Even Cloud Computing has Silver Linings

Times have changed. A few years ago, business units within the enterprise had to justify the use of cloud computing. Today, they have to justify why they are not utilizing cloud offerings as the pressure to realize its benefits keeps growing. However, this has created the potential for enterprises to turn to the cloud for cloud sake. That’s not a sound strategy nor is it a successful foundation to build cloud infrastructure. Organizations need to avoid the rush to the cloud and instead understand the process to build and/or implement cloud technologies that fit business needs.

Everyone talks about the benefits of cloud — the agility, the economics, and the simplified deployment. However, there isn’t much discussion about the process enterprises use to achieve these benefits. The cloud adoption process often involves several important considerations; however there are three steps that companies should follow to put themselves in the best position for a successful cloud deployment.

To start, consider what you need the cloud to do for your business. What do you want out of it? Is it the flexibility of an e-commerce site that spikes during busy seasons? Or is it an efficient way to store data and run analytics? Having a business-driven strategy and setting specific goals can make the cloud adoption process simpler and provide a positive end result for your organization. Once the strategy has been set, you have to think about current cloud offerings, and determine which one is right for you. Is a private cloud better than a public cloud? Private clouds theoretically allow for added security and more control, but they also bring a new set of challenges, like added cost and potential management issues. On the other hand, public clouds are cost-effective and quick to deploy but businesses are required to give up a certain level of control. In many cases, the perfect solution is a hybrid cloud. A hybrid cloud matches multiple pools of resources and ties application workloads to the appropriate environment. However, there isn’t a right or wrong general answer on which platform is best. The goal is to work with your cloud provider to develop a solution that is right for you and one that will allow your organization to reach its business goals and objectives. Work closely with your solution provider as well as your own internal resources, and be sure to leverage the capabilities of both.

Once you have decided the cloud approach that best matches your business needs, you need to identify the best way to actually set up your cloud solution and migrate workload applications. Many cloud providers require complex and costly modifications to workloads in order to make them compatible to their cloud environment. This process is extremely cumbersome, but it doesn’t have to be. Enterprise-ready cloud providers have leveraged their software intellectual property to create migration tools that lift the burden of re-architecting workloads to fit requirements of a cloud environment. Cloud providers with software IP can not only develop a migration tool but they also have the potential to solve some of the challenges cloud offerings present today, including high performance, strong security and user control.

Every business has unique needs and wants, and taking those into consideration and setting a specific set of goals is the first step in your journey towards cloud adoption. A one-size-fits-all mentality is not the best approach. The cloud solution that’s right for your competitors or similar style organizations may not be right for you. Whether it’s a private, public, or hybrid offering, understanding your options and making an educated choice can unlock the cloud to its full potential. Once your solution is selected, plan the process of moving your enterprise applications to your new cloud platform. There are many ways of doing this; cost and complexity should be taken into account before making any final decisions. Cloud adoption can be an intimidating project and rightly so, it could be an utter disaster if the correct steps are not taken. However, a cloud success case could transform the way your organization thinks about cloud and adopts new technologies and executed properly will set the stage for continued enterprise growth well into the future.