Cloud computing is no longer a buzzword. It is now a critical and strategic component for businesses across sectors. The cloud initiative means that IT decision makers have to sort through a copious amount of information to make the right choices, focusing on a holistic view of all aspects of the organization ― not only IT ― that are impacted, including people, processes and technology. Effectively defining and building a complete cloud implementation can lead to a total business transformation marked by expedited product delivery and reduced IT costs.

Just like IT in general, cloud implementations are increasingly moving towards a more hybrid infrastructure. Furthermore, spanning heterogeneous infrastructures, supporting multivendor environments and bridging existing business workflows to this hybrid cloud world requires open approaches such as using open-source services ― just as leading public clouds have done. But within this broad open and hybrid framework, there’s also a need to take into account the specific needs of each individual business.

With the flexibility, efficiency and scalability offered by cloud technologies also comes the challenge of building an implementation that maximizes business potential. Organizations must carefully examine their businesses and existing IT to determine where, and what type, of cloud offers the best cost-performance.

Transforming the current enterprise IT model into a hybrid cloud model is not just a technology transformation. Treating it as such will make the transformation harder and the benefits harder to reap. To uncover the right approach and realize intended benefits it is critical to ensure the right balance of people, process and technology.

Given the rapidly changing technology landscape, most businesses face a quandary when it comes to internal business and IT staff. One such issue is that many veteran employees don’t always have the knowledge of new business process methodologies or of newer architecture, design and implementation skills as they relate to the cloud.

The problem can be addressed through the compelling solution of engaging with customers with deliverables-based engagements. These engagements allow projects within newer business models and technologies to be implemented, while simultaneously using a proven, hands-on mentoring process to foster the development of internal staff. This will enable customers’ staff to be operationally ready to work with the new cloud infrastructures.

At the core of most enterprise IT organizations is a rigid, process-laden approach to platform delivery. With the introduction of a cloud platform, which can greatly simplify their infrastructure, organizations must lay the foundation for proper governance and processes.

To meet customer demands, a more agile, collaborative and iterative process for systems management is necessary. However, many organizations employ a classic waterfall model to systems procurement, a methodology prone to inflexibility in meeting changing business needs and product delivery delays. While stringent processes may be required, especially in regard to security, using a cloud model to automate platform delivery can greatly enhance an organization’s speed and consistency.

There are many technology options when it comes to cloud implementation. The right solution depends on your goals and challenges. Ideally, organizations must use secure, open-source products to build their cloud solution. Additionally, specific technologies allow organizations to manage a variety of hybrid cloud infrastructures. This in turn allows organizations to quickly mobilize and scale across multiple cloud deployments as business needs increase.

Organizations that begin the journey toward adopting cloud infrastructure, without a clear understanding of the destination, are typically left with disappointing results. The unequivocal first step, therefore, in defining a clear cloud strategy, is adopting a holistic view that takes into consideration the people, processes and technology involved.

By Jay Hahm

Jay Hahm is the general manager of Red Hat Korea. ― Ed.