Feel like you’re Painting by Numbers to Create Your Cloud Strategy?
Trying to plan a cloud strategy is akin to painting by numbers. The difference is that with cloud strategy, you can’t simply paint over the section if find yourself with a poor outcome—you’re stuck with what you get.
The alternative is to plan and prepare—but that can take months, and in the meantime your business unit leaders are asking for a plan right now. Why is it so complicated to plan a cloud for your business—and how can you safely shorten the decision-making process?
Demystify Cloud Pricing
Most businesses are invested in the hybrid cloud—in fact, the average business will utilize four separate clouds: two public clouds and two private clouds. There is a widespread understanding that the TCO for the public cloud is less than that of the private cloud—but for some businesses, this may not be the case. So how do you make the right choices in the cloud?
Finalize Your Performance Requirements
You might discover that the best path forward for your business means taking radical steps as opposed to incremental improvements. You’re not alone in this—IDG found that at least 40% of businesses give up at least some of the public cloud after trying it. The goal is to find the best way to support your company, not simply adopt what’s new.
If you find that a major infrastructure shift will make your application more stable, easier to run, more cost effective—or ideally a combination of all three—then it’s definitely worth considering. The countervailing point is that other business drivers, such as providing detailed customer support, may overrule considerations such as cost. It may be worth it to spend more to get what you want.
Choose a Robust Cloud Provider
Tools like CloudGenera, a service offered through Comport, allow you to make critical, data-based decisions in a short time. Use CloudGenera to rapidly understand the mixture of infrastructure and applications you need to support your business:
- Security
As far as security is concerned, 43% of companies have concerns about where their data is stored in the public We use our tool to determine how much on-premise storage and networking you’ll need to handle your most sensitive data. - Compliance
Healthcare and financial companies among others may find that their data is governed by strict regimes that limit where they can store their data. CloudGenera can help companies understand their exposure to compliance rules and plan their infrastructure accordingly. - Uptime
Architecture matters here. Certain cloud architectures such as hyper converged infrastructure or Composable Infrastructure will have innately higher availability than older models. CloudGenera will help you keep this in mind as you compare existing to new equipment and applications. - Support
Finally, there’s support to consider. The difference here is simple—if your private cloud breaks, you can fix it yourself. If your public cloud breaks, you have to wait for your provider. Comport can help you configure your private cloud so it can back up your data if the public cloud goes down.
Reach out to Comport to realize your new infrastructure plan with cutting-edge systems like the HPE Hyper Converged 380, powered by Intel® Xeon® processors. For more information on how to actualize the perfect data center for your needs, contact us now.
Author: Bill Flatley, Field CTO for Healthcare
Bill is responsible for technical strategies and recommendations for Comport’s Healthcare clients. His extensive experience includes four healthcare systems in leadership roles supporting Clinical Applications, Digital Health, and Office of the CIO as the primary liaison between IT and the business.
