Do you have a clear vision of what you are going to do with the Cloud? Or do you just have cloudy vision? And if it's the latter, what could you do to have a clearer view? Here are some basic thoughts.
When can I start?
There are plenty of IT services which you can consider moving to the Cloud right now. As the Cloud matures and improves service availability, reliability, and security, more services can be moved to this environment. Start thinking about this right now.
Profiling
As part of your preparation, make sure to profile each application and service. What security is needed? What availability is required? How business critical is each service? Are we talking commodity service or niche application? What does it cost to provide the service right now? What cost savings are realistic?
Governance
Some people think that once you have moved services to the Cloud you can forget about governance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Make sure you have robust governance arrangements for BAU service, for changes, and for DR situations. And are you going to test these governance arrangements properly to ensure they work? Of course you are.
Training & change management
Moving to the Cloud should be managed just like any proper project. So don't forget to engage stakeholders, identify training needs, have a communications plan, prepare people for change.
Review
And hold a post-implementation review. Check that you have achieved the objectives and business benefits documented in the business case. You did produce that of course and get it signed off by the executive sponsor.
Same old, same old
The technology of the Cloud may be relatively new, but any move to the Cloud needs the same discipline as for any project. Sort that out and your vision should be clear. Happy cloud busting.
