Sponsored: Cloud is the answer, but are you asking the right questions?

The Cloud seems almost magical for business leaders. It is faster than traditional IT, more efficient, often more secure and accessible, reliable and scalable, and at lower costs – all the adjectives that businesses, large and small, like. C-suites in many organisations are already looking at Cloud as a silver bullet, a tech implementation so wonderful it can propel their organization to heights never seen before. But what business leaders fail to understand is that Cloud computing has multiple facets and it is only the right combination and selection of offerings that can work. Getting the combination right is the secret to success when it comes to Cloud, and indeed, getting it wrong, could have some dangerous side-effects on the business. Every business organisation is different, and as the needs of each organization differ, infrastructure and workload demands differ too. Demands are dynamic and constantly changing, so the infrastructure choices organizations make directly affect the ability to deliver new capabilities. That is exactly why Business and IT leaders must ensure a Cloud solution that best fits business requirements. And when it comes to fitting those requirements, future needs should also be kept in mind, because a Cloud decision is not a short-term decision. IT leaders need to identify security and compliance requirements for the workload. They need to decide whether the service can run in-house or would be more cost-effective to move it elsewhere. IT and business need to work together on this one. With businesses becoming more tech savvy and IT more pressured, collaboration is vital. [caption id=“attachment_1984579” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The right Cloud solution also entails the right SLAs. Whether the Cloud solution is private or public, each has specific requirements in terms of SLAs, security, response time and scalability. What business asks of the IT department for a private Cloud should also be asked of the public Cloud supplier. Also, issues like levels of latency can be expected and whether or not the public Cloud supplier will be able to meet response time requirements need to be carefully examined. The Cloud will work for business only if key business processes for managing end-to-end service, vendor activity and performance are in sync with overall compliance with the organization’s standards for Cloud deployment. And the points to ponder don’t end here. There are considerations like requirements for volume and variability on the data centre, speed of delivery for apps and business services, compliance and protection of critical data, data storage and archiving, addressing spikes in intensive workloads and many more. Organizations need to hit the right notes to churn out a perfect symphony. As if these complexities were not enough, enterprises cannot adhere to any pre-set Cloud success blueprint as business needs keep changing from time to time, from industry to industry. Organizations can waste a vast amount of resources, man-hours and IT dollars on a botched up Cloud strategy. This is where years of know-how and expertise steps in. IBM, with its decades of experience in the Cloud computing domain, has announced a global expansion of its business solution capabilities with new, Cloud-based Industry Platforms to simplify and accelerate enterprises’ digital transformation journeys. And this is now available for Indian businesses, delivered from IBM Cloud Data Centres based right here in India—with pricing that is India-specific and also ensuring data is resident in India. IBM’s portfolio of Cloud Industry Platforms and Solutions deliver services that allow enterprises to exploit Cloud and Big Data opportunities and take that plunge with the assurance of predictable outcomes. As part of this initiative, IBM has announced the opening of a state-of-the-art IBM Cloud Business Innovation Centre in Bangalore. The Cloud Business Innovation Centre will enable enterprises around the world to work side-by-side with IBM solution consultants, researchers, digital marketing and experience design experts to personalize Industry Platforms to their specific needs. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N2oUTD7FPU&feature=youtu.be[/embed] Industry Platforms build on the portfolio of Cloud Business Solutions and package multiple technology and services components into a single client agreement and deliver end-to-end solutions as a service. Initial offerings addressed business functions in the areas of sales, marketing, financial management and operations and included consulting services, intellectual property assets from IBM Research, software, advanced analytics, on-going support and Cloud infrastructure delivered via IBM Softlayer. Industry Platforms goes deeper. With dedicated content that offers clients access to a set of standard assets that can be tailored to deliver a differentiated business solution, this is designed for business success. The Retail Consumer Experience, that is the first of the three Industry Platforms, delivers a Consumer Engagement Platform that empowers retailers to deploy sophisticated engagement capabilities driven by contextual, relevant, multi-channel, end-to-end personalization. The second Industry Platform is Personalized Learning – a platform that delivers data-driven personalized learning to empower educators to help students reach their full potential and for corporations to address fast moving learning needs within the organization. The third Industry Platform is designed for industries reshaped by the Internet of Things. The Insights for a Connected World platform turns vast volumes of data from multiple sources into insights that can be sold to ecosystem partners or used to inform new business models and improve customer service and business operations. In its essence, Cloud Business Solutions combine the advantages of the Cloud with the industry insight of IBM consulting services to address specific industry verticals and business functions and guide them on a path to success. And the IBM Cloud Business Innovation Centre is where the journey of business transformation takes its first step. So, if you are thinking Cloud, or thinking of expanding your Cloud journey, think IBM to get all the right answers for the Cloud, right here in India. Click here to know more about IBM Cloud Data Centre.