Getting the Most Out of Cloud Computing

To safeguard against what tech company Unisys has dubbed “cloud in the corner” syndrome, companies looking to move some or all of their IT operations into the cloud should consider a recently proposed seven-point plan. The plan aims to help global CIOs get the most out of their cloud technology investment. Isolation in and under-utilization of cloud technologies within IT environments can often lead to not realizing the potential savings that cloud technology can give a company, but even increased costs in the long run. This “seven deadly sins” list can be used to help enterprises change their method of approach when it comes to applying cloud technology. It illustrates the need for business to move away from thinking in terms of pure technology and to develop a blueprint that will give them a plan for success with cloud technology. While a well-planned and executed cloud computing solution can easily net a company as much as 20% in savings in IT operations costs, it can also give a company an advantage over its competition by improving responsiveness and upgrading the delivery quality of its IT services. “However, it’s easy to become entranced by new cloud technologies” says Unisys Director for Global Cloud Computing Solutions John Treadway, “and lose sight of how those can best be integrated with existing resources. By courting ‘cloud in a corner’ syndrome this way, CIOs risk zeroing out savings and even potentially increasing operational costs.” Here are the Seven Signs of “Cloud in a Corner” that all IT organizations should be aware of:

1. A “cloud stack” solution is being evaluated before the team has even begun to put together integration strategy and a framework within their current IT environment.
2. Cloud success metrics and criteria have not been clearly stated from both the perspective of IT and the end-user.
3. Stakeholders have not agreed on roadmaps, use cases and the expectation of change to IT and the business process before implementation.
4. Your IT people have not been trained in the new cloud technology and do not know how to use it because the underlying technology is so “ground-breaking” that no one is familiar with it.
5. The new cloud environment cannot accommodate your current service, security, and risk management processes, forcing you to duplicate what you already have in place.
6. Your team’s roles and responsibilities will change with the cloud service delivery model, but you have not yet defined what those changes will be or communicated them to the team.
7. You’ve discovered that the cloud solution you first used will not be able to meet your organization’s needs so you are already considering developing a second cloud solution.

It is important to realize that although many aspects of business are moving to the cloud, it is not likely that many large enterprises will be able to or even want to move 100% to the cloud any time soon. The traditional delivery of IT service is not going to disappear, and we will probably see a more hybrid version as time goes on. A blending of cloud, traditional, external and internal IT delivery methods will be the best way to deliver fewer risks, less cost and higher quality IT service. In the end everyone will gain from this transition. Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and 'Liking' us on Facebook.