Cloud computing has now been with us long enough for lots of myths and misunderstandings to grow up alongside the uncertainty and doubt that many organisations had — and still have — about entrusting key elements of their ICT to something, somewhere that they can’t see. Whatever form of cloud is in question, or whatever service, when decisions are being made the heart of the matter is trust. Other questions, like costs and benefits, come after that.
One of the myths that is still hanging around is that cloud is hugely cheaper than traditional ICT. But that was always only true of public cloud and generic, consumer type services. Business services from the cloud can indeed often bring cost savings. But not always, and certainly not always so great that costs alone will make the business case. Another myth is that a business subscriber can switch cloud services pretty well at a click because it is a utility model. Even apart from the contractual issues, that really is not true in practical terms. Of course you can switch, but it will be a careful migration exercise.
Not unlike moving some of your ICT functions to cloud in the first place. There is no real difference between the evaluation to be done when looking at cloud options and when investing in infrastructure yourself. The business and technical considerations are essentially the same, in our experience. All the more so today because the range of potential cloud services for business is now really extensive, from specific applications in SaaS to Infrastructure-as-a-Service [IaaS] to the closely related Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery [BCDRaaS].
The whole point of ICT today is to deliver quality services to the users, whether from in-house resources or private or hybrid or even public cloud. From that point of view it does not matter, certainly to the users, where the services are coming from. From the corporate perspective, however, it requires working through, thoroughly and in detail.
The need for a technology refresh is a common trigger nowadays. But that does not always mean that cloud is going to win even the cost part of the business case. On the other hand, most organisations today are totally dependent on their ICT and acutely aware of the need for business continuity. We are seeing a huge take-up of managed BCDR services using cloud because that is one area where the business case is almost always superior. It certainly beats the option of investing in a second comms room, for instance.
We regularly conduct two-day workshops (or even longer) with clients looking at the viable alternatives for their next stage of ICT. The set of applications and services required will be different for each business, as will what they already have in place. Then there is the range of possible technical solutions for what is to be provided and the pluses and minuses for each, including the costings.
The growing range of cloud solutions is being matched by increasing take-up in managed cloud services. ICT has become hybrid, blending on-premise ICT with outsourced services including cloud. The rationale for managed ICT services is enhanced because cloud brings new challenges, including the need for expertise and experience that is just not available in-house.
Karen O’Connor is general manager for service delivery with Datapac.
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