TECHNOLOGY
THE CLOUD HAS been the subject of much hype recently , and with good reason . There are significant benefits of moving to the cloud , including shorter application deployment times and plummeting costs . These measurable benefits make it tempting for businesses to run towards the cloud . Right now the most challenging , important and strategic decision that CIOs face is how to build the right cloud for their business .
CIOs that make the right choices can significantly improve their organisation ’ s competitiveness , flexibility and IT economics for the next decade or more . Fearing security risks and being locked in to unsuitable arrangements , many CIOs are reluctant to let go of the traditional model of capital expenditure , hardware budgets and data centres . In order to leverage the benefits of the cloud and avoid the risks , new architectures at the infrastructure and application levels are necessary .
To fully benefit from the value that cloud computing offers , organisations should follow these five key steps .
Understand Your Current Situation Many organisations , especially
Evaluate what IT systems you have in
large enterprises and government IT departments , have long utilised costly proprietary systems . These organisations will need to standardise legacy systems onto modern , standards-based hardware and software before embarking on a cloud strategy .
It is vital that organisations take inventory of and develop a plan
24 November 2014