Three-Step to Craft a Good Cloud Strategy

Today's business strategy is about business growth, cost effectiveness and risk management.     IT strategy is a critical component of business strategy at the age of digitization, and Cloud, now becomes significant consideration in IT strategy, therefore, it’s a strategic imperative for business to craft the effective cloud strategy and benefit business growth for the long term.

Through Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, we learned the three essential elements of strategy: A good strategy has an essential logical structure that being called the kernel, The kernel of a strategy contains three elements 1) A diagnosis of the situation 2) The choice of an overall guiding policy 3) The design of coherent action

We may follow the principles to make a good Cloud strategy kernel:

1.    Diagnose IT Challenges, Explore Cloud Opportunities

IT Challenges: Now many organizations spent 70%+of their resources on legacy infrastructure maintenance & operational projects, worrying about upgrades to hardware and software, IT has the reputation as cost center to play the role as firefighter or controller.

Cloud Opportunities:

A: CIO's roles should be more focus on the strategic side of IT rather than putting out operational fire, and this is where the biggest driver for cloud based services in the business environment.

B: What business problems does Cloud solve that can't be solved by more traditional forms of application and service delivery at a fraction of the cost (and perhaps risk)? As a business why would we choose cloud over some other service delivery technology

C: Does Cloud provide the right opportunities to get out of the non-value adding IT business as soon as possible and only a very few on-premises applications will be kept in the legacy format.

2.    Align Three Cloud Value Propositions to Leverage Choices with Guiding Policies

You need to understand your business, its needs and its operating constraints, before you make any decisions about moving things into the cloud. The potential value proposition via Cloud may include: IT integrate and orchestrate application & service via faster delivery and easy provisioning, with the new characteristics such as elasticity and transparency. Security and privacy are still the biggest concerns for Cloud, and private, hybrid cloud may well open the new chapter for IT to leverage the choice of cloud services and plan the journey.

A: Value Proposition

Cloud technology is a natural extension of commoditizing IT and that advances in network infrastructure...making internet access cheaper & faster directly facilitated offloading computing (hardware, software/services) to the cloud. From business perspective, we may ask:

·         How does Cloud profoundly change enterprise IT?

·         Can cloud deliver genuine benefits for our business?

·         What is the value proposition from a business perspective?

·         What are the business drivers that will lead to an investment in a cloud-based solution?

·         How do we sell the value proposition to the executive group when at the end of the day they really don't care how their applications are hosted or delivered?

·         In the long term: Is a cloud solution just going to end up costing our company more money because it has cost implications for legacy integration, disaster recovery, data management, security and network bandwidth?

B: Profit proposition

IT investment links directly to business outcomes. The challenge for CIOs will be to respond to this revenue-oriented demand while addressing the cost-cutting pressure that will remain. Based on those, the value proposition will guide the adoption plan for cloud ; the profit proposition will do detail cost benefit analysis for the specific situations/scenarios of the organization on use of SaaS, PaaS or IaaS. It must align with the overall goal and priorities. First determine why each service is necessary to your business, and ask:

• How much revenue does it generate?
• How often do your customers use it?
• What "bottom line" outcomes is it going to deliver for our business?
• What sort of costs over-and-above the purchase of the cloud capability are we going to incur in order to embrace cloud?
• Will we see a return on the total cost (direct and indirect) of cloud?
• Does it offer a service-level agreement (SLA) that goes beyond standard uptime promises guarantees response time levels (speed)?
• What part of the cloud will bring the best ROI to the organization?

C: People proposition

Cloud allows staff work anytime from anywhere to access necessary information to make faster decision, increase staff satisfaction, achieve better business continuity capability. The purpose of business is to create a customer, also engage employees, the management may need evaluate people proposition of Cloud by asking:

·         Does Cloud strategy allow us to serve our end customers better, faster?

·         Will our employees improve productivity via taking advantage of cloud base solutions?

·         Can Cloud help business achieve better business continuity capability?

·         Will Cloud truly promote DIY-Do It Yourself or BYOD-Bring Your Own Device culture, then essentially increase staff satisfaction?

·         Will Cloud help shape the future of business: borderless, timeless, wireless, agile & instant on?

3. From Strategy to Execution: Move into Cloud with Confidence  

1). ROI Analysis: Cloud based solutions should be included when evaluating new applications and infrastructure needs and of course a proper ROI analysis that takes into account all aspects of the TCO for the solution.

2). Make Choices: You need a strategy or business position around adoption of the cloud that is based on need and operating constraints. Which is the best model? Do you go fully SAAS or do you limit yourself  to IaaS or PaaS. Do you go public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid model?

3) Cost Calculation: You need to make sure you look at the full cost of implementing your cloud strategy, not just look at the cost of the cloud service itself but also all of those secondary costs that the vendors don't talk to you about

4) Bottom Line Benefit: Based on your chosen strategy, you need to confirm that implementation of your cloud strategy will ultimately deliver a bottom line benefit for your organization

5) Re-architecting home-grown apps to be truly cloud-based, and shifting to on-demand SaaS applications to replace on-premises packaged applications, integrating three elements of applications --getting access to resources, the development process and operating applications. IT operations will need to be restructured and automated to support cloud computing

6). Vendor Evaluation: You need to make sure that the service of a particular cloud provider will adequately meet the needs of your organization, that you fully understand the implications of going into the cloud, and you manage any risks around that, reach a comfort level with the Cloud Provider's commitment to availability and security

7). Cloud Architecture: The biggest part of the cloud architecture is in the use of the term to include both type (e.g. IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and location (public, private, hybrid). It is incredibly important to expand your own answers to take all possible permutations into consideration because, if you don't, you are undoubtedly limiting yourself in terms of how you understand both the benefits and limitations of cloud computing as a component of IT strategy.

8). Three Gifts of Strategy: Adoption of cloud sourcing, with three gifts a) Mobile strategy, b) Cloud strategy & c) Social strategy. These allowed business to have level to innovate & create new revenues . These three strategies effect all other departments, and organization a whole.

9) Re-Imagine IT Finance: IT organization that must be rebuilt for cloud computing is finance. The opaque, inflexible and highly lumpy forms of IT cost allocations will no longer be effective in an environment where alternative providers publish price lists on the Web. CIO & CFO may need work collaboratively to have the new mindset about OpEx vs. CapEx & IT finance.

 10) Enterprise Governance Discipline: Cloud environment converge IT governance and business governance as a holistic management discipline,  to overcome the "shadow IT" obstacle (the business dep. order their own cloud base solution, bypassing IT., etc), enterprise data, process, application, asset need be well managed beyond business’s own firewall and physical boundary, security, governance, risk control and compliance effort need be well integrated into an end to end solution.

Sure, Cloud is a journey, the verb, than a non, cloud strategy as part of business strategy, need be well translated and executed via leveraging business priority and governance, beyond cost, the goal is to focus more on IT capability & capacity via integration & orchestration, and put emphasis on innovation and strategic application investment.

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Cloud Expo Theme: 3-D Cloud-From Vision to Implementation

As Cloud Evangelist, I’ve been participated cloud computing events about five years on the row, this year, from Cloud Connect to Cloud Slam, then this week, headed into Cloud Expo: cloud is truly growing bigger, full of energy, if it’s not too crowed yet.

Compared to last couple of years, Cloud computing has transformed from stage of technology vision into today’s strategic planning and implementation, the conference well articulate the new characteristics of post-digital IT through the tactical roadmap and collective best practices.

1. The DNA of Cloud Computing

·        Orchestration: All things are connected through Cloud

Instead of very specific technology, cloud computing is more about the omnipresent, interwoven fabric to connect all things into internet, based on virtualization, but not limited to it, it’s also about inter-connection, to converge enterprise IT with consumerization of IT, to modernize data center, to orchestrate the interoperability cross multiple platforms, applications and breakdown the silo functions and data, to transform business from ad hoc into harmony. 

·        Agility: Cheaper, better and faster can be the true DNA of Cloud

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, being agile is strategic imperative for any size of organizations, cloud is just such a timely technology and methodology to install agile wings for organization. Cloud accelerates IT transformation from monolithic infrastructure into mosaic design, adapt to light weight SAAS application, to bypass heavy-weight software package, faster provision, elastic to scale up,  automate back office , simplify and standardize IT services and delivery with speed. 

·        Culture Evolution: Change is DNA of Cloud

Cloud not only deliver the hard wins to improve organization’s bottom line, but also unleash the business potential through sharing the idea & data, connecting innovation dots with collaborative tools, growing leadership through reshaping the talent pipeline. Cloud washes the outdated culture, and empower the change management effort with right mindset, technology and methodology.

  

2. 3-D Cloud On the Way:  IAAS & PAAS are new Strength

If in last couple of years, SAAS-Software As A Service is the beauty on the surface of the cloud, this year, Cloud becomes the three-D picture with better vision of its internal strength: IAAS-Infrastructure As A Service and PAAS-Platform As A Service have built up the solid framework and gain momentum through key vendors alliance and standard enforcement, variety of user cases shape up the roadmap and share the best practices.

IAAS and PAAS service transformation will revitalize IT from the maintenance cost center into value added growth center, by deploying menu of service choices and self service portal, IT can empower internal IT development environment with agility, also provide business the flexibility and availability to consume IT resources as needed, and manage & deliver IT service with better visibility and transparency.

3. The Big Data Footprint In the Cloud

Big data, those unstructured data from social platform, mobile and RFID smart devices are expanding its big footprint surround the cloud, are they the big opportunities or big risks, the big strategy or big distraction? The advanced analytics tools, many of them are cloud based, intent to capture the big data insight, amplifying customers’ voices and perceive future of products & services.

Those new emerging vendors & tools also intent to incorporate external big data with internal performance data to complement existing capacity with the new capability, compared to traditional tools, they are more agile, specialized, easy to use and faster to experiment & further employments.  

4. Security, Security, Security

Security is the old story with new theme in the cloud, today’s organization is beyond its own physical boundary, extends into borderless digital edge, the tradition security solutions may not sufficient enough to protect business asset at cloud era, and security & privacy are still the biggest barrier for organizations to jump into the cloud and reap the benefit.

However, Cloud computing may also provide the new lens for both vendors and businesses to review and improve their security strategy and methodology, less stick to “control”:  the mentality grew under the corporate firewall; more focus on policy enforcement and governance capability, to embed end to end security ability into business processes more seamlessly, to enhance trust in this “always connected world”.

Either security for the cloud or cloud based security, the new emerging technology will always blend the proven protection disciplines such as confidentiality, authentication, availability, integrity with the new style of flexibility and resilience.

In summary, Cloud becomes the new normal, with many chances to win big; cloud adopters may no longer be the pioneers, they are surely the mainstream players, to exchange the collective wisdoms and co-create the next generation of IT.

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Cloud with the Chance of Nature Wins

Sky is like the infinite canvas, sometimes, cloud flow and print the art on it, now cloud computing also shape the business society, make a big impact on the new realm of digitization.

Cloud is growing bigger, according to the reputable consulting company’s report,  81% of businesses are either planning,  in early or advanced stages of experimentation or already have full-on cloud implementations. Cloud is the timely transformative technology which helps businesses become more agile, improve processes, and deliver the cost-effectiveness.


Don’t let Cloud pass you by, when we watch the cloud in the sky, we have some expectation, the wind, the rain, the snow, the iceberg,  same as cloud computing, it will bring some strategic nature wins:  


1.   Agile Winds

As lightly cloudy Summer sky brings up the breeze to soothe our feelings and lift up our spirit, the cloud computing will blow the agile winds to reshape the organization with flexibility and scalability, easy to provision, faster to market, cloud is not only the application delivery platform on the fly, but also the efficient mechanism for creating the instant on infrastructure. Cloud adoption is quickly shifting from a competitive advantage to an operational necessity.


Cloud also transforms the CapEx to OpEx, it provides business no matter big or small the new flexibility to take advantage of the latest technology,  to build up the competent capacity with elasticity and agility.

2. Green Rains

Like Spring rain to nurture the land and sprout the green, the cloud computing, based on virtualization,  brings up the energy efficiency, improve the hardware utilization, network reliability, and reduce the carbon footprint, cloud becomes the sustainable technology not only improve business’s bottom line, but also turns green to be the new gold. 

 The natural economies of cloud enforce utilization and smoothing of inevitable workload peaks and troughs, do improve the greater energy efficiency, cloud is also the new solution to help re-designing the data center, and  re-imagine the IT, for the long run, the virtualization and cloud computing do inspire the new hardware design with energy efficiency, increase flexibility, responsibility and manageability, to help build up the more sustainable, also more cost-effective business and to framework the wired enterprise without wire. 

 3 Brain Storms   

As nature storms influence the productivity and our daily life, the cloud-based social computing create brainstorms to make impact on culture and human society.

Like cloud blurs the sky, cloud computings blurs the industrial boundaries and geographic boundaries as well. The infusion of social software capabilities through the enterprise provides the powerful platform to engage employees, connect with partners and customers, to co-create the knowledge stream, to share the thoughts and wisdoms, to wash out the negative rules, to extend information value chain, to amplify the customers’ voice and to inter-connect the better world.

4.      Big Data Shower              

 Like the nature cloud full of water will pour out the shower upon the earth, the online conversations and  applications create exponential data and information which we call the Big Data, the cloud saturated with Big data may also deliver the big data shower, means both opportunities and risks, the opportunity means radical customization, the constant experimentation, and new business model creation, but security and compliance are the potential pitfalls we also need well prepare for.

Like the nature power of shower, big data shower also has big volume, velocity and viability, the organization need capture and analyze big data, because the traditional monolithic data warehouse is no longer efficient enough to bring up the business insight, even the hindsight is not valid enough, since  in today’s rapidly changing environment, history may not repeat itself so often, and only the real time big data can shape our vision and gain foresight for what we should do next,

5.      Innovation Flakes

Like snow flakes whitening the earth, innovation flakes brighten the world, and cloud computing may become the dynamic incubator to turn routine businesses into innovation magic house, because it now takes only fraction of time and cost to try and fail with new ideas, the failure is no longer the fatal pain, it becomes an option for business to learn, grow, try and improve.

For forward-looking business, cloud computing also provides effective platform for open innovation in business design, strategy and marketing experiment, customer communication and talent management, the proven innovation then replicate and scale up to benefit larger base of users with speed.

  6.  Creative Destruction Thunders & Lightening

Like nature thunders and lightening to warn the coming storms, the Cloud computing also signal the age of radical digitization: more creative destructions are on the way to re-imagine IT, business and our personal life, such as E-Book destruct the traditional paper book business, smart phone and mobile computing is destructing the pc, and cloud is destructing the legacy business/IT infrastructure and service.

More radically, Cloud destructs the old way to do the things, inspire the fresh thinking and new communication style, destructs the silo functions, and integrate the business processes into more holistic business management seamlessly.   

7. ICE (Intelligent Consumer Electronic) Bergs

Cloud with the chance of iceberg! The Consumerization of IT, which means many smart personal computing devices such as smart phone, tablet, netbook, e-reader., etc, connected into the cloud, and ascendance of mobile becomes the dominant cloud platform for human interactions both within enterprise and with customers, partners and personal life.

The convergence of smart device with Cloud has transformed our society into the more radical digital age, the whole world get more inter-connected via the Cloud.

Not all Clouds are created equal, pay more attention to the dark cloud on the silver lining, the pitfalls when you jump in, but also, don’t just watch over the cloud and forget to reap the harvest.  

                                                                                                        

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Seven Pillar of Wisdom to Enchant Cloud

This March in Bay Area is truly cloudy, full of raining, plus, it kicked off the annual Cloud Connect conference event, to make the cloud enchanting than ever.

I am Cloud evangelist, participated this cloud show four years on the row, this year it's surely reaching the tipping point: about 100 vendors standing on the cloud, and no vacancy to listen to the keynote speech, cloud has been transformed from the buzz word into the essential phenomena, and Cloudification is on the right path leading into the Cloudeconomy.

Unlike the last couple of year’s show, most of players are SAAS model, try to scratch the cloudy skin, this year, cloud become thicker and multi-dimensional, not only you see many IAAS and PAAS players, but also blue elephant players such as IBM and HP, and virtual tiger player like VMware are eager to climb into the cloud.

Cloud becomes the mainstream, besides what we defined cloud as SAAS, IAAS and PAAS, and more specifically, there’re seven pillars of wisdom to enchant the cloud:
1.Security as Cloud Service

2.Data Infrastructure as Cloud Service

3.Storage & Network as Cloud Service

4.Agile Platform as Cloud Service

5.Performance Analytics as Cloud Service

6.Cloud Brokerage as Service

7.Application Software as Service

This year’s theme is hybrid Cloud, most of the vendors would like to define their cloud hybrid. Well, I think the most important thing is not just treat Cloud as the fashion promotion, more essentially, Cloud is becoming the most invisible but powerful framework to deliver the agile enterprise and help us reinvent many legacy industries and organizations.

Cloud as a sustainable innovation, will be embraced by both fresh startup and industry giant, to create the new dynamic solutions from every IT perspective.

Cloud as a disruptive innovation, may get resisted by those conservatives, finally it will help simplify the software licenses hassles, create new business model and deliver the value at real time.

In summary, Cloud will enchant not only the technology, but also the business vision, and nurture the next generation of leadership, it could become one of the enchantments to win back growth from the recession.

Last but not least, there’re two improvements could be made in this phenomenal show:
1)The show has been hosted on 3/8, the international women holiday, however, there’s no female keynote speaker invited to make a splash.

2)Surely more BI Cloud vendors could be invited to the show to make the Cloud more “brainer”.

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SAAS Met Cloud in 2010’s SAASCON

I did participate SAASCON three years in the row, great conference with well-organized agenda, educational presentations and live expo.

A couple of observations from this year’s event:

1. SAAS met Cloud in this year’s event, though a few CIOs mentioned they don’t have well-established cloud strategy yet, definitely almost every presenters think cloud phenomena is beyond the buzzword now;

2. Microsoft sponsor the event, take the leadership to move applications into the cloud, but how can they differentiate their offering from GOOGLE? Can they also take the initiative to set up the policy and cloud governance?

3. Less exhibition booths compared to last two years, maybe because there’re so many cloud related conferences recently, or economy is still tough?

4. SAAS is proven business model to improve ROI, that’s why HBR credit it as the “best business model in the world”, how bout PAAS, IAAS , the other cloud creatures?

5. Quite many female audiences stand up on the cloud, but no female panelists or female CIO to deliver the presentation, the cloud is still not so colorful.


Microsoft may make the cloud a little bit crowed, but they may bring up some “water vapor” into the Cloud, become the true rainmaker.

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