The shift to cloud solutions in a bigger digital transformation strategy can leave CIOs drowning in service level agreements (SLAs) and a constant analysis of the best cloud environment for each workload. It’s important that CIOs carve out time for cloud management, or they may quickly amass additional costs and end up paying more for cloud software than they ever did for on-premise solutions.
Many IT divisions are used to the old model, where there’s a big push to invest in and implement a technology solution, then sit back and simply maintain the system. Not so with cloud solutions. Instead, CIOs need an active cloud management system that regularly assesses the conditions in a multi-cloud environment and makes adjustments as needed.
There are good cloud management tools out there, but there’s no one solution that works so well that you can set it up and walk away. You may need a combination of two or more cloud management solutions to cover the critical aspects of your situation. There are five areas in particular that need attention:
Cost visibility: Keeping cloud costs in line with the budget can be a nightmare for some CIOs. Just one developer that leaves a virtual machine running over the weekend can leave your budget stripped for the month. You need a tool that can analyze consumption, create accountability, and forecast future use.
Capacity and future resource planning: Before you turn on that new cloud software, you need to have an idea how much you’ll use it, and when. It takes careful planning when it comes to your infrastructure footprint and the allocation of resources for cloud solutions.
Security: As your multi-cloud environment becomes more complex, so will your security needs. Each vendor you work with and each cloud solution creates the possibility for gaps in security, so take time to hash out with your vendors where the responsibility lies in both prevention and risk assumption.
Governance: You’ll need to determine who gets to decide which workloads are placed in each type of environment, as well as who can access various cloud technology. Some cloud management tools allow you to set up policies that are applied across your infrastructure.
Blueprinting: Cloud management needs to include orchestration, automation, and provisioning plans for various solutions, and an important part of that process is service blueprinting.
Ultimately, all cloud management concerns come back to cost. If you’d like to talk more about efficient cloud management, give us a call at Enterprise Visions. We can help you evaluate cloud management tools and create a comprehensive digital transformation plan for your company.