Cloud computing is one such advance.\u00a0 One barrier to adopting cloud as a part of an IT strategy is how we will manage the resources it provides us.\u00a0 Technically, cloud services are beyond our direct control because we do not \u201cown\u201d the underlying infrastructure and have limited say in how those services are designed and deployed.\u00a0 But are they beyond our ability to evaluate and influence?<\/p>\n
There are the obvious challenges in enabling these technologies within our organizations.\u00a0 Cloud<\/a> services are provided by and managed by those whom we consume them from, not within our four-walled datacenter.\u00a0 Users utilizing cloud services may do so outside of IT control.\u00a0 And, what happens when data and service consumption crosses that void beyond our current management capabilities?<\/p>\n {Download this free whitepaper to learn more about GreenPages Cloud Management as a Service<\/a> offering; a revolutionary way organizations can manage hybrid cloud environments}<\/em><\/p>\n In order to manage effectively in this brave new world of enablement, we must start to transition our methodologies and change our long-standing assumptions of what is critical.\u00a0 We still have to manage and maintain our own datacenters as they exist today.\u00a0 However, our concept of a datacenter has to change.\u00a0 For one thing, datacenters are not really \u201ccenters\u201d anymore. Once you leverage externally consumed resources as part of your overall architecture, you step outside of the physical and virtual platforms that exist within your own facilities.\u00a0 A datacenter is now \u201ca flexible, secure and measurable compute utility comprised of delivery mechanisms, consumption points, and all connectivity in between.\u201d<\/p>\n And so, we need to change how we manage our IT services<\/a>.\u00a0 We need to expand our scope and visibility to include both the cloud services that are part of our delivery and connectivity mechanisms, and the end points used to consume our data and services.\u00a0 This leads to a fundamental shift in daily operations and management.\u00a0 Going forward, we need to be able to measure our service effectiveness end to end, even if in between they travel through systems not our own.<\/p>\n So the root question is, how do we accomplish this?\u00a0 There are four distinct areas of change that we need to consider:<\/p>\n First and foremost, we must modify our concepts of what is critical to monitor and manage<\/a>.\u00a0 We need to be able to move our viewpoints from individual silos of technology to a higher level of awareness.\u00a0 No longer can we isolate what is happening at the network layer from what is transpiring within our storage facilities.\u00a0 The scope of what we are responsible for is expanding, and the key metrics are changing.\u00a0 No longer is availability the key success factor.\u00a0 Usability is how our teams will be judged.<\/p>\n In the past, a successful IT team may have strived for five 9s of availability.\u00a0 In this new paradigm, availability is now a foundational expectation.\u00a0 The ability of our delivered services to be used in a manner that enables the business to meet its objectives will become the new measuring stick.\u00a0 Business units will define what the acceptable usability metrics are, basing them on how they leverage these services to complete their tasks.\u00a0 IT will in fact be driven to meet these service level agreements<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Secondly, we have to enable our support teams to work effectively with these new technologies.\u00a0 This is a multifaceted issue, consisting of providing the right tools, processes and talent.\u00a0\u00a0 Tools will need to expand our ability to view, interface and influence systems and services beyond our traditional reach.\u00a0 Where possible, the tools should provide an essential level of management across all platforms regardless of where those services are delivered from (internal, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).\u00a0 Likewise, our processes for responding to, managing, and remediating events will need to change.\u00a0 Tighter enforcement of service level commitments and the ability to validate them will be key.\u00a0 Our staff will need to be authorized to take appropriate actions to resolve issues directly, limiting escalations and handoffs.\u00a0 And we will need to provide the talent (internally or via partners) necessary to deliver on the entire IT lifecycle, including provisioning, de-provisioning and procurement.<\/p>\n Last, IT will be required to prove the effectiveness not only of their support teams, but also of the selection of cloud-based service providers.\u00a0 Because we consume external services does not release us from the requirements of service delivery to our organizations.\u00a0 Our focus will need to shift toward demonstrating that service usability requirements have been met.\u00a0 This will require transparency between our internally delivered systems and our externally consumed services.<\/p>\n This is a transition, not a light-switch event.\u00a0 And as such, our approach to management change must mirror that pace.\u00a0 Our priorities and focus will need to shift in concert with our shift from delivered services toward consumed services.<\/p>\n Would you like to learn more about our Cloud Management as a Service offering? Fill out this form<\/a> and we will get in touch with you shortly!<\/p>\n By Geoff Smith, Sr. Solutions Architect It is inarguable that change is sweeping the IT industry.\u00a0 Over the last five years a number of new technologies that provide huge technological advantages (and create management headaches) have been developed.\u00a0 We have attempted to leverage these advances to the benefit of our organizations, while at the same…Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,236],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-6557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud-computing","category-cloud-management","tag-cloud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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