Your Cloud Future Is HereHow IT Can Embrace The Business Demand For Cloud And Exceed Expectations

What is happening in the cloud market today, and what to

do to ensure success tomorrow

Until fairly recently, it was widely agreed that cloud computing was to be the future of IT, but also that it wasn’t quite ready yet for most enterprises. That future has arrived. Cloud is no longer in the future for most enterprises; it’s here today. Cloud adoption and spending continue to rise even as the expectations from businesses and employees alike go higher and higher. Businesses are serious about using cloud services to speed up processes, respond more quickly to changing market conditions, and reach new customers.

What is different from the past is that today, if business users — your employees — can’t get these benefits from central IT departments, they have the knowledge and tools to circumvent IT and do it themselves. There is no longer any need for users to wait for IT departments to evaluate their request, procure and install hardware, configure it, and finally release it to them. Users can obtain service in minutes, using nothing more technical than their credit cards.

In the past, IT leaders have had three options: Ignore cloud, block it, or embrace it. The first two options are now off the table — the cloud ship has sailed. IT departments can no longer view cloud services as competition or as a threat to their significance. The business has always relied on central IT to understand its technology requirements and to balance speed and innovation against security and reliability — it should be no different in the cloud. IT now has an opportunity to not only embrace cloud but be the driving force for business use.

Because of their experience and understanding of user requirements, corporate IT departments have invaluable knowledge to support business users in the selection and operation of cloud-based services. Who better than IT can bring together both technical and business requirements and make a considered recommendation for the best approach in each situation? Evaluation should consider all aspects of the proposed service: technical, financial, regulatory, security, and so on.

The new cloud services will need to be integrated into an existing IT infrastructure, and this integration will require careful planning if the added infrastructure complexity is not to become a challenge for traditional IT operations. Different services will inherently be better suited to particular infrastructure offerings, and IT departments will need to deal with that heterogeneity and advise the business on how to take full advantage of their IT support.

It’s time for IT leaders to leverage their planning, management, and operations skills to take control of cloud strategy and exceed what the business expects to gain from using the cloud. A winning cloud strategy must overcome any new operational challenges that stand in the way of delivering what the business wants.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BMC commissioned Forrester Consulting to explore the key elements of such a strategy, so they conducted an in-depth survey on behalf of BMC, of nearly 300 global enterprise IT decision-makers with responsibility for cloud strategy, implementation, and operations.

Cloud computing is more than just the latest technology or outsourcing offering. To ensure success in this new environment and with your own cloud projects, you need to manage the transition and ongoing operation correctly. To help you in that process, here’s a glimpse into the top four insights this research helped uncover. For the complete study including the detailed findings, visit BMC.com/cloud

DO NOT CONSIDER THE PUBLIC CLOUD AS A COMPETITOR TO YOUR OWN SERVICESWith business users accessing public cloud services outside of IT’s view and control, it is tempting to view these services as competitors and attempt to ban them. Discover how leading companies are learning to embrace these services as much as possible, but are ensuring they are delivered in a way that is correct, secure, and compliant with relevant standards and regulations.

DELIVER COST TRANSPARENCYOne of the aspects of cloud computing that users appreciate most is how easy it is to understand the cost structure and how much they are spending (although it is not always so easy to forecast future spending…). This contrasts with the opacity of internal IT, where as a rule only roll-up numbers are available. The detailed report includes tips on how to start showing costs and different options so that users can make informed decisions.

ALLOW FOR CHANGECloud computing requires a jump in the levels of automation in the delivery of IT resources, which in turn means changing the process around that delivery, both in execution and in tracking. Learn how companies are planning for this to ensure that IT teams are aware of the benefits and do not consider cloud as a danger to their own job security.

SET AN OVERALL STRATEGYWith cloud computing, a narrow focus on technical aspects risks delivering a technically perfect solution that is not useful for its intended audience. Create a strategy ahead of time which includes use cases and requirements, and build in milestones which are valuable in themselves to help adoption and satisfaction on the part of the users. Learn more about who is really using the Cloud – and where the demand comes from. Ensure you’re serving all your users.

The most important thing to remember is that many other enterprises are going through the same process and have similar questions. Learn from experts and service providers about how to integrate the new cloud solutions into your existing environment, avoiding disruption to business systems.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registra-tion in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. UNIX is the registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

For access to the complete study, visit

www.bmc.com/cloud, where you can

also find much more information on

cloud computing.