Large global organizations today are pursuing increasingly aggressive strategies to reap the benefits of cloud computing. SMBs, meanwhile, have already found that the barriers to a “go-to-cloud” strategy are minimal. With the advent of cloud computing, true “IT and Business alignment” is being achieved, as IT is at last becoming sufficiently agile to meet business needs. What began as Boardroom discussions have rapidly evolved into project plans now reaching execution stage. In today’s “show me” environment, identifying specific workloads and matching them to appropriate cloud-based services and deployment models that achieve rapid results is imperative.
While recognizing that cloud computing is the future of IT, enterprises are taking a pragmatic approach of gradual adoption. Indeed, traditional IT delivery models remain highly relevant, and businesses are by no means discarding their existing systems to move lock, stock and barrel to “the cloud. ”Successful cloud deployments tend to be discrete initiatives focused on specific business requirements and workloads. Clients, moreover, perceive correctly that implementing cloud solutions is not as easy as cloud suppliers suggest. Enterprises seek pragmatic adoption, focusing on business continuity and other associated risks, and are demonstrating readiness to adapt to cloud solutions. As such, cloud capabilities are being integrated into the existing service delivery framework to form a journey of adoption – which typically is a mix of in-house, managed service, captive, and offshore operations.
This ISG white paper, co-authored by Kalyan Kumar, Chief Technology Officer at HCL, examines how organizations are confronting the challenges of integrating cloud-based services into a traditional managed services model. General considerations around industry- and company-specific objectives are outlined, and case studies are used to illustrate a range of scenarios, strategies and benefits achieved.
About the author
Stanton Jones
Stanton helps clients maximize value and reduce risk in their third party relationships. In his role as lead analyst for the ISG Index™ Insider, Stanton helps ISG clients, service providers and equity analysts understand how disruptive technologies are transforming IT and business services markets. Stanton also regularly guides enterprise technology executives through the global digital ecosystem via the ISG Digital Innovation Tour™. An ISG Digital Fellow, Stanton has been quoted in CIO, Forbes and The Times of London and has appeared on Fox Business News.
