According to a PwC study, 97% of organisations believe project management is critical to business performance and organisational success, and in my opinion there are good reasons for that. Project management methodologies provide a proven framework to break down complexity, and bring together people, processes, technology, organisational structure and tools.

Typically, project management techniques are used for large IT infrastructure and large technology led change programmes. But, as we move more and more critical applications into the cloud, should we be using project management techniques and methodologies in cloud provisioning? Is it necessary?

In very simple cloud deployments it is generally not seen as necessary and, as a result, many cloud service providers don’t offer these specific resources to their new customers. That said, the cloud service providers that do offer this as a service to their customers do absolutely see the benefits.   The project manager acts as a single point of contact from start to finish of the deployment. From my experience, especially when working with some large service providers, the prospect of finding the right person, department, or process can be daunting and without a single point of contact, previously relayed information often gets lost or miscommunicated. Additionally, even though the technology has matured and the process of utilising cloud interfaces is simpler than ever before, customers still benefit from a tailored onboarding plan for their technical administrator, which is where the project manager can really help.

In more complicated scenarios, the assignment of a project manager from the cloud service provider has become an absolute necessity.  As cloud becomes more mainstream, so organisations are putting more of their critical infrastructure into the cloud and this means the specific requirements and scope are also increasing, hence the reason why those project management skills are more widely sought after.

These more encompassing use cases require flexibility and add-on items to standard infrastructure as a service (IaaS), disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS), and other offerings. Here at iland we have a number of project managers that are finding that more and more customers want to utilise direct circuits to our data centres, and they want to colocate or rent specific physical devices for utilisation alongside public or private cloud, or need to implement ever more complicated networking which goes through phases of testing. In the course of providing those services, there is increasingly a need to interact with and manage several telecommunication providers, equipment manufacturers, MSPs, consultants of different hierarchies and levels of information and familiarity.

The key here is having a project manager who can communicate on all levels with all the various stakeholders, as well as the ability to customise the project methodology to the exact requirements which will ensure there are more controls and transparency around the deployment.

To that effect, we offer a bespoke tailored deployment to every one of our customers.  For example, the setup of our iland Secure Cloud DRaaS utilising Zerto replication technology comes with a deployment plan and a kickoff call during which we go over all deliverables needed for a successful DRaaS set up, while also providing any relevant training and feedback to help it to run successfully post-implementation. All of this is possible as each of our customers are provided with a dedicated project manager to guide the project teams on both sides throughout their deployment and onboarding experience.

So today there is real value in having a project manager assist in cloud deployments and I believe this is now just as relevant in both simpler and more complex scenarios. We put strong emphasis on processes and methodologies that help customers cut time and costs in getting their iland environments up and running. Most importantly, we believe in improving the overall customer experience.

Undoubtedly the predictability and transparency brought about by our tailored project management methodologies certainly helps with this.  In our view cloud deployments today are just like any other technology deployment, especially in our highly complex and constantly changing world. Therefore the need for those prerequisite skills to manage the deployment successfully will mean that the customer sees the return on the investment in cloud projects they were expecting.

Cloud computing services supported by converged networks will create new opportunities for forward-looking senior executives to make informed decisions and gain significant new strategic competitive advantages.

According to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan, transaction data is the new currency for the digital enterprise and high-speed, dedicated and secure network connections are crucial for senior decision makers to monetize their commercial data residing in cloud services.

Furthermore, an integrated network with cloud services will ensure a secured network to deliver business-critical applications and data to support executives in achieving their digital transformation agenda and related business outcomes.

Converged infrastructure market development

Industry verticals, both traditional and emerging, are already investing heavily in integrated networks as part of their cloud-first journey to leverage next-generation technologies – such as big data, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT).

«Converged infrastructure offers a more evolved cloud computing platform to derive better cost efficiency and time savings,» said Mayuri Ghosh, senior consulting analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Network-enabled cloud services with next-generation security features will provide the reliability of a private network – such as multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and Ethernet – allowing enterprises to take advantage of a flexible and multi-tenant, usage-based billing model.

According to the Frost & Sullivan assessment, savvy vertical industry leaders are currently adopting MPLS, Ethernet, and leased lines to create a seamless network experience — this includes banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, eCommerce, professional services, retail, healthcare, and the hospitality sector.

Deploying network-enabled cloud computing will:

• Allow cloud services to seamlessly fit into existing enterprise network architecture;
• Act as an extension of the enterprise wide-area network (WAN), enabling remote employees and partners to connect to cloud-based applications in a secure manner;
• Extend the flexibility of the cloud model to network services so that network resources can scale as required; and
• Help enterprises take advantage of increased application performance resulting from improvements through network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN).

«Cloud and network value chain providers together can realize the network-enabled cloud for the enterprise,» said Ghosh. «For network value chain providers – including network managed service providers, Telcos, internet service providers, and network original equipment manufacturers – network ownership and maintenance is the key value proposition, and effectiveness is vital to success.

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Businesses and business units of all sizes can benefit from cloud computing, but many don’t want the cost, performance and security concerns of public cloud nor the complexity of building their own private clouds. Today, some cloud vendors are using artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify cloud deployment and management. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Ajay Gulati, Co-founder and CEO of ZeroStack, discussed how AI can simplify cloud operations. He covered the following topics: why cloud management is a barrier to adoption and the role of AI in cloud deployment.

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