As the cloud becomes much more widespread, its adoption has created both new opportunities and challenges. To help technology leaders build a framework to define cloud work and successfully align it to the right areas, global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has published a new blueprint, Design Your Cloud Operations.
Based on research findings, the firm anticipates that traditional IT capabilities, activities, organizational structures, and culture will need to adjust to leverage the full value of cloud services, optimize spending, and manage risks.
Currently, different stakeholders across previously separate teams rely on one another more than ever, but rules of engagement do not yet exist, which can lead to a lack of direction, employee frustration, missed work, inefficiency, and unacceptable risk.
Andrew Sharp, research director at Info-Tech Research Group said,
“Just because an employee is in the cloud doesn’t mean everyone is on the same page about how cloud operations work – or should work,”
“Organizations have an opportunity to implement new ways of working. But if people can’t see the bigger picture – the organizing framework of your cloud operations – it will be harder to get buy-in to realize value from your cloud services.”
Research within the new blueprint further highlights that many organizations have bought their way into a software as a service (SaaS) portfolio. As these key applications leave their networks, infrastructure and operations leaders still have accountability for the apps but have little visibility and control over them.
As well, not every organization is, or will ever be, cloud-only, so it’s expected that operations will continue to be both on-premises and in-cloud for the foreseeable future.
With traditional infrastructure siloes shifting to accommodate a hybrid approach for cloud operations, Info-Tech recommends it is time to consider a step-by-step approach to assess cloud maturity, understand relevant ways of working and create a meaningful design of cloud operations to align team members and stakeholders.
The Blueprint.
The blueprint breaks down this recommended methodology into four phases:
- Understand Risks, Goals, and Maturity: Ensure alignment with the risks and drivers of the business and understand the organization’s strengths and gaps for a cloud operations world.
- Weigh the Workstreams: Understand the balance of different types of deliveries and the work that must be done to deliver business value.
- Apply the Cloud Pillars and Identify Tasks: Reduce risk by reinforcing the key operational pillars of cloud operations to the workstream.
- Organize Around Business Value: Identify work areas and decide which area is responsible for what tasks and how work areas should interact to best facilitate desired business outcomes.
Cloud is a different way of consuming IT resources and applications, requiring a different operational approach than traditional IT. In most cases, cloud operations involve less direct execution and more service validation and monitoring.
Organizations should define their target cloud operations state first, then plan how to get there. Reconstructing on-prem operations in the cloud first will build an operations model that is the worst of both worlds.
About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions.
For 25 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with IT teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
Source: THX News & Info-Tech Research Group.
