The cloud doesn’t have to be a cheaper; on-demand computing just has to be better.
Much of the debate around the cloud concerns the switch from capex to opex and the potential saving with regards to purchased technology resources. That focus, however, is a red herring.
There’s absolute no point buying something cheaper if it’s not as effective. You could, for example, choose to purchase a cheap house in a cheap area, leaving you more cash for the luxuries in life. But such luxuries will look pretty shabby once you realise your overall quality of life is reduced by where you chose to live.
So it goes in business, too. You could choose to push infrastructure and software to the cloud, saving the business lots of cash. But what’s the point if the platform is insecure, the data can’t be easily removed in the event of a failure and resources can’t be easily and dynamically increased on-demand?
Such issues must be considered now. Much of the debate on the cloud only focuses on cost savings. It’s the CIO’s job to inform the CEO and CFO about security, extraction and dynamism now.
The IT chief simply must create a strategy for the cloud before other line-of-business executives develop a position. Fail to do so and the CIO will start to look like a spare part.
But how many CIOs have established a cloud strategy? Are IT leaders getting grief from other business executives who think they know a cheaper, more effective future for the IT department? And how are leading vendors helping CIOs to understand the cloud?
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I would venture to say that few vendors are actually helping the situation with cloud. In fact, I would argue that vendors are clouding it up. Counter-balance that with the fact that many CIOs do not have aligned results or strategies with the business and it becomes a thunderstorm. If there is no alignment between the majority of IT shops and their business, how can cloud help but to bring rain to an already dark situation? Shifting from CapEx to OpEx does not necessarily help the situation given the state of interest rates. As interest rates rise, this will become more of an issue (the cost of money). Enterprise Capacity Planning and Enterprise Architecture are imperative if an organization wishes to utilize the cloud; however, few IT shops have mastered either of these elements.
Capacity planning is spot on. The issue with cloud is scale, not cost – people want to switch on and off with demand. I’m not sure, as you suggest Marc, that the vendors are really helping here. Too many solutions look like existing ‘solutions’ re-badged as cloud. It’s a confusing world out there and vendors are not really helping themselves, or their customers.