Know Your Starting Points

No two companies have the same level of maturity in terms of their IT and business strategies. You need to have a well-thought-out strategy that allows you to implement your cloud strategy in stages. The best starting points are those that give you good experience with emerging technologies. What does it mean to build an application using a PaaS delivery model? How much training will developers need? What is the impact of this new approach to development on existing projects?

Likewise, if your company is looking at a SaaS delivery model, you need to think about how it will support your existing data resources. How can you integrate data across these sources? You need a plan for this inevitable outcome.

Just as important, you need to understand what it means to use a public cloud for IaaS. Do you use a public cloud service for all your resources? How do you select the right uses of these services? Getting some early experience with a prototype will give you a good understanding about issues you may face in the future.

One important issue that you need to consider is the emerging cloud standards. Some of these standards are available today and are well accepted. Other standards are emerging. Make sure you’re watching and participating in the discussions and debates; doing so is part of your journey to the hybrid cloud.