Clarifying The Case For Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a hot topic at the moment, and for good reason. With it, companies have the potential to gain competitive advantages that could make a real difference to business performance – whether shorter time to market; services that can be quickly turned up or down; or reduced upfront IT costs, to name but a few. Yet, despite its continued evolution, concerns remain. Is cloud computing secure? Will it provide reliable availability? Can an organisation maintain control over business-critical systems and data that exist in the cloud? In short, is it an enterprise-ready solution that can deliver on all the hype?

The Advantages of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing helps IT become more responsive to the pace and dynamic nature of business. New applications can be approved and deployed more quickly, making it easier to satisfy the needs of business managers throughout the organisation. And the financial case is radically altered – there is no need for large capital outlays to launch new applications.

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Transitioning from a capital expense model to an operational expense model reduces financial risk to monthly increments and provides a higher degree of flexibility to manage expenses over time. If the market slows, organisations aren’t locked into expenses their budgets can no longer support. If applications produce disappointing results, an enterprise can pursue a different direction without having to abandon expensive on-premises infrastructure.

The usual concerns cited are security, availability, and control. And it’s true that an effective cloud computing strategy must incorporate these factors, if it is to drive business success.

Building a Trusted Cloud

In cloud computing, servers, network capabilities and storage are provided to the enterprise as a service. In turn, data is delivered from the enterprise to the cloud, with attendant concerns about letting sensitive information move outside the company firewall.

These concerns must be adequately addressed. Industry standards and regulations such as HIPAA, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act (GLBA), and the Statement on Auditing Standards 70 (SAS-70) have very defined and measurable security requirements. For cloud computing to be viable, providers must adhere to the same standards and controls that an organisation would impose in house.

IT systems that support key enterprise applications need to be stable, reliable, and highly available. Theoretically, on-demand computing should offer a high degree of reliability as the cloud distributes compute, network, and storage functions across a substantially larger pool of physical and virtual resources, making it more tolerant of individual hardware failures. However, to support this, providers should back their service with stringent SLAs for availability and define liability for unplanned outages.

By their very nature, cloud computing service models involve transferring some control to a trusted service provider. But not all organisations will want all systems to migrate to the cloud – and therefore varying levels of control can be provided within the cloud computing model.

A service provider should offer a high level of real-time visibility into the systems that reside in the cloud. This should include accurate and meaningful reporting on availability, performance data, service requests, how well the service provider is meeting SLA requirements, and other key metrics. Ideally, a provider should also offer the option of self-service provisioning via a customer management portal, which allows hands-on control of systems in the cloud.

As cloud computing becomes more available, the type and level of customisation offered by a service provider will become a competitive differentiator.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is more than the driving force behind the next wave of technology innovation. It is a sound business strategy that helps organisations practice better financial management and creates a more sustainable, cost-efficient model for supporting IT services.

While valid concerns exist, they can be managed with proper preparation. Detailed planning can help determine when and how IT infrastructure should be moved to the cloud. Careful evaluation of vendors can help identify a service provider whose solution is enterprise-ready in key areas such as security, availability, and control.

*David Rosengrave is IT Solutions Practice Manager for Verizon Business in Asia Pacific.