Careful planning critical to maximizing the cloud, report says

According to a recent CIO magazine report, companies can benefit significantly from cloud computing and its ability to deliver cost savings, flexibility, agility, resiliency, improved customer service and quick time to market. However, companies that expect to obtain the lofty benefits associated with the cloud can only do so through careful planning and a deep understanding of the cloud's capabilities.

While many of the cloud's benefits provide easier day-to-day operation and functionality, getting started with the cloud can be very difficult because it disrupts current business models and requires a cultural change within the enterprise. As a result, the report said businesses have spent significant time trying to figure out what the cloud is really capable of and are still trying to understand how it can be best used in their operations.

Mark White, chief technology officer of Deloitte Consulting's technology practice told CIO the uncertainty and challenges associated with the cloud are apparent in the firm's academic studies. Just 18 months ago, Deloitte Consulting began performing surveys pertaining to cloud computing in the enterprise. At the time, 80 percent of all studies had to do with establishing the cloud's place in the stage of business operations. Just 15 percent of the group's studies pertained to strategies and technologies related to actually implementing the cloud, and a mere 5 percent dealt with actual cloud projects.

White told the news source the consultancy's studies show how quickly the cloud has changed. Now, just 10 percent of all studies deal with establishing the cloud's place for businesses. Furthermore, 50 percent of the group's efforts address direct planning for the cloud and another 40 percent have to do with cloud implementations. White attributes the sudden growth of cloud projects to economic conditions.

"The economic crunch caused people to really be interested in the cloud's Opex over Capex story and the ability to buy small and, if it works, to go big. That really accelerated adoption, and we're doing large-scale implementations now of private and public cloud services among our clients," White told CIO.

James Staten, vice president and principal analyst with Forrester Research reiterated White's observation about shifts in the cloud industry, telling the news source businesses have clearly moved from discovering if the cloud can help them to deciding how they can best use the technology. This has led to more discussions on how to identify the best cloud providers and what kind of best practices are available to help ensure cloud success, he said.

Because of the cloud's quick maturation, the report said relatively clear definitions and service models have become apparent. What is still unclear, according to the report, is how to make the best use of those service models. Overall, companies are finding diverse ways to use the cloud, with many becoming both cloud users and cloud providers as they develop and distribute applications to other organizations in their industry. The sheer vastness of the cloud makes it an inherently complex technology, the report said, and businesses need to respond by figuring out how to make it work for them.

According to a recent TechTarget report, large businesses are responding to growing cloud complexity by strategically distributing which applications work in the cloud. Instead of immediately putting programs in the cloud, organizations are choosing to tactically select specific programs that they can easily replace with cloud solutions to leverage financial and IT-related benefits. Customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software systems are among the most popular applications to move to the cloud.