Cloud Strategy
PART TWO
In this article series, we’ve set out to take a closer look at several of the most recent IT technologies. We began with virtualization, and in this article, we will cover cloud computing before turning our focus to converged infrastructure in a third article.
Our goal is to help you understand the associated benefits and concerns for each of these technologies and provide you with best use considerations. In the first article, we proposed that these technologies can help you improve functionality instead of perpetuating the hype that they are a silver bullet for your IT infrastructure challenges.
To work most effectively, these technologies must be mixed and matched based on your specific organizational needs. To aid this purpose, we compared enterprise IT infrastructure to a medical system, because both are complex and critical in nature.
To get the most from this article, it is prudent to have a basic understanding of cloud computing. If you are extremely new to the concept, this white paper explains the topic well. But we only need to define a few terms for the purposes of this article.
Cloud
Computing
First, “the cloud” is the virtual access of computing functions through the internet. This includes products labeled Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). In this article, we will mainly focus on IaaS.
Second, there are three types of clouds:
private, public, and hybrid.
The private cloud is an environment produced when an organization owns its own infrastructure and makes the applications and data it houses accessible online. The public cloud is a service offering. Another company owns the infrastructure, but computing and storage space can be rented. Like a private cloud, the applications and data housed in a public
You may have seen services advertised for virtual doctor visits, commonly known as e-doctors or teledoctors. During these
visits, patients attend appointments with a physician over an online video conference. Imagine experiencing a migraine
and being able to schedule an appointment with the next available doctor—one you can see from the comfort of your own
home. Cloud computing is similar to this. It gives organizations access to their applications and data via the internet,
so they can access their resources from anywhere in the world.
The Cloud:
Like an E-Doctor Visit for
Your Organization.
Costs are a major reason for cloud migrations. For example, in the medical industry, it is difficult to attract physicians to rural areas, because there are not enough people to support the business. As a result, people in rural areas spend more money on transportation to visit the doctor than people in urban or suburban areas. E-doctors help solve this issue. In an
organization, large capital purchases, maintenance costs, and energy costs are decreased by combining or reducing
Returning to our medical example, if a town experiences a fast-spreading flu virus, then one physician will not be able to see everyone quickly. Her office will be flooded with sniffling and sneezing patients. However, e-doctor services have multiple physicians who can meet the growing demand. And the opposite is true as well. When a town is healthy and physicians are in less demand, the services of an e-doctor can be scaled back. For an organization, the cloud allows for the
Benefits of
Moving to the Cloud.
Decreased
The most obvious benefit of an e-doctor is convenience. You could see the doctor anytime, anywhere, and on a range of devices. The same is true for the cloud. It gives employees remote access to organizational applications and real-time data. This allows them to collaborate better and work from anywhere. These productivity boosts can yield significant return on investment for organizations.
Benefits of
Moving to the Cloud.
Flexibility
patient
video chat
It seems that security is a concern with anything IT related these days. A recent Crowd Research Partners survey of over 1,000 cybersecurity professionals showed that:
90%
of organizations are
concerned with cloud security
.
(Walker, 2015) When it comes to the cloud, users are the main
use their access to compromise other areas of the
organization’s data. In our e-doctor example, perhaps the patient assumes a different person’s identity in an attempt to obtain medical record information. Or the doctor may use patient information inappropriately. Either way, a lack of security measures in the e-doctor system could lead to compromised patient information. This is also true for
organizations that move to the cloud. In addition to security breaches, organizations should be aware of the potential for
Concerns about
Moving to the Cloud.
Security
A much overlooked concern of cloud computing is international laws. Going back to our medical example, our e-doctor might not be in the US, and he may not have been trained in a US medical school. With the varying levels of medical requirements, you want to know exactly what to expect from your medical care provider. With virtual accessibility, a data center storing your data and applications could be anywhere in the world. However, different countries have different laws on data and the transfer of data. The European Union recently unveiled the General Data Protection Regulation that requires companies to take specific provisions when transferring data outside of the EU. Such provisions could influence the information flow of your
business. In addition, a more frightening scenario is using a data center in a country that could confiscate your data at any time by simply changing laws or executing orders.
Seeing is not the same as feeling. While e-doctors can identify ailments, they are not able to attain complete control of the situation without being able to physically touch the patient. Similarly, an aspect of control is lost when utilizing the cloud. Recovery of data could be slower due to differing backup and recovery protocols. Also, because costs are converted from capital expenditures to operational costs, prices can vary in the public cloud without warning. Just this year, one of the largest IaaS providers increased costs over 25% for Australian users and 13% for European users (Darrow, 2015).
Control
Concerns about
Moving to the Cloud.
International
According to a recent Computerworld survey, 42% of IT decision makers are prioritizing more cloud adoption spending, second only to IT security spending (Columbus, 2015). RightScale’s 2015 State of the Cloud Report found that 82% of organizations with cloud adoption have deployed a hybrid cloud, and that trend should continue with focuses on public cloud SaaS and private cloud IaaS
(Weins, 2015). As you consider the level and type of cloud implementation that fits your organization’s needs, a best practice is to keep core business functions in private clouds or not in a cloud at all. This mitigates the security risks and retains organizational control for the most critical business functions.
Consistency between an on-premise environment, a private cloud, and a public cloud is important. This allows for the smooth deployment and migration of applications and storage between environments if circumstances require adjustments. RightScale found that 45% of organizations have less than 20% of
How Should the
Cloud be Used?
42%
of IT decision makers are
prioritizing
more cloud
adoption spending
82%
of organizations with
cloud adoption have
deployed a hybrid cloud
45%
How Should the
Cloud be Used?
In addition, organizations should thoroughly vet any public cloud vendors they are considering. Questions regarding data recovery, data center locations, and data center security should be answered. Likewise, security audits should be conducted, and a relationship with the vendor should be built.
While the cloud hype is not dying down, allowing it to dictate your strategy is ill advised.
Instead, you’ll want to critically analyze each workload’s real costs, security needs, and optimal level of cloud implementation. Taking these factors into consideration will help you produce a more complete and effective cloud strategy.
Grossner, C. (2014, September 30). Orchestration software is the new battleground in the data center.
Retrieved from http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2014/Data-Center-Strategies-Enterprise-Survey-Highlights.asp
Best Practices for Mitigating Risks in Virtualized Environments. (2015, April 1).
Retrieved from https://downloads.cloudsecurityalliance.org/whitepapers/Best_Practices_for%20_Mitigating_Risks_Virtual_Environments_April2015_4-1-15_GLM5.pdf
Rudy, M. (2014, October 8). The Future of Virtualization: What’s New for 2015?
Retrieved from https://www.techopedia.com/2/30893/trends/the-future-of-virtualization-whats-new-for-2015
Today’s Enterprise – Cyberthreats Lurk Amid Major Transformation. (2015, June 19). Retrieved from https://dl.theiia.org/FSAC/2015-IT-Priorities-Survey-Protiviti.pdf
