July 11, 2014 - 5 Things CIOs Need to Know About the Cloud

Cloud computing can help companies increase efficiency and maximize ROI, but at the same time unplanned cloud adoption can create many problems for IT departments. Whether you’re a cloud expert or still in the early stages of cloud adoption, there are 5 things every CIO should know:

1. The cloud is here to stay

Many companies are now using cloud services to run their business operations in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. It’s not just small or less important applications that are being run in the cloud, but mission-critical applications that support vital business processes.

2. The cloud is enterprise ready

With traditional on-premise or colo datacenters, organizations rely on a variety of enterprise software solutions to manage security, backups, monitoring and various other datacenter operations. These enterprise software vendors have adapted to help organizations operate in the cloud

3. Hybrid cloud architecture is the future

Some enterprise applications cannot completely migrate to public cloud environments. Hybrid architecture allows organizations to leverage existing investments, and extend to cloud Infrastructure as a Service, IaaS, with integrated resources. For example, some companies use cloud for Test/Dev environments & storage for archived data and in-house servers for Prod/QA & current data.

4. Middleware is important

Companies adopt new IT systems as they grow, and efficient middleware enables the new systems to be integrated with the existing ones so that both SaaS and on-premise programs can work together.

5. Governance is key

Unstructured and unplanned adoption within organizations can erode the cost savings that cloud computing can bring. It can also create additional risks and overheads. Careful planning and a clear roadmap for cloud adoption, with adequate governance to manage provisioning, standardization of tools, and cost control, becomes key to successful cloud adoption.