Amazon Taps Former Dow Jones CIO for Enterprise Strategy
Amazon Web Services (AWS) may be getting a boost to its enterprise cloud strategy following the hiring of former Dow Jones CIO Stephen Orban, who has taken up the mantle of Amazon's new enterprise strategy chief.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) may be getting a boost to its enterprise cloud strategy following the hiring of former Dow Jones CIO Stephen Orban, who has taken up the mantle of Amazon’s new Enterprise Strategy chief.
The news of Orban’s hiring was broken by CIO Journal, which noted that Orban will work with enterprises to aid in managing their shift to the cloud. It’s a new position at Amazon Web Services, and as Gigaom stated in its story, Orban’s recruitment signals about three years since Amazon added an enterprise focus to its growing portfolio of cloud services. Previously, the company sought small and medium businesses (SMBs) more often than not.
According to Orban’s LinkedIn profile, Orban joined Amazon in September as the new head of enterprise strategy.
Prior to taking the job with Amazon Web Services, Orban held several high-profile executive positions, most notably as CIO of Dow Jones, which publishes both the Wall Street Journal and Barrons. Before that, Orban was key in launching Bloomberg Sports.
Orban provided details on his decision to join Amazon and what the future may hold for the technology space in general, as well as the cloud provider he is now employed by.
“I believe so strongly in this evolution and its inevitability that I decided to dedicate the next chapter of my career to it,” wrote Orban in a blog post on Medium about cloud computing. As he noted, most organizations will inevitably embrace the cloud, although at different paces.
But for enterprises, the shift hasn’t always been easy—at least not compared to more agile startup businesses.
“Large, established, enterprises may find that changes are required to make the transition to the cloud possible. There is a lot that goes into a disruption of this magnitude. Security, financial management, cost and policy governance, automation, DevOps, and corporate politics are just a few of topics that need to be considered. Many of these disciplines are well established within the enterprise. They require careful change and expectation management,” Orban wrote.
Amazon re:Invent is coming up next month, and with Orban joining the team, it seems likely the enterprise will be an important topic at the conference.
