Cloud computing is a solution and not as a problem. Driving modernization in the IT sector by using the cloud is successful only with an efficient strategy of automation and effective standardization.
The adoption of cloud computing in the market has seen quick growth in recent years because of the expected revenue to exponentially grow in the coming years compared to the usual IT revenue from the past years.
Though many organizations have been able to implement firewall-as-a-service and database-as-a-service under the public cloud computing services, many organizations still face difficulty in migrating their entire workload to the cloud system.
To get the full value of a cloud environment, it is essential to understand that approaching this system as one smart decision will not be enough. Rather implementation of a cloud system should be a part of a complete digital transformation strategy.
This type of strategy can work by automation and standardization of the IT department by going for a modern move of security, adopting an Agile model, using an open API model, and expanding the landscape of innovation in business solutions.
The businesses implementing cloud computing services in such an approach can enhance the efficacy of their IT teams and bring along business growth in this era of digital evolution.
Lifting and shifting is not the proper solution
While migrating to the cloud, traditional businesses face these two significant problems:
- Presently working applications are developed having the traditional IT framework in mind. Thus, these applications are restricted to a specific capacity, and that too in just some data centers. moving these applications straight away to the cloud will not bring in the cloud’s dynamics.
- The technological workforce of traditional businesses a skilled in developing these applications as per the old IT framework. Hence, the team needs upskilling as per the cloud environment.
Most of the traditional IT framework still work with an old security strategy. Still, cloud environments have adopted modernization and allow the access of data and information to the authorized people via some metrics.
If these traditional applications which have been developed and deployed according to the old IT framework are not remodeled and reconfigured, the migration to the cloud could harm the enterprise.
What are the advantages of IT automation using the cloud?
Having cloud environments is a necessity to enable automation and standardization in the IT sector. With cloud computing, companies can:
- See a reduction in the overhead IT costs of almost 40 to 50%
- Scale the processes of the IT domain as and when needed, which leads to the optimization of using IT assets
- Improve the collaboration of business needs and IT flexibility
- Enhance the quality of services, for example, automatic allocation of more space to databases
Some key pointers to win the cloud game
Businesses can deploy several strategies that have been beneficial for the ones adopting the cloud-based infrastructure early in their work frame. Some of these include:
- Performing an evaluation on the existing IT structure– Before you jump your workload to cloud-based platforms big deep into your IT portfolio, understand what works best for cloud compute platforms or any other alternatives of SaaS.
- Selection of Migrating strategy– Set up a meeting with all your essential stakeholders and discuss whether your business will be an opportunistic or aggressive transformer.
-
Understand your business and IT goals- Develop a practical set of result-driven aspirations for long-term and short-term achievements concerning your approach.
- Keep the buy-in intact– Make sure both investment and commitment are achieved from the higher management, especially the ones leading the finance department who will support transferring the capital to investments and operations.
- Change management needs to be addressed- Working on a highly automated and agile model will require some considerable changes in the mindsets and working of the IT department. You will have to invest in change management and the growth of multi-functional skills across all applications, security, and infrastructure.
- Bring in the new KPIs– Do not go by the availability of your technology team instead, appreciate or reward them for handling the complex automation and standardization.
When you explore the landscape of cloud computing in initializing IT automation, the business will have all flexibility, scalability, efficiency, agility, and cost reduction. but this could only be possible when the enterprise develops both cloud capacities and automation.
