The beauty of public cloud computing is that it allows businesses to easily get into the cloud. No more waiting for software, hardware, application and other resources. With just one call, they can get a public cloud provider such as Amazon and run its applications with no problems and waiting.
Internal ITs are creating private clouds to help stave off the migration to public clouds. At the very least, private clouds can help organizations save on costs and be more flexible, in the same manner that public clouds can. But internal ITs should make sure that they will be able to compete against public cloud providers.
The challenge for an internal IT is two-fold. One, it should ensure that it delivers the benefits of tapping into cloud computing. Two, it should modify how it allocates and runs its resources internally so that it can be competitive with public cloud providers.
Is your internal IT competitive with the public cloud?
You need to make sure. How?
1. Use Oracle Infrastructure Maturity Assessment to see the current state of your IT architecture and systems. You will be able to know just how widely adopted your systems are, along with their maturity, effectiveness and completeness. This process will help you anticipate roadblocks to your journey into the cloud and could help you identify ways to remedy these roadblocks.
2. Make sure that you have a road map. Getting onto the cloud would mean solid commitment from both IT and the business executives. You would need to bring together the leaders in your organization to come up with a long-term vision for your cloud initiatives. You should know your IT budget and lay down how you are going to change mindsets within the organization. Sell the benefits of the private cloud to your employees and other stakeholders.
3. Allocate the costs. You would need to charge for your IT and cloud services. To do this, you need to know what the costs are and how you are going to charge these.
4. Always get executive buy-in.
Your executives might not know the first things about cloud systems or your internal IT, but remember that successful cloud initiatives are always supported by the organization’s “top honchos”.
The lowdown
Your internal IT has to understand that to be able to stay competitive with the public cloud, it is necessary for them to change their mindset about what they do. They are no longer just delivering IT services, they are also taking the lead in cloud initiatives as well as shared services.
They need to make sure that they act like public cloud providers. When a business deals with a public cloud service provider, it simply pays for the resources that are used. A business will not care about the provider’s infrastructures, upgrades, capacity limitations and other similar stuff. As long as it gets the service that it needs and wants. Internal IT has to act the same way.
If you need to make your internal IT professionals more competitive with public cloud providers, call Four Cornerstone today. We have the knowledge and expertise to help you get your internal IT team up to speed and equip them with everything it needs to take your business into the cloud!
Photo courtesy of IvanWalsh.com.
