MANAGED SERVICES cloud
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key question running through the IT industry today is whether or not cloud represents an evolution or revolution. This isn’t just an idle debate. Rather it is a symptom of a much wider problem that is affecting organizations across the globe – ‘cloud confusion’ – causing many to shy away from embracing the cloud and its many rewards. So why does cloud confusion exist, and crucially, what can organizations do to eliminate it? Cloud confusion stems from a tendency by commentators, vendors and technology personnel alike to – deliberately or otherwise – muddle together two completely different perspectives on cloud: ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’. It is the bundling together of these approaches, laced with a dose of marketing hype, that has left both the private and public sector cautious about how to use cloud, and what it might mean in practice.
Inside-out v outside-in
The inside-out approach represents the role that cloud technologies play in enhancing the operational capabilities of internal enterprise IT and supporting what is referred to as the ‘Back Office’. By contrast, outside-in is the role cloud architecture plays in empowering organizations to do business with the external world in turn supporting its ‘Front Office’. The inside-out world view is typically that of the IT manager who sees cloud as an evolution of the technology within their enterprise. Outside-in belongs to the business manager who sees cloud as a revolution that is opening up the organization to a new set of opportunities when it comes to delivering services and maximizing business opportunities at scale. Let’s turn first to the Back Office where the environment is ‘structured’ and the journey of the last twenty years has seen IT managers use enterprise resource planning (ERP) to fully automate IT processes and ensure that their IT structure is optimized for maximum efficiency. Then contrast this with the Front Office which can be characterized as an unstructured, customer- facing operational area built around talented people who want access to real-time information to make the right business decision at the right time. The conclusion one inevitably reaches is that for both models – inside-out and outside-in – the organization’s requirement is different, the area of use (Front Office or Back Office) is different and above all the technology is different too.
The right approach in the right context So, if we accept this interpretation of cloud, how should organizations adapt in order to eliminate cloud confusion, and leverage cloud services to their full potential? In simple terms, the challenge is to work out how to use both cloud perspectives in the right context by looking at how both approaches apply to an organization’s circumstances. However given the far reaching impact cloud typically has on most organizations, successfully achieving this requires a holistic view across all the functions of a business, and perhaps those of other companies, agencies and partners. ‘Bring Your Own Device’ - the practice of employees bringing iPads and smartphones to work - is a perfect example. This trend is slowly revolutionizing the
enterprise but, except perhaps for email, not by using an existing set of applications. Instead employees are participating in external communities, using the Web as a source of real-time information, and consuming selected services from ‘App Shops’. This activity is the complete opposite to an inside-out approach where monolithic enterprise applications use a client-server model to support a traditional, centralized computing environment. Little wonder then that traditional security and governance risks seem daunting to an enterprise when conventional ‘inside-out’ IT security is applied to the new outside-in world.
However if an organization adopts an outside-in approach, then security and governance can be more effectively mitigated. Relevant users and devices are moved outside the existing secure IT environment to co-exist together using ‘clouds’ to support the consumption of ‘services’ on demand. Everyday applications such as word processing and spreadsheets can be provided as on demand services from clouds such as Microsoft Office 365, and even necessary elements of ERP can be similarly provided. Outside-in is a completely different way of thinking about the requirement, delivery and deployment model, but given that this is a completely new generation of technologies, being used in a totally different way by business, is that such a surprise?
Communications is another good example. The new outside-in, unstructured world of the Front Office means an inevitable shift from email to social networks. In many ways these networks are the glue of the new environment with the role of finding alignments between events, people, and big data to ‘organize’ collaborative responses to market opportunities.
By contrast, social networks are not required in the structured back office on the ‘inside’, as Back Office employees are focused on the procedures behind running the organization. It’s important to note that planning for the impact of cloud across all areas does not imply that this impact will come instantaneously or that the adoption of cloud needs to come all at once. In particular, inside-out and outside-in have very different value propositions and timescales. However, by stepping back and considering the bigger picture before applying the methodology and approaches outlined above, organizations can begin to clear the mist of cloud confusion within their business.
Returning to the ‘revolution or evolution’ debate, it’s clear a cloud strategy is far more than just a technical strategy, it is a strategy for the transformation of the entire enterprise. It involves business people in new roles demanding a revolution in business capabilities as well as those in existing roles looking to carry out the ongoing evolution of operating efficiency. In turn that demands new development techniques and methods that match new business expectations at the same time as delivering existing applications for less.
if we accept this interpretation of cloud, how should organizations adapt in order to eliminate cloud confusion, and leverage cloud services to their full potential? In simple terms, the challenge is to work out how to use both cloud perspectives in the right context by looking at how both approaches apply to an organization’s circumstances
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