As we get deeper into 2021, and it becomes clear that employees at many organizations are going to continue working from home for a while longer, IT leaders have had to do a lot of critical thinking. If the workforce is going to be remote for the foreseeable future, what’s the best way to accommodate them?
Largely, the answer to this question comes down to data center transformation. If people are going to be accessing their data and working with it from a wide range of distributed locations, then their employers must have a way to manage it that is practical, cost-effective, and secure.
And often, this means the cloud.
Cloud technology has been prominent in business for a decade-plus at this point, but it’s only becoming more so now. It’s not hard to understand why – you can’t really get away with keeping data on premises when even your employees aren’t on premises. When your people are scattered everywhere, your data needs to be somewhere that’s easily accessible to all, and the cloud offers that level of access. That’s why, according to the 2021 edition of Gartner’s “Cloud Strategy Cookbook,” organizations today are racing to map out a cloud strategy. Those that do will be best positioned to gain the most from their use of cloud computing.
The problem, according to Gartner, is that many organizations today lack a sound strategy. They’re adopting and using the cloud in large numbers, but they’re often doing so without a cohesive plan to guide their efforts. As a result, they don’t gain as many concrete benefits from the technology as they could. A real cloud strategy, the organization argues, is one that defines not just the “what” and “why” of cloud use, but spells out the “how” in ways that are specific and easily actionable.
When done right, an organization’s cloud strategy can be the launching point for all subsequent cloud activities. Whether you’re assessing your cloud strategy, architecting a new data infrastructure, migrating data, or transforming operations to be more cloud-centric, your strategy can and should be at the heart of all these efforts. And your cloud strategy shouldn’t just be its own separate, siloed thing – if you have other business IT strategies in place, such as those for data center, security, or architecture, your cloud strategy can work with them hand in hand.
Some business leaders are under the mistaken impression that it’s too late for them to draw up a cloud strategy – they’re already in the cloud, for better or worse, and a strategy wouldn’t make any difference. In reality, this is never the case. In fact, Gartner found, most organizations devise their cloud strategies after they’ve already gained some experience with the cloud, and it’s never too late to have a strategy that helps shape future decisions. If you already have an existing cloud infrastructure in place, a strategy will help you achieve more with it.
At Zones, this is what we do. We work hard every day to help businesses achieve more with cloud technology – and your business could be one of them. Connect with us, and we’ll help you map out a strategy that works for you. Does your business need more public cloud, private, or a hybrid? Should you go with AWS or Azure? In just one consultation, we’ll be ready to help you answer all of these questions and more, paving the way to a brighter IT future. All you’ve got to do is reach out.
Zones : Aug 29, 2019 5:18:44 AM
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