Are you a CIO with no cloud strategy? You’ve already been left behind in the dust.
If you’re a CIO or technology leader, it’s important to have a cloud strategy. Here are 3 key reasons for having a solid cloud computing strategy.
1. Updated Cyber Security Standards:
Standards organizations such as NIST are updating rules that will require some elements that Cloud providers have already baked into their service offerings.
For example, in the recent NIST revisions, you will see new recommendations for bi-annual recreation of your infrastructure to thwart embedded cyber threats and established breaches. This can only really be down easily with services such as Cloud Formation (infrastructure as code) that allows for the ease of building new environments from scratch. Get started.
2. It is not a matter of cost savings, it is a matter of Agile technology
Virtualized on premise environments are great, but they do not come with extensibility and the ability to rapidly template and deploy layered infrastructure services at the snap of a finger. Examples are using Lambda to quickly build a micro service or to quickly stand up Jira in a secure manner. These are enabled with Cloud services that quickly extend and enhance existing solutions.
3. Your business partners are looking at your IT department as a barrier to progress instead of a key enabler.
IT has historically been reactive to customer demands versus proactive. The Cloud is a tool to rapidly prototype and explore new technology without incurring heavy cost and burdens. In this case, think about the ability to stand up and tear down infrastructure quickly. In addition, think about how the Cloud IAM (Identity and Access Management) functions move quicker for provisioning and external accessibility.
This speed of movement comes at a risk, however, with proper compartmentalization of the VPC, you can isolate risk while still pleasing and supporting your business partners. Next time you get a request, surprise your business with a very rapid deploy of capable software to solve a business problem. A perfect example is rapidly deploying Jira to unburden a business team. Get help.
Here are a few steps that can be taken in the right direction.
- Establish a Cloud account on AWS or Azure.
- Consider a few lower priorities on the roadmap that are more simple packaged application deployments for a Cloud deployment.
- Identify 1 or 2 quick wins for a workload migration.
- Deploy a quick start for a reference robust and well-architected pattern.
- Copy this pattern and deploy your packaged app or migrated workload as a POC.
- Harden your deployment and conduct a retrospective on what you learned.
Finding time to get out from beneath the backlog of requests is difficult, but with a sensible start small attitude, you will be able to make inroads to your cloud strategy. Contact our experts.
Once you are on the cloud, consider the fact that you’ve unlocked vendor capability to help accelerate your roadmap. It is a more accessible environment and service organizations such as oxalis.io will know how to help you from day one.
