How To Build A Cloud Strategy That Meets Your Business Needs?

The term 'Cloud' has become ubiquitous in today's enterprises. With the onset of digitalization in this sphere cloud adoption is growing globally at a fast pace, with its growth graph peaking every passing year. The reason is quite understandable. Enterprise-wide cloud migration continues to be augmented by emerging competition, as they strive to optimize their resources for better market control. In short, the cloud is no longer just a trend; it is now an essential element for sustenance in the business world.

Despite the increasing cloud adoption, there still exists some confusion around adopting the cloud and taking the most efficient approach. The truth is that adopting the most effective approach depends on the specific business objectives, which vary from case to case. Nevertheless, an expert cloud consulting service provider can tailor strategies optimized for your needs.

Let’s discuss the common considerations that define a good enterprise cloud strategy.

Define Your Goals and Objectives

Start by gathering details on the systems, processes, and technologies that are currently used in your organization to define the business goals and objectives of your cloud strategy. Then, analyze your current unmet needs and identify the business units that are most affected. Also, determine the key stakeholders who will be impacted by the cloud strategy and assess the key enablers for cloud adoption. Based on this analysis, you can then define your cloud objectives. These objectives may include reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction, increasing revenue, achieving operational excellence, acquiring, and retaining new customers, upgrading decision-making processes, and so on. By aligning your cloud strategy with business goals and objectives you can ensure that your cloud investment will have a positive impact on the organization.

Understand Your Current Infrastructure

Before implementing cloud technology, evaluate your current infrastructure, including software, hardware, network, and data center, to ensure they align with your organization's needs and objectives. You should also evaluate the data governance policies, including data quality, data security, data privacy, and data management practices. Therefore, you must carefully assess the specific needs of your IT infrastructure and the potential benefits of moving it to the cloud.

Assess the Readiness of Your IT Infrastructure

To determine whether your current IT infrastructure can accommodate new changes, it's essential to perform a readiness assessment. This evaluation should encompass a range of factors, including security management practices, internal SLAs (Service Level Agreements), continuity and performance planning, compliance with security standards, and the reliability of your internal IT services. By carefully evaluating these criteria, you can ensure that your company is prepared for the challenges and opportunities that come with new technology adoption.

Choose the Right Cloud Deployment Platform

When it comes to migrating your data to the cloud, it's important to choose the most effective cloud deployment model for your computing needs. Let's explore the common cloud deployment platforms you can consider.

• Public Cloud: A cloud platform that is owned and operated by third party providers and made available to the public. It is an excellent option if you want to leverage the benefits of cloud computing, such as scalability, without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.

• Private Cloud: The private cloud platform is owned and operated by a single organization, whether on-premises or through a third-party provider. This choice is ideal for all businesses especially large enterprises with stringent security and compliance requirements as it offers full control over your cloud infrastructure.

• Hybrid Cloud: The Hybrid cloud platform combines both public and private cloud deployment models. It allows you to take advantage of the benefits of both cloud models while still retaining control over their critical data and applications.

• Multi-Cloud: This platform leverages multiple cloud providers to support various workloads or applications. It can be a mix of public and private clouds, and it provides you with flexibility and the ability to choose the best cloud provider for your specific needs.

By carefully evaluating each of these cloud platforms, you can build up the most effective cloud computing strategy for your business.

Choose the Right Cloud Deployment Model

Choosing the right cloud deployment model is important to ensure that your organization's computing needs are met effectively and efficiently. Each model offers unique benefits that can help address specific enterprise cloud challenges. Let's understand the common cloud deployment models and their features.

• Software as a Service (SaaS) : It provides a complete software solution that is managed and hosted by the cloud provider. This allows you to access and use software applications without needing to install, maintain or manage the underlying infrastructure. SaaS is ideal if you want to quickly deploy and scale software applications while accessing the latest features and upgrades.

• Platform as a Service (PaaS) : PaaS offers an environment where you can build and deploy custom applications without the need for managing the underlying infrastructure. Choose this model if your business needs to quickly build and deploy custom applications without the need for significant capital investment.

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) : This model provides you with the building blocks of computing infrastructure, such as virtual servers, storage, and networking resources. This could be a good option if you need to deploy your own software and applications on a scalable and customizable infrastructure.

Create a Strategy Implementation Roadmap

For the successful implantation of your cloud strategy, you should create a comprehensive roadmap that helps you adopt and integrate cloud technology into your business operations. The following steps should be considered.

• The cloud implementation strategy should be flexible enough to accommodate the changing needs of your business. Therefore, you must establish a change management process to outline how modifications to the cloud strategy will be handled, communicated, and implemented.

• Additionally, a training and communication plan should be developed to ensure that your stakeholders and end-users are aware of the plan and understand how it will affect their work. This plan should include training sessions, workshops, and clear communication channels to address any questions or concerns.

• Finally, you should include a clear timeline with measurable goals and objectives to ensure that the implementation is progressing according to the plan. Do regular check-ins and reports to track progress, identify challenges, and adjust the plan as needed.