Comprehensive digital transformation of your business will require extensive involvement of your CIO through each level of business evolution, ensuring data is protected and efficiently utilizing in-house IT infrastructure for maximum effect in hybrid cloud models. Flexibility is integral to the design, and instead of fitting into an as-built service, developing a strategy unique to the organization ensures better user experience while helping the company respond quickly and dexterously to changing market conditions.
Nick Earle’s three phase approach to creating a malleable and effective strategy suggests first thoroughly understanding your organization’s current systems and future cloud requirements, secondly applying that knowledge to set your cloud goals, and finally ensuring objectives are properly aligned with the future. When investigating systems, many companies find much of their data is neither encrypted nor secure, and unofficial applications are rife. Of course, just because an application hasn’t been explicitly approved, doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. This can be the start of understanding what your business really needs, and ensuring that the solutions used are both agile and secure.
When creating these solutions, CIOs are typically faced with build vs. buy – though a build and buy solution may be the key. Hybrid-ready private cloud solutions are able to offer control of the environment, as well as the flexibility to use public cloud resources to complement existing infrastructure when necessary. As cloud, big data, and the Internet of Things continues their rapid evolution, flexibility to change with business and environment ensures organizations meet customer expectations, whilst guaranteeing security and minimizing cost. The best strategies will successfully keep pace with ever-advancing trends and needs. There are numerous resources to be considered when creating, structuring, and implementing strategies, including solutions such as Savision’s Cloud Reporter, which helps organizations plan for the future and meet objectives, while predicting when processor, storage, and memory resources will be depleted.
This year, Gartner identified five cloud computing trends affecting cloud strategy.
There are many variations of the understanding and uses of cloud computing, so developing a strategy can be a concentrated and perplexing challenge. Though cloud computing may save money, this is only true for specific service, and though it encourages innovation and experimentation, a firm handle on long-term operational efficiency and effectiveness must be had. Cloud computing doesn’t have a single value proposition for all services and businesses, and so a valuable strategy must first investigate where and how an organization can best benefit from the cloud before deciding on the best approach.
By Jennifer Klostermann
