Page 97 - Cloud Essentials

Typical Steps Leading to Successful Cloud Adoption

For an organization, cloud adoption can be a complex undertaking. As a
result, no two companies will follow the same cloud adoption steps. For an
individual user, a failed cloud adoption will have a less profound effect.
The following are the typical cloud adoption steps, with each being detailed
throughout this chapter:

Choose a low-risk application for a cloud pilot.

Consider which cloud service models best meet the business
objectives (SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS).
Consider cloud provider roles and capabilities.

Examine your dependencies on cloud providers and perform a risk
assessment.

Determine possible changes to organizational roles and skills.

Before delving into what a successful cloud adoption consists of, we will
dispel myths related to cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Myths
Over the years some misconceptions related to cloud computing have
emerged. The most common fallacies are listed below:

“There is a single good level of cloud adoption.” This is a myth.
There are various strategic options, such as don’t do it, do have an
internal cloud provider, do be a customer of the cloud, do eliminate all

internal IaaS, and so on.
“Cloud adoption eliminates all internal IT.” This is not true. Even
with an aggressive strategy of externalizing, there can still be a
brokering role for IT departments to help with the business contract for

cloud providers, as well as to help with the increased demand for
security, procurement, data management services, and monitoring.
“The IT department can safely ignore the cloud.” This not true.

The IT department must understand that cloud computing is so
accessible that they no longer enjoy a natural monopoly on IT. If they
ignore the cloud, they will be left only with the legacy applications.
The IT department is in the best position to be an internal cloud
provider, as well as to help the business make better use of external
cloud providers.

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