In the enterprise, cloud computing is continuing to evolve from The Next Big Thing to The Here and Now. In fact, many organizations take a cloud-first approach to new projects, taking them to the cloud rather than internal infrastructure whenever possible.
Mapping the cloud maturity curveThe fundamental five
What businesses must have in place to extract maximum value from the cloud
Consider the following:
The New Software Imperative: Fast Delivery With Quality
Eight DevOps Practices Are The Key To Success
Taking the Open Road with Hybrid OpenStack Services
An on-demand webcast from IBM
But companies aren’t always prepared to wring the maximum value from a cloud computing infrastructure. The Economist Intelligence Unit whitepaper The Fudamental Five: What Businesses Must Have to Extract Maximum Value from the Cloud, sponsored by IBM, examines the issues that a business must address to drive the most benefit from a cloud-based initiative.
The white paper features contributions from a host of expert sources, including contributors from Pitney Bowes, the University of London, EirostarNucleus Research, London School of Economics, and more.
Download the paper to learn more about these the five fundamental issues:
- Ask yourself: Is your business strategy cloud-ready? What are the business objectives of the company, and how can cloud computing help achieve them? Companies often go to the cloud to gain cost efficiencies, but many are now focusing on agility and speed of delivery as benefits.
- Make the relationship between the business and the IT department real. Many business users see IT as an impediment to their process, and will often bypass IT to purchase their own cloud-based services. That can fragment the business strategy. How do you achieve harmony between IT and the business, and start thinking “us” instead of “us and them”?
- Prepare for the rule of “digital natives.” The new generation of employees that has grown up digital have very different demands for technologies than the old guard. How do you bridge this divide, supplying new tools for the digital enthusiasts while bringing the established workforce into the flow?
- Be practical. Understand your organization’s particular needs and capabilities and build technology capabilities around them. Don’t be dogmatic about private cloud versus public cloud versus in-house infrastructure; the choice is rarely that clear cut.
- Get good advice. Don’t take an improvisational approach to key issues like governance, security, and contracts. Data protection and sovereignty regulations differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, consult experts to help architect your cloud strategy.
The fundamental five
What businesses must have in place to extract maximum value from the cloud
