By Taos
Nephophobia a fear of the clouds — and it’s common with many CIO’s and directors of technology.
As illustrated last week even the resilient Microsoft had issues with its Azure service. For many, this only stoked further fears around the cloud. What is clear though is that cloud is simply another technology and all risks associated with that need to be understood and managed and architected properly.
The key is having a cloud strategy. For many companies its simple. They outsource (buy) technology services and applications that are not core to their business or are too costly to build. This includes services that are typically internal and can include CRM and managed professional services like helpdesk and monitoring. For many other companies, these technology services and applications are core to their business model. So these companies require an internal and private cloud (build). Some of these drivers include regulatory, IP or to provide a competitive advantage.
Once your strategy is established make sure you architect your solution for your business. Understand your HA and DR options. Reference your BIA. Often companies are finding that a hybrid solution is best. By planning for failures your business will be more resilient so test, document, and test again!
As a technology leader be realistic. As resilient as things can be, things can and will fail. Be prepared. Know your business, for many clouds, is not a good fit and for others, cloud is the solution.
What is clear is that the Cloud is here to stay. So to get over fears, understand it, learn about it and use it for your competitive, resiliency or regulatory advantage. Just make sure you have a strategy and plan — right Microsoft?