Casper Ballemans

Cloudwatervrees - Everything you always wanted to know about Cloud, but were afraid to ask...

Everybody knows, everybody shouts and everybody evangelizes: Cloud is the way to go! Cloud computing promises to be a fundamental transition in the ever ongoing evolution of IT. Measurable benefits such as lower costs, greater agility and better resource utilization have already spurred initial adoption.

You are convinced of the benefits of the cloud; such as increased business agility, flexible capacity, pay per use and faster access to new technology. Next to that, the cloud offers services and functionality that you can just switch on and use. We at McCoy like to compare it to energy or water: just turn the lever or push the button and get what you need instantly. No need to maintain additional overhead yourselves, other than to pay for what you use.

What’s up? Why aren’t we all-in on cloud then? Why are we still running complex on-premise landscapes, afraid to touch or move them?

People fear that they will no longer be master of their own data, are afraid of vendor lock-ins and assume data is not safe in the cloud. They are not fully convinced of the continuity when they handover certain activities to a managed service provider or a cloud provider. And also: will my system behave the same in the cloud as it does on premise? “Do-not-touch behavior” is imminent when discussing cloud migrations.

Cloudwatervrees” The Dutch way of saying that people are afraid to go to the cloud.

We think that’s just getting cold feet. While a move to cloud computing can bring huge operational and financial rewards, it seems like a complex and challenging undertaking that requires careful planning and some deep thought about what your priorities are.

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To allay these fears, first it is important to know what the real differences are between the different cloud scenarios and IT infrastructure on-premise. Next to understanding the different cloud options, it’s crucial to have a well prepared Cloud Adoption Plan. McCoy delivers best practices and adoption accelerators to help you embrace the Cloud.

On-Premise

On-premise is nothing more than the English and IT usual term to indicate that you have IT infrastructure at your own premises. This can be in-house or with the support of an IT delivery partner.

Private Cloud

The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns. It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises. In practice we often see that solutions being offered as Private Cloud, prove to be not so private; your systems reside in the same zones and on the same hardware blades as your competitors, customers and other organizations.

Public Cloud

This is what most people think of when they hear the term “cloud computing.” The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It can be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud

This kind of cloud infrastructure is a combination of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.

Hybrid cloud landscapes provide flexibility, scalability and security for any type of business. It is the solution to allow data and applications to seamlessly work together, regardless of location. Whether on-premise, in the data center of a service provider or in the cloud.

Where do I need to go?

Which of these is right for your organization? The answer will depend on several factors, but one key issue for any organization is security. Moving to the cloud can simplify and improve your security posture by shifting a large portion of security management burden to an infrastructure environment that’s designed and managed to the specifications of some of the world’s most security sensitive organizations.

Another obstacle may be the need to work with organizational processes already in place, and with the technological expertise you already have in-house. This is where moving infrastructure to the cloud can help. You will still be able to take full advantage of employees’ skills and experience with your company’s specific applications.

The last point of attention for the moment is the level of complexity of your on-premise systems. It’s often useful to simplify your application by bringing it back to standards, before moving it to the cloud. Reducing complexity helps in moving efficiently, at low costs and the right pace and platform.

No fear

With greater flexibility, lower infrastructure cost, and lower operations overhead, there’s a lot to love about a move to a cloud architecture. And with private and hybrid cloud options offering all the control and transparency an organization could want, there’s no reason to fear cloud computing anymore.

Where should you start? McCoy offers several fast track programs and assessments to accelerate your cloud migration. With the proven Cloud Adoption Framework we assess seven aspects that could be affected when a company decides to (partially) move it’s IT to a cloud environment. With the McCoy framework an organization can design and build a cloud migration strategy with instant results in an iterative way of working. It is important to mention that any of the cloud options (hybrid, public, private, etc.) mentioned in this article can be the end state of the architecture. You just need to get started and simplify your landscape.

If you need more information of if you are triggered by this article, please contact our cloud team at info@mccoy-partners.com or check out more information about the McCoy Cloud Assessment and start optimizing your SAP solutions.