Firms of all shapes and sizes are at least exploring the idea of sending infrastructure, applications, and information to the cloud -- and they would be taking a big risk if they weren't doing their due diligence. As I recently wrote with two of my colleagues, our clients fall into one of six increasingly complex categories in their cloud exploration and adoption.
At one end, clients are surveying the market or might be using an off-the-shelf cloud application or service (the stock Salesforce.com or Google's Docs and Mail services come to mind). Clients at the other end of the spectrum are already using multiple cloud applications that are neatly integrated with corresponding in-house applications.
As a first step in sorting through the hype, an organization must gain a clear view of its systems portfolio in the context of business needs and pain points. Without it, a company will feel the weight of mismatched cloud services and applications--in terms of both cost and flexibility.
The results of a six-step readiness assessment will guide a company as it engages a few targeted cloud providers to discuss high-priority candidate systems for the cloud. In order to "clear the lens," an organization must:
- Understand the business demands for new functionality.
- Evaluate the current application and architecture portfolio, in terms of business gaps and technology health.
- Determine candidate applications by understanding relevant cloud offerings.
- Evaluate opportunities for infrastructure-only cloud services.
- Assess management and operations readiness.
- Identify early cloud adopters.
The pace and direction of each organization's cloud computing migration strategy will differ. But the need for an organization to understand its readiness for a new approach to delivering applications is a common thread.
With a comprehensive assessment in hand, a CIO can begin evaluating the company's systems architecture in earnest, and building a roadmap that demonstrates the business value in shifting pieces to the cloud, the company's readiness, and potential vendor fit.
In other words, you'll want to know the probable outcome before dropping elements into the melting pot.
Chris Curran is Diamond Management & Technology Consultants' chief technology officer and managing partner of the firm's technology practice. He writes the CIO Dashboard blog, and can be reached at Chris.Curran@diamondconsultants.com or @cbcurran on Twitter.
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