| Aspects of cloud computing have been available | | | | customers. "The real debate shouldn't be ‘cloud' |
| to—and rejected by—IT outsourcing customers for | | | | versus ‘not-cloud,'" says Fersht. "Many |
| years, from hosted applications to on-demand | | | | next-generation solutions will certainly leverage cloud |
| hardware support. But as the breadth of the cloud has | | | | services, but critical decisions facing CIOs are less |
| expanded to include a growing number of software-, | | | | about delivery methods and more about how |
| platforms- and infrastructure-as-a-service offerings | | | | technology solutions can deliver disruptive levels of |
| that can be quickly deployed as needed with low | | | | value over the longer term." |
| management overhead and little vendor interaction, the | | | | Customers of traditional IT services can take the |
| temptation to move away from traditional IT services | | | | following five low-risk steps to evaluate whether cloud |
| provisioning is mounting. | | | | computing services are right for their organizations. |
| On the other hand, having your IT services in the cloud | | | | 1. Start Playing in the Sandbox. The cloud is perfect for |
| involves a host of risks, from data control issues to | | | | trying out new technologies beyond the core services |
| lack of transparency to the financial stability of new | | | | the IT organization and its existing service providers |
| providers. Prospective cloud service customers must | | | | deliver to the business, says Doug Plotkin, head of U.S. |
| take into account a number of unique issues | | | | sourcing for PA Consulting Group. |
| associated with cloud delivery in conjunction with the | | | | "These can be turned on for a period of time, and |
| criticality of the software, data and services they're | | | | tested, then turned off if they do not prove useful," he |
| considering transitioning from a traditional IT services | | | | says. |
| model, says Dan Masur, a partner in the Washington, | | | | What's more, using the cloud as a test environment |
| D.C. office of law firm Mayer Brown. | | | | keeps costs down. If it doesn't work, the expense is |
| "Maturing cloud-enabled services present powerful | | | | off the books. |
| tools for scalability, flexibility, lower cost, or even better | | | | 2. Send less-critical services to the cloud. Find some |
| security, but ‘the cloud' is not a set of magic bullets," | | | | less vital functionality in your organization—storage, |
| says Phil Fersht, founder of outsourcing consultancy | | | | email, business continuity—and try it out in the cloud. |
| Horses for Sources. "There are lots of terrific cloud | | | | Traditional IT services customers are toying with a |
| service innovations being developed right now all over | | | | host of new software-as-a-service products in this |
| the world. This is great news for IT customers, but the | | | | way, says Fersht. "[They] learn about cloud services |
| service provider landscape is going to be tougher to | | | | by trying them out. This generates some near-term |
| navigate for quite some time." | | | | value and builds the foundation for the truly innovative |
| The beauty of cloud computing, however, is that it's | | | | business solutions that should come next. |
| not an all-or-nothing proposition for outsourcing | | | | |