IT Trends & Technology

More with less. Economics is a key driver to implementing change within organizations.  In today’s economy there are two terms heard regularly – do more with less; and what is the impact to the organization.  The role of the CIO is changing – demands to implement applications, manage more websites and add new software, are increasing at an alarming rate.  These requests are not only the demands of the customers but internal business units.  Meeting these demands quickly and efficiently without adding staff or seeing an increase in budget can put a tax on any CIO and their employees.  

Implementing a Cloud solution, like many IT projects, requires careful planning, thorough testing and requires continual assessment.    It is not like the rotisserie chicken commercial where you can just “set it and forget it”.  So what are the important steps of managing the cloud service provider ongoing relationship and what should you expect from your cloud provider.

As a nearly empty nest father of six I find myself relating cloud economics to home economics.  When my family lived at home we shopped at wholesale stores.  The idea was that I could get massive quantities of something for a lower per unit cost, thus saving money on the overall budget, even if a little bit would sometimes go to waste or spoil before it could be consumed by the ravaging teenagers.  This compares nicely with the pre-defined public cloud models.  With these models you pick from pre-packaged configurations of servers that might not fit exactly what you need but it will work, usually leaving you with some amount of un-used CPU, RAM or Disk that goes to waste.

Identify. Plan. Solve. Every organization has problems or issues that require solvency – the key is correctly identifying the problems.  You know you want to implement a cloud solution; however, you cannot create a business case to move forward if you are only solving general issues – it won’t work.  Exactly define each business or technical problem in an honest and upfront fashion.  Doing so will help you accurately plan for the best solution within the cloud. By limiting scope to what business problems you are solving, you can focus on each issue independently, thus not biting off more than you can chew. 

One of the advantages of working for, and being a customer of, an “Enterprise” Cloud Service Provider is the ability to test and use the latest, best-of-breed, technologies available in the marketplace. 

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  This is what pops into my head in reviewing the various pricing models that exist for cloud providers.  Unfortunately, I have found that what appears to be pretty straightforward and inexpensive pricing at first glance, from some of the major cloud providers, ends up being extremely complicated, unpredictable, and a much higher cost overall.  In working with various clients and completing our own research, we have found there are various pricing models and several elements that impact the pricing.  The important thing to remember is to do your research and make sure you are reading all of the fine print and asking questions, as what appears to be straightforward, may not be.

“Cloud” has been marketed for the past several years; however, I find there is still confusion around the various flavors of “Cloud”.

Private cloud solutions make sense when they make sense. One of the challenges for the CTO of a company is trying to determine if their strategic IT direction will be to utilize a private cloud.

Do you ever reach a point in your life where and unexpected opportunity arises and you can’t help but think it is the forces of nature that presented it so you might as well take advantage of it? That is exactly how I ended up on a plane thousands of feet in the air getting ready to tandem skydive.

So it’s your sweethearts birthday and being the good partner you are, you are going to bake their favorite cake.  SO you have two options.

Netflix, founded in 1997, is championed as the spearhead for “Cloud Computing v1.0.” But with great power comes great responsibility. Since it’s the first of its kind, it hasn’t quite worked out all the kinks. For example, in 2012 four outages occurred. These outages happened at the most inopportune times- like on Christmas Eve when your family has finally gathered around for the traditional yearly viewing of the classic Die Hard.

To keep with the theme of fear it seemed appropriate I write this week’s blog too since it is so close to Halloween.  Halloween, once referred to as All Hallows Eve, was celebrated by lighting bonfires and wearing scary costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.  Today it has evolved into more social gatherings, costumes and sweat treats, marking the beginning of fall, shorter days and colder nights.

On a recent business trip to Chicago we took a break in our day to play tourist and went to the Sky Deck on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower, formerly named Sears Tower.  It was a rainy overcast day so visibility was not ideal but it was a great opportunity to see the Windy City from 1,353 feet in the air.

Many of you may be a little nervous about placing cardholder data in the “Cloud”.  Don’t worry-this is a normal and welcomed concern.  In February 2013, the PCI Security Standards Council released an Information Supplement titled PCI DSS Cloud Computing Guidelines.  This supplement provides organizations guidance if they are going to be placing cardholder data in the “Cloud”.

Working with a myriad of companies from different industries, it is fascinating to discover why they adopted cloud and infrastructure-as-a-service. Commonly, companies want to focus on its capital and technical resources, business initiatives and growth projects. They do not want to put time and energy into computer hardware and day-to-day support needs