Five steps in "clouds" the Instruction of transfer of business to clouds

Transfer of business to clouds

Audit. The first what the travel to "clouds" - the full audit of the current IT infrastructure including begins with:

• inventory hardware and software;
• extent of use of resources;
• statistics on appeals of users to service help desk.

Pay attention to perimeter of network infrastructure as the quality and availability of cloud services directly depends on how "the last mile" to operators what reserves or alternatives are available to you is organized.

Level of service (SLA). Every time when you address suppliers of cloud services, the agreement on the level of service (SLA) will be a cornerstone in your relations. Therefore it is necessary to pick up at once professional provider of IT services who works on the agreements checked by time.

Business case. Having a detailed picture on the current infrastructure and expectations on the level of service, you can analyze as transition to a cloud platform will allow to save. For example, you use own virtualization platform for a hosting of Online store with average loading of 40%. At the same time guaranty period of the equipment comes to an end. What to do? It is obvious that this block of infrastructure - the good candidate for migration for a cloud. However exact calculations for a template of the standard business plan will give a reliable basis for decision-making at the level of the CEO.

Migration. The supplier of cloud services is always interested in that moving of your virtual machines and applications happened as soon as possible more without serious consequences. At the same time it is always better to put the full project on migration of applications in "cloud". Employ the architect of cloud infrastructures, work service model of support of IT taking into account adding of support services of the outsourcer in your processes of ITSM. For critical business systems make stress tests.

Operation. At an operational phase be convinced that "cloud" did not become for you "a black box". Ideally the relations at 3 levels of management should be maintained: executive (Business Executive, CEO), operational (IT Operations, CIO) and technical (Service Desk, IT Support). Never hesitate to ask cloud provider what new services he is going to start in the nearest future. Make sure that these new services well lay down on your own plans for development of IT.

Thus, having collected key knowledge of process of transition to clouds, you will be able to interact with the supplier of cloud services at the professional grade that will increase satisfaction of end users and will allow to optimize business^[1].

At well thought over and timely implementation of appropriate technologies and also the corresponding correction of business processes under conditions of cloud business, cloud computing can create unique strategic advantages to business. 5 highlights which are in detail opening an essence of cloud computing and their advantages are given below:

1. Outsourcing – the first step in Clouds

• Running repair and preventive maintenance of computers, servers (diagnostics of faults, replacement of the failed component parts, software configuration);
• Running repair and preventive maintenance of printers and copiers (diagnostics of faults, replacement of the failed component parts, filling and cleaning of cartridges for laser printers and copiers);
• Administration of your servers and LAN (differentiation of access rights of users, organization of backup);
• Maintenance of operability of the LAN cable system;
• Technical advices by phone in the volume which is not requiring diagnostics of the equipment and direct intervention of the specialist;

You pay the fixed subscription fee of the professional organization, and at your disposal a team of specialists. Specialists quickly come to you every time when you call them.

2. A hosting – the second step to Clouds

Hosting (engl. hosting) — service in providing computing powers for physical placement of information on the server residing in network (usually the Internet). A hosting is also called the service in placement of the equipment of the client in the territory of provider with ensuring connection it to communication channels with high capacity (a collocation, from engl. colocation).

Usually mean by a concept of service of a hosting at least service of file allocation of the website on the server on which it is started software, necessary for request processing to these files (Web server). As a rule, the service of a hosting already includes providing the place for mail correspondence, databases, DNS, file storage, etc. and also support of functioning of the relevant services.

3. DPC the Data processing center – the third step to Clouds

DPC the Data processing center, Data center (from engl. data center) — the specialized building for placement (hosting) of the server and communication hardware and connection to channels of the Internet.

The data center performs functions of processing, storage and dissemination of information, as a rule, for the benefit of corporate clients. The DPC is focused first of all, on the solution of business challenges, by provision of services in the form of information services. Consolidation of computing resources and means of data storage in DPC allows to reduce total cost of ownership IT infrastructure at the expense of a possibility of effective use of technical means, for example, of redistribution of loadings for an optimal solution of business challenges and also due to cost reduction by administration.

Data centers are usually located in limits or in close proximity to the communication hub or a point of presence of any one or several operators. The quality and capacity of channels influence the level of the provided services as the main quality criterion of work of any data center is time of availability of the server.

4. The virtual machine – the fourth step to Clouds

The virtual machine (virtual machine) — the program and/or hardware system emulating the hardware of some platform. On the virtual machine, as well as on the real computer, it is possible to install operating systems (for example, Windows can be started in the virtual machine under Linux or on the contrary). On one computer several virtual machines can function (it can be used for simulation of several servers on one real server for the purpose of optimization of use of resources of the server).

5. The software as service – the fifth step to Clouds

The software as service (engl. software as a service, abbr. SaaS), the software upon the demand of (engl. software on demand, abbr. SoD) — a business model of sale and use of the software at which the supplier develops the web application and independently manages it, providing to customers access to the software via the Internet.

Main advantage of the SaaS model for the consumer consists in lack of the costs connected with installation, updating and support of operability of the equipment and the software working at it.

In the SaaS model:

• the application is adapted for remote use;
• several clients use one application (the application kommunalno);
• payment is levied or in the form of a monthly subscription fee, or on the basis of the volume of transactions;
• technical support of the application is included in payment;
• upgrade and updating of the application happens smoothly and is transparent for clients.

Within the SaaS model customers pay not for ownership of the software as such, and for its lease (i.e. for its use via the web interface). Thus, unlike the classical scheme of licensing of software the customer incurs rather small recurring costs, and he does not need to invest considerable means in acquisition of software and hardware platform for its deployment, and then to maintain its working capacity.

The scheme of periodical payment assumes that if need for the software temporarily is absent, then the customer can suspend his use and freeze payments to the developer.

From the point of view of the developer of the proprietary software the SaaS model allows to fight against non-licensed use of the software as the software does not get to final customers effectively. Besides, the concept of SaaS often allows to reduce costs for deployment and implementation of the systems of technical and consulting support of a product, though does not exclude them completely.

5 hidden costs at migration in a cloud

Cloud computing gives new, easier way to provide necessary IT resources, but it is necessary to know about all expenses connected with it.

Heads of business hurry to implement the potential of economy of cloud computing, requiring from the directors of technology to pass into a cloud as soon as possible. However at the same time it is necessary to understand that there are hidden costs connected with such transition. The research conducted by Association of audit and control of information systems (ISACA) under the name "Calculation of cloud return is devoted to this question: from the point of view of the customer" ("Calculating Cloud ROI: From the Customer Perspective").

Contingencies at primary migration of systems

In addition to a payment for licensing of software and support, services of the supplier of a cloud, system administration of a cloud and data transmission, are also other, less obvious expenses at migration. They turn on the cost of alteration of applications that they could work in the virtualized environment, change of formats of data that they matched formats of the supplier of SaaS, the organization of uniform management of identification and access and development of processes for management of a cloud. These expenses can be surprise for the IT manager.

Return of services at change of regulatory requirements

It can turn out that the organization should return some IT resources from a cloud back - we will tell if new regulatory requirements establish more strict rules of ensuring confidentiality of data that makes impossible use of a cloud. In that case the organization should transfer data from a cloud back, having provided their accuracy, to make destruction or data scrubbing, stored in a cloud, to configure own systems to replace cloud services, to pay compensation for early agreement cancelation, to redistribute IT resources for support of the returned services and, perhaps, to purchase new physical resources to provide a hosting of the postponed services.

Implementation of counter-measures on risk mitigation

Perhaps, the organizations should take actions to avoid risk - for example, to implement means of data encryption, to plan and test the strategy of risk mitigation and to provide storage of backup copies and magazines of audit on independent carriers. IT managers can expect problems not always.

Loss of the internal IT resources providing competitive advantage

The organizations can use strategic internal systems or applications which if to transfer them to a cloud, will lose the efficiency.

The models conducting to "binding" can limit your choice

The risk to be strictly attached to certain suppliers of a cloud or to proprietary models of service can complicate future acceptance of services on the basis of open standards in process of their emergence.

Notes