While cloud computing has the potential to transform current IT practices by making businesses more agile, there are a number of obstacles to enabling the benefits to be derived from moving to the cloud.
"Most obstacles do not apply to every situation, and in our experience it`s possible to circumvent them. Understanding the obstacles helps companies make the right trade-offs," said Robbie Quercia, Technology director, Deloitte.
These potential barriers - and solutions - include:
* Transparency
When moving to the cloud, businesses no longer have to worry about the complex details of how the services are delivered. A potential obstacle lies in this advantage, because the organisation will no longer have insight into whether everything is operating as it should. Vendor audits, service level agreements and robust contracts should be put in place to counteract this barrier. Another option is for a company to operate its own private cloud although this could detract from some of the benefits offered by a public cloud.
* Control
With public cloud computing, an outside service provider controls the IT resources. Under normal circumstances, this is a benefit, allowing the organisation to focus on its core business. However, should a critical system fail, the company will have limited control over the situation. Again, a private cloud model could address this drawback.
* Security and privacy
Usually the first concern associated with cloud computing is security, with rumours and cases of identity theft and cyber security abounding. Companies working with IT outsourcing and third-party business partners are au fait with this problem, having dealt with it from the outset. In the cloud context, organisations should ensure that vendor audits are carried out to establish the required controls.
* Compliance
In many situations, regulations present compliance requirements when moving to a public cloud. For example, using a cloud service to manage sales transactions will require vendors to provide audits of its IT environment, with the logging and reporting that law require. The regulatory requirements for cloud computing aren`t always clear and applicable laws aren`t always enforced for example when services take place simultaneously in a number of jurisdictions. Until regulatory practices catch up with cloud computing usage, this is likely to remain an open issue.
* Geographic restrictions
Since public cloud computing can be delivered in different countries, organisations should be aware of situations where physical location has an impact. For example, European privacy laws require privacy laws require information about EU citizens to remain within the EU. In this case, organisations might need to adopt a cloud model where they can determine where resources are located.
* Vendor viability
Many cloud public cloud vendors are known quantities with significant resources such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, while new vendors aren`t as readily recognised or mature. Rigorous due diligence is essential when selecting vendors, particularly in mission-critical services and systems. The relative immaturity of cloud computing makes due diligence even more important.
"As with everything, a pragmatic approach is usually sufficient to ensure successful migration to the cloud. The Deloitte approach brings a suite of professional services to ensure a smooth transition," said Quercia.
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