menu
How Can You Develop a Clearly Defined Cloud Strategy?
How Can You Develop a Clearly Defined Cloud Strategy?
How to Develop a Clearly Defined Cloud Strategy: A well thought out and clearly defined cloud strategy is what can make the migration to a cloud successful. Let's know here about cloud strategy.

How Can You Develop a Clearly Defined Cloud Strategy?

A cloud is nothing but a metaphor used for the Internet. Operating via the cloud means having data storage on the Internet instead of using physical computer hardware. Along with that, it is used to manage and store information. Cloud is nearing the status of conventional practice because of the tangible cost savings proposed by cloud movement or migration. Coupled with the chances offered by edge computing and co-location data centres, moving to a cloud design presents organisations with unparalleled IT flexibility.

Enterprises or organisations need to generate complete strategies for shifting to cloud-first means of working, where the cloud is the prioritised and preferred IT model because:

● It is more flexible and agile.

● It improves IT and business performance.

● Disrupts the business models

● It accommodates to a changing digital world

To develop the best cloud strategy, you need to be aware of a lot of things and have to prepare for the same.

Before you move to cloud, you need to know what kind of cloud is necessary for your organisation or business. The structuring of a cloud is essential. Any business or company which plans on migrating to cloud, will face a significant judgment about what sort of cloud operation is best suited for their requirements. Some of the types of clouds available are:

Read Also: 6 Common Interview Questions for Cloud Architects

Once the decision is made on which kind of cloud interface you want, the next step is to figure out the strategies that can help you in moving onto the cloud. For that you need to:

When migrating to a cloud, you should be mindful of what the risks and the benefits of doing the same are. Some of the risks are as below:

a) Risks:

One of the vital concerns while talking about the cloud, is security. Due to the current world events, most of the time there is increased focus on data privacy and security.

1.1 Public Cloud

Public cloud means that for maximum cost-efficiency, resources are distributed between companies or organisations. The provider of cloud operates and owns the total model, and access is offered via the internet. Adopted by many dealers, this approach provides them with large scalability. However, it narrows the configuration choices for every customer, making them cope with the restricted business process.

1.2 Private Cloud

These offerings are essential and the best way of moving your existing assets to the cloud.
There are options where a cloud infrastructure works only for a single company or an organisation, whether handled privately or by others and hosted within or externally. You should not only concentrate on virtualisation and profits in the total value of ownership on the IT level, but also watch out for cloud offerings that can benefit the business for innovation.

2. Regulatory Compliance: There are several laws which regulate requirements on specific kinds of data applicable to anyone passing, processing or storing it has to follow strict guidelines. If you do not take these rules seriously, it leads to criminal charges and fines. Organisations or companies should ensure any cloud migration goes along with regulatory measures.

B) Benefits:

Once you are aware of the risks, work with the cloud provider and try to reduce or manage the risks.

Once you have worked out the nuances, start using the cloud-based software as a service that can replace some of your application for better access to updates, deployment, and scaling.

Like how the other applications are updated, you need to update your recovery plan in case of a disaster. The cloud is suitable for heavy lifting when it comes to the recovery of data. If the server which is on the premise goes down, you can operate out of the cloud with just a touch of a switch.

Shifting to a cloud has its advantages; however, it should not be rushed. A proper well thought out cloud strategy should be made before any action is taken.

Read also: How do you break into a cloud computing career

User experience is essential in any software. Cloud solutions have end-user engagement  greater than other solutions. They are reacting to trends like social, mobility, collaboration, etc. and are innovating faster. An application may look nice, but the user experience may not be that great when you have to resolve business problems. This then creates a complicated and lousy user experience.

Having an innovative stage that allows your ecosystem to be flexible in accommodating  the current setup and being able to develop new solutions when required. All of this while not having to commence from the beginning, is the way to go. 

What is your budget when it comes to migrating to the cloud and how much extra can you spend if necessary. This will help the company to keep an eye on the cost and money spent on the migration thus saving a lot, if a proper plan is made.

As the efficiency of using cloud solutions advances, there is a risk for companies or  organisations that the customer experience will be affected if the solutions do not articulate between each other without any issues. There can be a very harmonious set of reporting, diagnostics, error handling,    metrics, mistake tracking that can be made and it can be consistent across many types of integrations that are being developed.

Knowing how much data space is required in the cloud is important and makes a lot of difference. It prepares the company for being cost-efficient and they will not have to go back and forth in redoing things.

The cloud offering needs to be built on a solid foundation or infrastructure and should be robust to support and handle different settings from various vendors.

The cloud amenities can depend on the size of your business or company. This crucial information needs to be informed to the third party or the person that is taking care of the cloud migration, the rest can be adapted accordingly.

A cloud strategy is really important if you are planning on migrating to a cloud. It lays down the business outcomes you are looking for and outlines how you can reach there. With the help of a cloud strategy, the migration will be quicker, easier and cost-efficient with better results. Once you are prepared for the pros and cons of the strategy, you do not need to redo something to make it right since the strategy covers it all.

A well thought out and clearly defined cloud strategy is what can make the migration to a cloud successful. Knowing the pros and cons and keeping you aware of all the issues that can be faced, proper steps can be taken to counter these. Along with that, a successful cloud migration means a better output, a better company and flexible workload for the employees.

If you found this interesting and would like to learn more, check out the Cloud Computing Course from Great Learning and upskill in this domain.

Remember Me!


Great Learning is an ed-tech company that offers impactful and industry-relevant programs in high-growth areas. With a strong presence across the globe, we have empowered 10,000+ learners from over 50 countries in achieving positive outcomes for their careers. Know More

© 2019 Great Learning All rights reserved