 穿著

　　I remember he used to dress in a blue suit.

　　我記得他從前常穿一套藍色衣服。

　　Dress in layers to protect yourself from frostbite and hypothermia.

　　多穿幾層衣服保護自己不得凍瘡或者保持體溫。

　　4.according to 根據(jù)，按照

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個妥協(xié)方案并沒有按計劃執(zhí)行。

　　According to facebook, promoted posts are gaining considerable traction.

　　按照facebook的說法，推帖計劃得到了相當大程度的關(guān)注。

　　The future of corporate IT

　　IT企業(yè)的未來

　　Surfing a digital wave, or drowning?

　　數(shù)字時代浪頭的弄潮兒還是浪下溺死鬼?

　　Information technology is everywhere.Forcompanies IT departments, that is a mixedblessing

　　信息技術(shù)無處不在，這點對于一個公司的IT部門來說禍福相依。

　　There is still plenty going on in the back office: the advent of cloud computing means thatsoftware can be continually updated and paid for by subscription, and that fewer companieswill need their own data centres.

　　但是在后勤部門仍有大量這種進程：云計算的出現(xiàn)意味著軟件能不斷更新并被訂購，而且越來越少的公司需要建立他們自己的數(shù)據(jù)庫。

　　But the truly dramatic change ishappening elsewhere.

　　但是真正戲劇性的變化卻在別處上演。

　　Demands for digitisation are coming from every corner of the company.

　　資料的數(shù)字化已經(jīng)成為公司各個方面各個層次的需求。

　　The marketing department would like to run digital campaigns.

　　市場部門想發(fā)起數(shù)字化運動;

　　Sales teams want seamless connections to customers as well as to each other.

　　銷售團隊想與客戶及彼此保持親密無間的關(guān)系;

　　Everyone wants the latest mobile device and to try out the cleverest new app.

　　每個人都想擁有最新潮的移動設(shè)備，使用最智能的應(yīng)用軟件。

　　And they all want it now.

　　這些他們都想現(xiàn)在就實現(xiàn)。

　　Rich prizes beckon companies that grasp digital opportunities; ignominy awaits those that fail.

　　抓住數(shù)字化機遇的公司得到了豐厚的回報，忽略它的公司則沒有得到它的眷顧。

　　Some are seizing their chance.

　　而有些則正在把握機遇。

　　Burberry, a posh British fashion chain, has dressed itself in IT from top to toe.

　　Burberry, 一個高檔的英國時尚連鎖店，從頭到腳都包裝上了信息科技。

　　Clever in-store screens show off its clothes.

　　智能的店內(nèi)屏幕展示他們的服裝。

　　Employees confer on Burberry Chat, an internal social network.

　　員工們則在其內(nèi)部社交網(wǎng)Burberry Chat上商討事宜。

　　This may explain why Apple has poached Angela Ahrendts, Burberry s chief executive, to runits own shops.

　　這或許解釋了為何蘋果公司挖走了Burberry的前主管Angela Ahrendts去經(jīng)營自己店面的原因。

　　In theory, this is a fine opportunity for the IT department to place itself right at the centreof corporate strategy.

　　理論上，這是IT部門將自己置于公司戰(zhàn)略中心的絕佳機會。

　　In practice, the rest of the company is not always sure that the IT guys are up to the jobandthey are often prepared to buy their own IT from outsiders if need be.

　　而事實上公司其他部門通常都不確信IT部門那些家伙是對工作負責(zé)的，于是需要的話，他們常會打算去外面購買自己公司的信息科技。

　　Worse, it seems that a lot of IT guys doubt their own ability to keep up with the pace of thedigital age.

　　更糟糕的是，IT部門的這些家伙也開始懷疑自己的能力是否跟上了數(shù)字化時代的發(fā)展潮流。

　　According to Dave Aron of Gartner, a research firm, in a recent survey of chief informationofficers around the world just over half agreed that both their businesses and their ITorganisations were in real danger from a digital tsunami.

　　據(jù)調(diào)查公司Dave Aron of Gartner一項最新的調(diào)查表明，全球首席信息官一半以上都表示他們的生意和IT組織都在數(shù)字化的風(fēng)暴中面臨危險。

　　Some feel excited, some feel threatened, says Mr Aron, but nobody feels like it s boring andbusiness as usual.

　　Aron先生說：有人感覺興奮，有人感到被威脅，但沒人覺得無趣，大家依舊照常做生意

　　One reason for worry is that IT bosses are conservative by habit and with good reason.

　　擔憂的其中一個原因是IT的大佬們習(xí)慣性的比較守舊，畢竟他們得保證必要的系統(tǒng)安全正常的運行。

　　Above all they must keep essential systems runningand safe. Those systems are undercontinual attack.If they are breached, the head of IT carries the can.

　　那些系統(tǒng)常會遭人襲擊，一旦有缺漏，IT的頭兒就會挑起大梁。

　　More broadly, IT departments like to know who is up to what.

　　更廣泛的說，IT部門喜歡分工明確。

　　Many of them gave up one battle long ago, by letting staff choose their own smartphones.When the chief executive insists on an iPhone rather than a fogeyish BlackBerry, it is hard torefuse.

　　他們通過讓員工選擇自己的智能耳機結(jié)束了很久以前為這的爭斗。當公司董事長堅持iPhone而不是之前的BlackBerry，這真的很難拒絕。

　　That has been no bad thing, given the enormous number of applications being churned outfor Apple s devices and those using Google s Android operating system, many of which can dowonders for productivity.

　　這也不是壞事，蘋果設(shè)備和那些使用谷歌安卓操作系統(tǒng)的許多應(yīng)用程序能極大地提高生產(chǎn)效率，問題是如何在人們喜歡用在工作上的應(yīng)用程序上也貼上這種標簽。

　　The trouble lies in keeping tabs on all the apps people like to use for work. With cloud-basedfile-sharing services or social media, it is easy to share information and to switch from a PCin the office to a mobile device. But if people are careless, they may put confidential dataat risk.

　　有了云計算文件分享設(shè)備和社交媒體后，分享信息或者從辦公室個人電腦里轉(zhuǎn)存信息到移動設(shè)備上也變得十分容易，但是如果不慎，機密文件就會處在危險之中。

　　They may run up bills as well. Many applications cost nothing for the first few users butcharges kick in once they catch on.

　　它們或許會讓你的賬戶瞬間歸零，很多的應(yīng)用程序在使用之初都是免費的，而一旦用戶進一步使用，收費則接踵而來。

　　The digital world, however, runs faster than the typical IT department s default speed.

　　然而數(shù)字世界的運行比IT部門缺席的速度要快得多。

　　Other bits of the business are not always willing to wait.

　　其他部門大都不愿等待。

　　Marketing, desperate to use digital wiles to woo customers and to learn what they arethinking, is especially impatient.

　　市場部格外亟需使用數(shù)字化手段引導(dǎo)顧客想他們之所想。

　　Forrester, another research firm, estimates that marketing departments spending on IT isrising two to three times as fast as that of companies as a whole.

　　另一家調(diào)查公司Forrester估計市場部在IT上的花銷上漲是整個公司花銷上漲幅度的二到三倍。

　　Almost one in three marketers thinks the IT department hinders success.

　　幾乎三分之一的營銷人員都認為IT部門阻礙了公司的發(fā)展。

　　The IT crowd worry that haste has hidden costs.

　　IT界則擔憂匆忙會有隱性成本。

　　The marketers, points out Vijay Gurbaxani of the Centre for Digital Transformation at theUniversity of California, Irvine, will not build in redundancy and disaster recovery, so thatnot all is lost if projects go awry. To the cautious folk in IT departments, this is secondnature.

　　營銷人員指出加州大學(xué)歐文分校數(shù)字轉(zhuǎn)換中心的Vijay Gurbaxani程序不會建立在冗余和災(zāi)難恢復(fù)之上，因此一旦項目出錯，我們并不會失去所有。對IT部門謹慎的員工來說，這是第二天性。

　　A lack of resources does not help.

　　缺乏資源無濟于事。

　　Corporate budgets everywhere are under strain, and IT is often still seen as a cost ratherthan as a source of new business models and revenues.

　　公司預(yù)算處處吃緊，而IT部門作為新的商業(yè)模式和渠道仍被視作入不敷出盡管有諸多關(guān)于命令上的分歧，

　　A lot of IT heads, indeed, report to the chief financial officeralthough opinions differ abouthow much formal lines of command matter.

　　許多的IT首腦也的確向首席財政官如此匯報。

　　But even if money is not in short supply, bodies are.

　　但是盡管不缺資金投入，卻缺人手。

　　When the whole company is looking for new ways to put technology to work, the ITdepartment cannot do it all.

　　當整個公司正想方設(shè)法使用科技手段時，IT部門卻什么都做不了。

　　Corporate IT bosses are right to fear being overwhelmed.

　　IT企業(yè)老板害怕被超越是理所當然的。

　　But cleaving to their old tasks and letting others take on the new unsupervised is not anoption. Forrester calls this a titanic mistake.

　　但是撇開他們過去的任務(wù)讓別人來承擔有沒有監(jiān)管卻不是個法子。Forrester把這個稱作titanic mistake。

　　The IT department is not about to die, even if many functions ascend to the cloud.

　　即使很多功能上升到云，IT部門仍不會湮滅。

　　However, those of its chiefs who cannot adapt may fade away.

　　然而那些適應(yīng)不了的IT主管或許會淡去。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.like to 喜歡

　　Which talent would you most like to have?

　　你最喜歡的旅行是哪一個?

　　Would you like to rent the house?

　　你想租那棟房子嗎?

　　2.try out 試用，試驗

　　It even provides lifelike manikins on which to try out new things.

　　它甚至還提供了栩栩如生的人體模型來試用新產(chǎn)品。

　　Employers often have groups of employees try out several chair models for a few weeks andsometimes take opinion surveys.

　　通常，雇主們會讓員工們分組對各種款式的座椅試用幾周，有時還會進行民意調(diào)查。

　　3.dress in 穿著

　　I remember he used to dress in a blue suit.

　　我記得他從前常穿一套藍色衣服。

　　Dress in layers to protect yourself from frostbite and hypothermia.

　　多穿幾層衣服保護自己不得凍瘡或者保持體溫。

　　4.according to 根據(jù)，按照

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個妥協(xié)方案并沒有按計劃執(zhí)行。

　　According to facebook, promoted posts are gaining considerable traction.

　　按照facebook的說法，推帖計劃得到了相當大程度的關(guān)注。