As more mission-critical workloads move to the cloud, the role of enterprise IT is evolving to that of a cloud broker that must collaborate with lines of business to ensure overall success of the organization. A new report from Verizon, “Matching Applications to the Right Cloud,” unveils an actionable, scorecard approach for IT directors to align cloud solutions with the needs of each workload.
Enterprise IT can make more informed assessments on how best to support applications in the cloud by following a methodical and analysis-based approach. The report details three practical, prescriptive steps and supporting examples to use when working with business units to score applications and design a purpose-built cloud strategy.
Consult the Business and Assess User Requirements
IT professionals must build a relationship with their organization’s lines of business to accurately identify critical application requirements to create the right cloud solution. “Matching Applications to the Right Cloud” aids in driving this important cooperative approach by providing conversation-starting questions, including:
- What are all the barriers for successful application migration?
- What is the importance of the application’s availability and what is the cost of downtime?
- What regulations does the application and data need to comply with?
- How often will IT need to upgrade the application to maintain competitive advantage?
Score Your Applications and Build a Risk Profile
The careful assessment of technical requirements of applications can mean the difference between a successful cloud migration and a failed one. The new Verizon report also offers a checklist to guide IT departments away from major pitfalls.
- Determine the load on the network
- Factor in time to prepare the application
- Carefully consider the costs of moving
In addition to assessing the technical requirements, IT professionals must evaluate the applications’ risk profile. Using data discovery tools to look at the data flow is instrumental to detecting breaches and mitigating any impact.
Match Your Requirements to the Right Cloud Service Model
Choosing the best cloud model for enterprise IT requires a thorough comprehension of technical specifications and workload requirements. The following are key considerations to help IT directors partner with their business unit colleagues to define enterprise needs and determine the right cloud model.
- Does the application’s risk profile allow it to run on shared infrastructure?
- What proportion of the application and its data are currently based on your premises, and how much is based with a provider?
- How much of the management of the cloud can you take on?
Cloud is empowering IT professionals to gain a greater role in effectively impacting business results. Hand-in-hand with business unit collaboration, enterprise CIOs should work closely with cloud service providers to design and support holistic multi-cloud solutions that fulfill internal workload requirements. Working in the right cloud environment allows for operational efficiency, increased performance, stringent security measures and robust network connectivity.
Read “Matching Applications to the Right Cloud” for more information about choosing the proper cloud for your enterprise organization.
