Trending today—the cloud. Are we going to get it right?

The cloud has arrived. The indicators are there — jargon proliferation, freshly minted corporate titles, resumes peppered with experience in this field, and the ever-present conversation at networking events around cloud strategy.

So, are we going to get this one right? Or, will we jump on the bandwagon repeating the patterns of the past? Our natural tendency is to seize the promise of new stuff — client server, ERP, data warehousing, CRM, virtualization, to name a few. But, I dare say that we suffered some pains in the past as we jumped on these bandwagons — longer times to ROI, no early wins, and messy or costly implementations. There was promise of good stuff, and we got there eventually – but “ouch!”

We are at that point with the cloud where we can pause and get it right. Take the time to analyze why we are moving to the cloud, with what applications, and how. Get the data about what you want to move to the cloud, and why.

A savvy CIO or CTO evaluating these initiatives today would not choose cloud computing simply because his/her peers are doing the same. Instead, that CIO/CTO would ask:

1. What apps are suitable for cloud deployment or migration?

2. Does moving to the cloud - public, private or hybrid - really save me money?

3. Once I deploy or move an app to the cloud, how do I know it is continuously operating at optimal performance?

The opportunity with the cloud is about moving applications with agility and flexibility beyond your data center. So, get the data, and get it right ... capture actual workload and performance information across physical, virtual, and cloud and couple it with analytics about where you get the best bang for your buck. In other words, jump on the bandwagon, but be armed with the facts.