The cloud computing paradigm has introduced the concept of obtaining various components of an IT environment as a service. Using offerings such as software as a service (SaaS), organizations can add substantial functionality and flexibility to their IT resources without capital expenditures on hardware or hiring support personnel. 

Security is an area of heightened concern across the business landscape. Protecting data assets from threats of cybercrime such as ransomware is an essential activity. Cloud providers are addressing this need with security as a service (SECaaS) offerings that can help bolster any organization’s level of protection. Enterprises can use these services to address the security skills gap that is plaguing the IT world.

Benefits of Security as a Service

There are many advantages to implementing SECaaS solutions.  

• Access to cutting-edge security tools - Security tools like antivirus software need to be constantly updated to address new emerging threats. Using a cloud service eliminates the need for users to keep their software up to date and guarantees that systems are protected with the most current virus definitions. 

• Highly-skilled security personnel - Cloud providers have dedicated security teams who are usually more skilled and experienced than those available with in-house resources. 

• Enhanced provisioning and flexibility- The on-demand nature of SECaaS services allows organizations to scale up and down easily and enables users to access tools instantly. 

• Simpler security management - Using a dashboard or web interface allows internal team members to administer and control security processes.

What SECaaS Can Provide an Organization

Cloud SECaaS providers charge their customers a monthly subscription fee for their services. Here are some of the areas of focus for SECaaS offerings. 

• Web and email security - Redirecting traffic to the cloud enables the provider to implement an extra layer of web security. Email standards such as encryption and acceptable use policies can be centrally enforced for the entire organization. 

• Network security - Cloud services tailored to the network needs of individual clients can be provided with a combination of physical and virtual devices that would be difficult and expensive to replicate with in-house resources. 

• Security assessments - The SECaaS model can monitor and perform assessments that inform an organization of security flaws and provide information that results in developing more robust data protection. 

• Intrusion detection - Keeping computing resources safe from unauthorized entities is an essential part of cloud security. Relying on the expertise and advanced tools deployed by cloud providers helps organizations keep informed regarding suspicious activity impacting their IT environment.

Choosing the SECaaS Provider

Many large and small cloud providers offer SECaaS solutions. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing one for your organization.  

• The level of the provider’s technical expertise
• Specific organizational security requirements
• Certification and compliance with regulatory standards such as HIPAA or GDPR
• The availability of service level agreements to solidify expectations of both parties
• Comprehensive threat monitoring and incident response procedures
• A detailed risk management strategy

The vendor you choose for your SECaaS implementation should be able to demonstrate the ability to satisfy these concerns. You need to trust the provider implicitly, as they are being engaged to secure your computing resources. Make sure they are up to that vitally important task. 

The benefits of migrating IT systems to the cloud are well-documented. Enhanced flexibility and cost savings are two of the advantages enjoyed by organizations when moving part of their computing environment to the cloud. Gartner estimates that the worldwide public cloud market will top $266 billion in 2020 and will continue to exhibit substantial growth in the next several years. 

Some of an enterprise’s most valuable IT resources are their databases. It can be a major decision to move these assets from an on-premises data center and host them with a cloud provider. Making changes to mission-critical systems always needs to be done carefully after considering all available options. There is one big question that needs to be addressed before commencing with a database cloud migration.

Answering the Main Question

There is a basic question that will influence which provider to select for the migration as well as how it is performed. The basic choice is between hosting your current database environment on cloud virtual machines or taking advantage of a specific provider’s managed database offering. These are two completely different approaches to using cloud services that each have strong and weak points.

Migrating existing databases to cloud virtual machines

Pros:

• Closely replicates on-premises administration
• Customers have more control over the environment
• Simple migration path using a lift-and-shift methodology

Cons:

• Potentially mission-critical systems are now outside the organization’s firewall
• Administering the environment requires customer expertise

Moving to a managed cloud database

Pros:

• Reduced customer administrative involvement
• Easier to set up new database instances

Cons:

• Less customer control over system configuration
• Potential difficulties when changing cloud providers

The direction a particular enterprise chooses needs to take into consideration the personnel resources they have available and the way they plan to use the systems going forward. Managed cloud databases require less administration and are faster to implement. More control and flexibility is usually achieved when hosting databases on cloud virtual machines.

Public Cloud Database Solutions

Many cloud providers can handle a database migration. Microsoft and Amazon both offer multiple methods of hosting your databases.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a virtual machine (VM) offering called the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). It is a scalable solution that enables customers to configure VMs that are preinstalled with SQL Server. The company’s Relational Database Service (RDS) is a Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) offering that runs SQL Server instances and uses Amazon S3 as its backup solution.

SQL Server was developed by Microsoft. They offer database services that are tailored to users of that database platform. Azure VMs can accommodate different types of databases and are designed to tightly integrate with SQL Server. The systems are accessible through remote desktop (RDP) sessions. Microsoft’s Azure SQL Database is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution that demands less customer administration but limits database size to a maximum of 1 TB.

When selecting your provider for migrated databases, you need to plan for your future IT needs. Managed databases are very attractive due to implementation speed and low administrative responsibilities but they can be hard to move away from if you decide to change providers. Take the time to fully investigate your provider and choose wisely.

As businesses and individuals move their operations to the cloud, it is becoming clearer each day that security and safety are two critical factors in any cloud deployment. With the right deployment strategy in place, spiraling costs can be avoided while moving applications and data from on-site storage or from one cloud to another. The biggest challenge has always been moving to the cloud without a proper strategy but rather as a knee-jerk reaction to a promised low cost by different vendors. One of such failure to plan can be seen from back in 2011 when the Cloud First policy was announced by the Obama administration. The announcement saw many companies and individuals moving their applications and data without taking into account various aspects of the cloud in comparison with on-site storage or comparing one cloud with another.

Before venturing into any binding agreement, you have to take into account various factors, one of them being how to move from a given provider in case you are not satisfied with their services. Devise an exit plan before entering into any binding agreement that will tie your organization to the cloud provider. This is simply a clear path to freedom, without that many companies have incurred huge costs for failing to anticipate. Prior to entering any negotiations and agreement, ask yourself what you will do in case the cloud deployment does not work as you expected. This can happen if the deployment exceeds the cost, poor services, regular outage, or you have found a better alternative. On the same wavelength, think of the amount you are willing to spend on a particular platform. Although the cost of migrating can be low during entry, it can significantly increase after you have moved all your critical applications, data and network traffic there. Low cost at the point of entry should, therefore, not deceive you into thinking that everything will be the same after migration. Understand everything from the point of migration to exiting the platform in case you do not want to continue using it.

It's the budget

After planning your cost and coming up with the amount you are willing to spend, decide on the applications that you can host in-house and those that can be deployed to the cloud or those you can host on a different cloud provider for better cost-efficiency. Doing so reduces the financial burden and will limit suffering in case of a failure.

Portability has also been one of the biggest challenges when it comes to cloud computing. When developing applications, portability should always be in mind. This ensures that moving applications and data from one platform to another is never an issue. Avoid cloud vendor-specific or proprietary services, as most of them are not portable. Furthermore, test regularly to ensure your applications can work properly in case they are moved from one platform to another. Such testing gives you insights on how difficult or easy an application can be when moving it from one cloud service provider to another. Testing should be carried out extensively before deployment.

Lastly, create a backup plan. This is perhaps the most critical step in ensuring the safety of cloud deployment. Establishing a contingency plan as part of your deployment strategy will help you sail through some of the worst disasters. An organization should have different cloud service providers to provide redundancy in case the main provider experiences an outage. For instance, if anything were to happen to one data center in one region, another data center in a different region can still function and offer services required by the company to operate. Make your company resilient by using more than one cloud service provider to avoid problems that are caused by a cloud-wide service outage.

While an organization may not need to use all the recommendations above, it is still critical to have them in place as one may never know when and where a disaster will strike.

The global pandemic has affected virtually everyone on the planet and shows no signs of fading away anytime soon. As the world struggles to cope with the deadly virus and its impact on society, cloud providers are stepping up with innovative ways to use their technological resources to assist in a variety of ways. Here’s a sampling of how the cloud is being used to address the many problems being caused by the coronavirus.

Google Cloud

Google is using its vast cloud computing capabilities to help organizations and individuals handle the strains of the pandemic. These are some of the specific offerings that are meant to deal with the problem. 

• Supporting the remote workforce - Google’s cloud-based video conferencing platform know as Google Meet has seen an upsurge in usage that has seen up to a 60% day-to-day growth. Demand for the service has increased 25 times from January to March. The company is offering Google Meet free to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers and has dedicated hardware resources to certain locations to ensure reliable operation of the communication platform. 

• Supporting the public and academic sectors - In the U.S., Google is working to develop new text and data mining techniques to help institutions efficiently examine the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19). On the international front, the company is providing multiple European governments with the ability to build apps to help track the spread of the virus. An example is the Coronavirus Australia App developed by the Australian Government Department of Health. 

Huawei Cloud

Cloud provider Huawei recently announced a global action plan to help customers around the world battle COVID-19. Huawei is providing free cloud and AI services  as well as recruiting partners to conduct a team to fight coronavirus. They are sharing knowledge gained by China’s attempts to stem the virus with the international community with AI-assisted CT scan analysis, drug discovery, online education, and telecommuting technologies. 

Huawei Cloud has also initiated the Anti-COVID-19 Partner Program which will allow participating organizations to obtain $30,000 of free cloud resources. The program focuses on providing remote office capabilities, AI support, enterprise assistance, smart healthcare, and online education to participating partners.

Alibaba Cloud

Another large global cloud provider that is throwing its weight behind the fight to defeat the virus is Alibaba. Some of their offerings include: 

• Free access to their AI-powered computing platform and supercomputing cluster for global research such as gene sequencing to help treat or prevent the spread of the virus. 

• COVID-19 CT image analytics help streamline the work of medical professionals to treat patients with the disease. It is 60 times faster than human detection and scans with 96% accuracy. 

• The Alibaba Cloud Epidemic Prediction Solution helps decision-makers formulate plans to control and prevent further outbreaks of the virus. It has a 98% rate of accuracy based on data in China. The company offers it for free to public research institutions. 

These are just some of the ways that cloud technology companies are doing what they can to help the world in the face of the pandemic. Hopefully, some of these technical solutions will be the key to finding treatments and a cure for COVID-19.

As businesses continue discovering the benefits that cloud computing can present with regard to efficiency and profitability, the use of cloud technologies continues to skyrocket. In the US for example, at least 70 percent of companies, whether public, private, or hybrid use cloud computing according to research done by IDG in 2016.

Owing to the evidence of the impact of cloud computing which has been seen over time, people are no longer talking about why cloud computing should be adopted. Rather, they now talk about how they can move operations and services to the cloud. These are the issues you need to consider before migrating to the cloud:

1. Make sure your cloud applications are an improvement to the on-premise applications you already have

Every business’ intention is to have systems that are better than what they already have in order to compete favorably in a highly competitive business landscape. This is no exception when migrating to the cloud. Your new cloud systems must give you the competitive edge you need as you cannot afford to lose anything when migrating to the cloud.  Ensure that you only pay for what you will use to avoid duplication and costs. You should ensure that you change everything to meet the shifting demands by improving the efficiency of your systems.

2. Decide where and what processes to start with

Moving to a cloud is not something you start and finish once. Rather, you need to have a concrete plan that involves moving operations in phases to avoid total disaster in case of a failure. Since it is new technology, it requires a phased approach where simple business processes are moved first and lessons learned from the previous phase applied to the next one. For a company that has subsidiaries or branches, you can start with one branch and scale your deployment to other branches.

3. Manage compatibility and interoperability with other vendors

Interoperability is perhaps one of the leading areas of concern when migrating to the cloud. As you select your cloud vendors, one of the leading areas you should investigate is compatibility of architecture and applications with other vendors. Incompatibility can cost your business a lot and can be the cause of problems when you want to migrate to another cloud service provider. You should also address integration issues that can create separate silos and affect operations.

4. Ensure the strategy of your vendor aligns to your company’s business strategy

Failure to align cloud strategy to business strategy remains the single most challenging area for many organizations and ends up jeopardizing everything. Before you commit to a cloud vendor, take your time to acquaint yourself with the architectural requirements of the service provider. Ensure that the service provider you choose offers all the capabilities that a company needs such as reporting options, budgeting features, and planning options as well as regulatory compliance. Most importantly, ensure that the vendor has integration and security strategies that can be verified by other businesses. Furthermore, inquire the investment of the vendor on future technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and IoT all of which signify intentions of the company to adapt to the future as you would always want your company to do.

IT departments responsible for facilitating the migration of companies’ cloud-based infrastructure often find themselves struggling due to the many issues they face. Most of these challenges are due to the complexity of managing different environments. The issues have been made even more difficult by the growing number of the new cloud initiatives which increases complexity therefore leaving the IT teams wondering about how they are going to update legacy IT environments and processes into a state that befits the prevailing digital space.

Mistakes are common in many IT projects. However, any project management professional will tell you that some mistakes are just too risky and some can even keep you from moving forward and succeeding. The same can be said about cloud migration. Cloud migration mistakes can be costly and companies can lose not only money but also time. If the company fails to identify these mistakes early, chances are that the mistakes can end up badly impacting not only the performance but may also damage confidence in your company’s cloud strategy. It may also lead to loss of confidence in the company’s IT team leaders which may hamper adoption of cloud strategy. As an IT team leader therefore, you should identify the potential issues that you can encounter while implementing cloud strategy and address them to ensure that your cloud deployment is successful. Here are three crucial issues that you need to watch in migrating to the cloud.

1. Failure to analyze your apps before the migration

Failure to analyze the company’s applications before migrating to the cloud is an issue that has bungled many cloud strategies. Before any kind of movement, you will need to do an analysis of applications to determine whether they are good for migration or not. For instance, you can do this by splitting the apps into two groups of apps – one listing the apps which will be replaced and the other of those which will be migrated. For example, you can replace on-premise email application with a cloud app like Microsoft’s Office 365. As an IT manager, you should consider checking how sensitive the application is to compliance. Companies on the other hand should be aware of apps which are sensitive to workloads. Initial app analysis enables a company to identify the attributes of all apps and enables one to avoid potential issues during the migration phase.

2. Not carrying out business analysis before migration

Embarking on migration without a clear business case is another issue which sees companies trying unsuccessfully to migrate to the cloud without understanding the benefits of it. Although some may think that migrating to the cloud is as easy as picking an application and moving it, the truth actually is that lack of business analysis may jeopardize everything. The analysis should include financial implications of migration, requirements, space required and the benefits that migrating to the cloud brings.

3. Inadequate training

 Although you might be in charge of many IT personnel, there are chances that most of them don’t know a lot about the cloud. This might be worse when it comes to cloud migration which makes the whole thing more complex. Since finding cloud-savvy employees can be expensive, you will have to train your personnel to reduce problems that are encountered and increase speed. You might need to find some consultants who are experienced in this area to train employees on the correct cloud migration strategies and how the it can be used in general. Inadequate training may cause legacy knowledge to be brought into the cloud which in the end may impact productivity and strategy in general. This has been one of the biggest challenges that many companies encounter during cloud migration.

Going by the discussions that are happening in the corporate world and the evident influx of new technologies, it is clear that businesses are changing their approaches to computing. Businesses have gone digital. It’s impossible to talk about computing without mentioning cloud computing, which is perhaps the leading buzzword in the world of technology. It’s promising to alter the corporate landscape for the better.

A critical factor to consider is how it can be used best and managed appropriately to achieve the needs of a company and explore cloud computing’s full potential. Here are the 4 most important things that companies need to understand about cloud computing and its management.

Performance

It is true that cloud computing can offer enhanced performance. However, it is important to note that there are instances whereby erratic performance can be experienced. This, of course, depends on the vendor. That’s why selecting the right vendor is critical. Before making a long-term commitment, make sure that you have a service level agreement (SLA) which guarantees all services required and which you are paying for. You also need to ensure that the services will always be available and verify the guaranteed availability before initiating the agreement

Security

For any company security of information is the most important aspect that must be guaranteed by a cloud service provider. It is not always easy to keep the systems secure as this requires investment in both technical and non-technical resources. Public cloud service providers are often highly secured and have cutting edge security mechanisms making them highly protected. Ensure you have highly trained employees to handle all emergencies with regard to security and be aware of the cost associated.

Portability

Before making a commitment to sign for a particular vendor, always take into account interoperability and portability. Many companies struggle with vendor-lock after signing up with some cloud companies. Among the leading issues which have been reported are setups of architectures and tools that some cloud vendors use which make migrating to another provider expensive and difficult. When looking for a vendor and during configuration, you should always make sure that industry standard settings such as APIs, data formats and protocols are used. This makes migration from one vendor to another not only less complicated but also less expensive.

Expertise

With the ever-changing technological landscape, new challenges associated with having the right expertise crop up. Consequently, managing services driven by technologies such as cloud computing require the right human resources to ensure operations run efficiently. This has become a huge challenge to organizations as experts in cloud computing are few and cloud technologies change constantly. So, IT staff must be trained adequately and regularly to handle different aspects of cloud computing. Also consider getting outside help to fill the existing gaps.

Government and private agencies are now shifting their computing operations to the cloud. This has been accelerated by the huge advantages that the cloud has over legacy IT because of its effectiveness, cost efficiency, scalability, and performance. However, various cloud computing issues still haunt its users. These challenges are mostly associated with the increased levels of complexity that demand that the CIO identifies the right vendor for the applications to run on and the features available from the stated vendor. These are some of the most important issues you need to address when planning to move your operations to the cloud.

Have a well-defined strategy and a business objective

There are various reasons why you should consider migrating to the cloud which includes agility, cost, scalability, digital transformation and flexibility. However, many people don’t get it right when it comes to aligning the cloud strategy with the business strategy. Your organization’s business strategy must dictate the cloud strategy. This may be complex in many instances as many companies may face problems due to lack of alignment of cloud strategy with the existing business objectives.

Security, time and cost

Cost is a significant issue faced by companies, but cost, security and time are also major stumbling blocks. Transferring data to the cloud is often a slow process that can take both man hours and bandwidth to succeed. Moreover, cloud computing being a new technology raises some security doubts which need to be understood and addressed accordingly. Overcoming these challenges is often one of the biggest hurdles but must be addressed regardless.

Get people and processes right

The biggest challenge when it comes to the adoption of cloud is not technology. On the contrary, it is usually people and processes. These two must change to adapt to the new needs and changes in the organization. However, this may end up taking a lot of time therefore negatively affecting cloud adoption. For you to manage transition easily, consider adding tech innovation test centers to make the entire process easier. Large companies are likely to face massive challenges when it comes to adopting the cloud fully as a result of complications which may come up in the transition process.

Select the right platform

Among the leading cloud computing issues is the failure by companies to pick the right platform. CIOs should always take their time to compare platforms and choose the most appropriate one that meets the technical requirements for each workload. The chosen platform should also meet the unique needs of your firm and suit its line of business. A smart company performs a comparative analysis of the existing platforms and chooses the one which fits all its business needs.

In summary, cloud transformation is a long process that can be simplified with the right expertise. To effect a successful cloud adoption, you should always keep in mind that selection of cloud vendors is a process and not an event and a process is a step by step undertaking.

According to TV Technology, companies are slowly beginning to adopt editing in the cloud. 

Remote access to all video files to all the relevant (and authorized) personnel is a good thing. But do those benefits extend to editing in the cloud? Although it has been around for some time, it is only in the relatively recent past that acceptance has been spreading.

Read the article on TV Technology

The pandemic has adversely affected every business except cloud service providers, reports Wired. 

Pandemic life is lived in the cloud. Work, school, and dating have been virtualized by Zoom calls and instant messages. Friends share meals or moments via Instagram and badly lit webcam video.

Read the article on Wired

According to ZD Net, Microsoft users will now be able to store email signature in the cloud. 

Microsoft plans to release an update for the Outlook for Windows client next month that will add the possibility to configure an email signature and have it saved in the cloud, rather than inside each Outlook installation. 

Read the article on ZD Net

Companies have shifted more workers to telecommuting creating problems with too many users trying to access remotely, the cloud can change all that, reports Fifth Domain. 

During these unprecedented times, organizations across all sectors are facing the same issue: enabling remote “business as usual” while facing extraordinary challenges of scale and secure connectivity.

Read the article on Fifth Domain

As many industries reevaluate their go-to-market strategies amid the pandemic - not every business is suffering. Take for instance streaming video on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions like Netflix and Disney+ who have seen an increase in viewership as people are mandated to stay home due to Covid-19. But will streaming services see a depletion of subscribers once people venture outdoors again and are all SVODs doing well in this time of uncertainty?

Where other SVOD services have failed to grow (I’m looking at you Quibi), Disney+ wasted no time -amassing nearly 55 million subscribers in just six months. The streaming service that rolled out in November already has more subscribers than Hulu who clocks in at around 32 million.

Netflix which is still the leader in streaming services has a whopping 182.8 million subscribers. During their earnings call in April- Netflix reported that they had 23% more subscribers than this time last year earning $5.7 billion dollars in revenue. While many analysts wonder if these new subscribers will stay once the pandemic is over – at least one Bank of America analyst doesn’t think they should be worried. Nat Schindler told Yahoo Finance,  “We anticipate the step-up will result in a permanent increase in penetration for Netflix's subscriber model and see its low price-point and staple nature supporting healthy fundamentals performance in a recession, even after stay-home orders are lifted.”

While many SVOD services have seen a rise in viewership – what happens when the pandemic is over? Does it really make sense for a family of four to keep subscriptions to all of the available services? The market is getting tight and eventually families will have to make sacrifices as to which streaming services to keep.

In a survey of 1,000 viewers who have more than two SVOD subscriptions, FLIXED found that out of the main streaming services (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Apple TV+), viewers would most likely drop Apple TV+ over any of their other memberships. Like Disney+ - Apple TV+ debuted in November 2019 but unlike Disney+ met little to no fanfare. The platform that costs just $4.99 doesn’t seem to resonate with viewers as 36% of those surveyed said that they would most likely not renew their subscription to Apple TV+. While Apple has yet to reveal how many subscribers they actually have – analysts put the number at around 30 million – but many of those subscribers are getting it free for the first year. Analyst Toni Sacconaghi of Berstein told the Financial Post that one of the reasons Apple TV+ has fallen short is because it was "failing to resonate with customers, perhaps due to its limited content offerings."

Like Apple TV+ - Quibi – a much hyped streaming services that delivers shows that are 10 minutes or less to a subscriber’s phone has also failed to resonate with audiences. Debuting in March- Quibi only has 3.5 million subscribers (1.7 million who are considered “active”). While many could blame the series of blunders (not allowing users to share clips online, only available for Android phones)-  owner Jeffrey Katzenberg blames the pandemic – the same pandemic that is helping other SVOD services excel. "I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” he told The New York Times. 

As Covid-19 continues to keep people at home – subscribers will flock to Streaming Video On-Demand services for entertainment. In a convoluted market – not all streaming services will succeed. If the current number of subscribers are any indication - Netflix will continue to reign while SVODs like Apple TV+ and Quibi could be in big trouble.

Cloud computing platforms have been marketed for years as a cheaper option. However, despite the popularity that the cloud has gained, the truth is that organizations still face challenges as they try to manage costs. According to a study by Flexera, a company that offers IT management software, 84 percent of companies find optimization of cloud costs a challenge, while a survey in 2019 also revealed that organizations underestimate their wastage when it comes to cloud computing. This shows that the advantages of using cloud are not always clear, and the cost ends up being more than what companies anticipate.

Migrating from on-site storage to the cloud is one of the top aspects that make cloud expensive. As companies look for cloud applications and infrastructure during their migration, they may find themselves incurring high costs. When organizations are analyzing the cost of cloud platforms, some often assume that the cloud is the same as on-premise deployments. The reality, however, is that cloud platforms provide enterprise-grade applications, networks and servers that mean high upfront costs. They also enable organizations to deploy in minutes with little expertise that would otherwise be required in case of in-house servers.

Bigger gets better

The issue of cost control comes from the ability of organizations to exploit the standard pricing structures of prominent cloud vendors. Doing so helps them get value for their money and gives them the capability to negotiate their own deals with cloud vendors out of the existing standard pricing strictures. Mature organizations have an advantage when it comes to getting better bargains for their money, according to KPMG. Cloud computing service providers such as AWS seem to favor such organizations if they commit to a specific level of compute with incremental discounts. However, companies that have limited resources and cannot commit to high computing power will not get these discounts and end up spending more.

While mature companies have experience and tools to help them plan better, small organizations on the other hand may encounter various challenges mainly due to poor planning. Better planning may translate to better deals depending on how companies reserve their computing power. Proper planning means that a company can understand what they need, when, how and in the process make a good bargain that is devoid of wastage. Large companies can also offer creative deals to cloud service providers. An example of a good deal is between BP, an energy company and AWS, who reached an agreement where BP can offer 170 MW of renewable energy in exchange for cloud computing services.

Making the deal

Although creativity can be critical in such negotiations, companies in need of cloud services must prepare adequately. How they manage cloud consumption is a challenge in getting value for the investment. Identifying what your company needs and what it does not require for its operations is crucial to maintaining the operational costs and ensuring there is value out of services that you get from service providers. You have to look at early adopters and learn from their mistakes since going to the market with enough knowledge gives your company room to negotiate. Similarly, companies must forecast demand to ensure that cloud applications and databases are configured to meet any possible event in the market and minimize consumption. Leaving everything to the service provider is also not worth it.

The bottom line is, if properly managed, cloud can offer capabilities that would otherwise be too expensive and highly labor intensive when done in-house. However, the ability to scale up and down is an aspect that many organizations fail to capitalize on that leaves cloud expensive for some. Using this flexibility of the cloud as required will make it economical and equally effective.

When an organization decides to move some or all of its computing environment to the cloud, selecting the right provider is of paramount importance. Making the right choice can lead to a fruitful relationship with a cloud partner that benefits your business. Selecting the wrong provider may result in unfulfilled expectations regarding the financial and operational implications of the move.

There are many cloud providers from which to make your choice. While Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure are currently the biggest players, many smaller and more specialized providers exist that may make sense for a particular implementation. This post offers some guidance as to what to look for in a provider and some questions to answer before entering into a contract with one of them.

Differentiating Characteristics of Cloud Providers

Getting past the marketing hype can be difficult, as every provider believes they have the best solution for your needs. Here are some specific factors that should be considered before committing to a cloud provider. 

Security and compliance - The security of your systems and data are critical no matter where they are located. Trusting them to the cloud requires you to determine how basic security will be provided and if there are additional protections that can be obtained at an extra cost. There are shared security responsibilities in a cloud implementation, with both customer and vendor sharing the burden of protecting the environment. Compliance is also performed in a shared manner and the details need to be fully understood to avoid the inability to provide evidence that your systems are complying with security and privacy regulations.

Management responsibilities - Varying degrees of customer involvement in managing the cloud platform result from adopting different cloud models. A Software as a Service (SaaS) implementation will usually require very little customer management, whereas they may have significant responsibility for a move that employs the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model.

Architecture and storage - The underlying architecture used by the provider may influence your decision to use them for your cloud computing needs. Certain providers may use tools and applications that facilitate integrating your environment into their infrastructure. For instance, if your business relies heavily on Microsoft products, you may benefit from discounts and licenses offered through Azure. The method used to store your data and the flexibility afforded in how and when you can access it are other factors that need to be clarified.

Pricing structure - Billing may be done in a variety of ways and some of them may work better in a particular situation. Most providers offer on-demand payment plans with some also providing discounts for long-term or volume usage.

Other considerations - You may also be concerned with the physical location and safety of the data center that will house your environment. Other important factors include the history of downtime and level of support you can expect from the provider when a problem arises. 

Putting it All Together

A thorough investigation of the factors outlined above will help your organization make a good choice when selecting their cloud provider. You need to enter the relationship with a full understanding of what you are getting, how much it will cost, and the expectations that will be placed on your team. Taking the time to determine these facts before the engagement begins makes it much more probable that your journey to the cloud will return the benefits you desire. 

Rackspace recently rebranded and is focusing on providing unbiased managed cloud services. CEO Joe Eazor stated the rebranding of the company is intended to emphasize that “the primary goal is to accelerate the allure of the cloud for customers.” Rackspace is meeting customers where they are currently at with their cloud systems and assisting with the roadmap. The timing of this is very good as the adaptation of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud becomes the norm across the enterprise landscape. According to a Forrester research report, 74 percent of enterprises have added the hybrid cloud to their organizational roadmap.

New offerings from Rackspace include:

Managed VMware Cloud

VMware Cloud features VMware’s enterprise grade SDDC software in the AWS Cloud with access to native AWS services. VMware Cloud on AWS integrates VMware products (VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN and VMware NSX)  and VMware vCenter Server management that is configured to run on dedicated, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. VMware Cloud on AWS provides services between VMware datacenters and the AWS cloud, which integrates environments for easier management and better security. Having access to AWS services extends the value of enterprise programs over their product life cycle.

Kubernetes and Container Services

Rackspace launched its first managed Kubernetes service as part of the rebranding effort. Ramakant Pandrangi, Vice President of Product Management for managed hosting and private clouds at Rackspace, says “Rackspace will offer a managed service based on a handful of distributions of Kubernetes running on public clouds and on-premises IT environments. Initially, the focus will be on the Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) from Amazon Web Services, the Anthos platform from Google and the Pivotal Container Service (PKS) from VMware.” Kubernetes will be supported for both virtual machines and bare-metal servers.

Cloud-Native Support

This service will include Cloud Reliability Engineering. A Rackspace team of cloud infrastructure engineers will work with an organization’s internal IT team on cloud projects. This includes planning and deploying cloud infrastructure and optimizing cloud-native capabilities.

Rackspace Managed Security (RMS) Service Blocks 

The current product line, which includes managed security has been expanded to include proactive detection and response. Customers on VMware private clouds can also receive assistance with compliance. Managed public cloud customers will also receive support for native cloud security utilities on all the leading public clouds, starting with AWS.  This will help organizations integrate their managed cloud security into a single pane of glass.

Integration and API Management Assessment

Software purchasing decisions usually involve input from multiple decision makers across multiple departments. Often the opinions from users in departments are much different than the IT teams who are responsible for integrating and deploying these applications. The Rackspace Integration and API Management Assessment is designed to evaluate the current status of software integration. This is done from multiple perspectives including data, process analysis and current applications. From this assessment Rackspace will recommend integration strategies that align with company objectives and goals. This unbiased expertise and evaluation is outcome focused instead of product focused to narrow in on the best overall solution for the organization.