(c)iStock.com/Erik Khalitov

The benefits hybrid cloud can bring to businesses are not in doubt. What is less understood, however, is how much is too much?

No organisation is likely to jump in with both feet, placing almost all their IT services on public cloud servers due to concerns about control. Yet at the same time, finding the sweet spot – where the business is gaining the maximum benefit from a perfect balance of on-premise IT, private cloud and public cloud services can be extremely difficult.

Has the organisation gone too far and put business operations at risk? Or are they holding back and essentially handicapping themselves? Since every organisation’s needs and responsibilities are unique, there is no easy, one size fits all answer. So how can an enterprise ensure its hybrid IT is, in the words of Goldilocks, just right?

Mapping out the territory

As with any IT project, an organisation adopting hybrid cloud must understand two things: where it is, and where it needs to be. To begin with, the IT department needs to map out its current IT services, followed by the IT environment it currently uses to provide them. It should be able to answer precisely what IT infrastructure provides what services to what part of the business; as well as the skills and other resources that support those services, and the value that they provide to the business. Once it has this understanding, the department can then begin to map out its future.

Put simply, if the loss of an application means the loss of the business, it should be kept safely in-house

This should again start with the services the business will need. If the IT department knows the business’s strategy for the next three, five, or more years, it should know what services will be crucial in supporting that strategy and meeting the relevant milestones. These services should then be mapped to the infrastructure, applications, skills and other resources that they will need to run. Armed with this map, IT will see at a glance precisely how its current capabilities match up with those the business will demand.

With this knowledge, the organisation can develop a hybrid cloud strategy to meet those demands. This is not as simple as keeping all current capacity in-house and using the public cloud to address any shortfalls. For instance, for some services it may be more cost-effective to expand on an in-house application or infrastructure; or to re-train skilled personnel, than to adopt a public cloud service; while for others the exact opposite may be true. The IT department needs to investigate each service in detail to understand precisely where each one is best served; whether that is in-house or on the public cloud.

Knowing the crown jewels

Part of this process will be identifying which applications should never be placed on the public cloud. This means knowing the crown jewels of the organisation; those business-critical applications where failure, or losing control of data, would have catastrophic consequences.

One example of this would be an airline’s reservation system. If this fails, it would cause significant damage to both revenue and reputation. At the same time, the system will contain extremely sensitive personal and financial data on passengers; which present a major risk to the business and its customers if lost. Outsourcing such an application would put the airline at the mercy of its service providers’ practices, rather than having complete control itself. Quite simply, if the loss of an application means the loss of the business, it should be kept safely in-house.

Business needs

On the other end of the scale, IT should be wary of excessive caution; keeping applications in-house when it no longer benefits the business to do so.

IT should however be wary of excessive caution, and keeping applications in-house when it no longer benefits the business to do so

Losing control of an application, or putting the organisation at risk or failing compliance, is an understandable worry. However, in many cases this can lead to IT becoming a function for its own sake, rather than an important function in supporting the business’s overall strategy.

For example, a solicitors’ firm should be focused on providing legal services to its clients and building its business. For every application that is kept in-house, IT will spend more time on troubleshooting and firefighting, rather than supporting those core goals. While the firm’s crown jewels, such as case and document management, will remain firmly in-house, other lower-risk and-value applications can be placed on the public cloud; freeing up IT department resources to focus on critical applications or new projects.

Knowledge is power

In conclusion, knowledge is power. The IT department that knows the services it has, the services it needs, and the changes it has to make to get there, will be able to identify its perfect cloud sweet spot: where the crown jewels are kept in the business, but the IT department’s energy is not spent performing housekeeping for low-risk, low-value applications.

This will be where IT services are providing the maximum value to the business, regardless of where they actually reside.