An action plan for cloud management

Companies everywhere are moving core enterprise systems to the cloud. Formerly complicated and expensive on-premises outsourcing implementations are now relatively simple and inexpensive in the cloud. This reduction in cost and complexity is causing an explosion of cloud services and cloud service providers. With multiple cloud services, many companies are losing track of the who, what, where, when and why of their data. Below, we outline potential issues involved in having multiple cloud services and service providers, along with a proposed action plan to stay on top of your growing cloud services environments.

Who is ‘the cloud’?

“The cloud” doesn’t exist. “The cloud” is a hodgepodge of private, public and hybrid data centers used to store data and host cloud services. Cloud service providers typically operate independently from data centers and are ecosystem-driven — they want your data in their environment so you will purchase more of their offerings. To achieve this exclusivity, many cloud service providers prohibit or otherwise restrict access to data or the ability to transfer data between cloud environments. Failure to address these issues in the planning and contracting phases can lead to a nightmare.

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