In the continuing search for operational efficiency and improved service delivery to the business, most Enterprise CXOs now recognize the power of cloud computing in their organizations.  But with all the choices in the market about cloud computing models, how does one truly know where to begin?   This process, so essential in the creation of competitive differentiation in today’s competitive world, often means transforming almost every aspect of your current IT services as well as how you interact with and serve your lines of business and end-customers.

By understanding the underlying service-related technical and business requirements that must be supported within the context of a cloud model, one can begin the journey to successfully take full advantage of cloud computing technologies for the enterprise. The goal of the journey is to reduce operational costs and improve service delivery to the business as well as to end customers.

Your Migration Path

Whether you are new to cloud adoption or your organization has aggressively virtualized your IT infrastructure and is about to embark on the next leg of the journey, there are many migration and transformation questions to think about.   By understanding the underlying service-related technical and business requirements that must be supported within the context of a cloud model, one can begin the journey to successfully take full advantage of cloud computing technologies for the enterprise.

One of the most misunderstood consequences of moving to a cloud model is the fact that the enterprise  must retire certain data center facilities as well as many of the operational processes  and practices that have supported  traditional client-server IT operations .  Your journey will have to develop and support operational processes and service strategies that are normally encountered within the context of a service provider environment.

The desired destination of the cloud journey is to use your newly established cloud computing foundation to standardize, catalog , and deliver IT services based on defined user requirements. In the process, you will need to drive organizational changes to create a more responsive  IT organization as opposed to the traditional technology silos which tend to define  IT organizations today.

Questions to Ask Before Embarking on the Journey

My experience as a Cloud and Data Center Transformation expert indicates that successful cloud deployments reach answers to the following questions before the enterprise commences the journey toward cloud:

1. How do I determine the best way to consume cloud services for my organization?
2. Which services should I source externally versus build internally?
3. How will I migrate my applications and data to the selected cloud service?
4. How can I integrate the cloud environment into my current operational platform?
5. How will I manage my service levels?

In a follow-up Post, I will detail how to best answer these questions, and discuss the approach your business can take to moving forward on your cloud journey.

Has your organization embarked on its journey to cloud yet? Do you have other questions businesses should consider before moving forward?

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