How to Leverage Technology and Expertise to Eliminate the Top Cloud Challenges for your Business

Businesses have found a new top challenge of cloud, cloud problems and computing issues. According to the RightScale 2016, State of the Cloud Report, security reigned as the most demanding threat over the last few years as businesses questioned the ability of cloud providers to uphold their security standards. A “lack of resources and expertise is the new top cloud challenge that displaced security this year.” This is good news for professionals who would like to access more workloads and applications in the cloud. However, it comes with many challenges. More professionals are using the cloud, yet there is a shortage of cloud experts. In addition to the top two, the report highlights the eight challenges below and as seen in this infographic about the top cloud challenges of 2016.

Top Cloud Challenges

1. Lack of resources and expertise
2. Security
3. Cloud cost management
4. Compliance
5. Managing multiple cloud services
6. Complexity of building a private cloud
7. Governance / control
8. Performance

What do these challenges mean for your business and how can you leverage technology to eliminate these challenges that may be holding back your business? Let’s review the top three challenges that may be hindering your business.

Lack of Resources and Expertise

What does a lack of resources mean for your business? It means that it’s not only difficult to find, but costly to hire in-house expertise to manage your own cloud. Even the big players find it challenging to recruit talented experts – when salary costs aren’t as big of a challenge as it is for smaller businesses. This is bringing about a, “What do we do now scenario?” where organizations are purchasing cloud services, getting setup, but don’t know how to get started. Imagine the problems that arise with stakeholders when you can’t optimize your large technology investment. How can you leverage technology to displace this challenge? It is currently difficult to find technology that takes the place of a cloud expert. However, by leveraging a company like Rackspace that emphasizes managed and professional services, that just so happens to be goodat cloud services – you’ve hedged your bet that you’ll get the resources you need to successfully manage cloud computing implementations, issues, etc. You’ll want to find a provider that will consult and educate you on your “cloud journey.” They should provide you with the resources to optimize your cloud investment and walk you through the next steps. Also, look for cloud management platforms that focus on making it simple and easy for the end user. Many of them offer free trials. Test both their technology and professional services during the trial to see if they meet your standards.

Security

What do security challenges mean for your business? Security is an ongoing challenge for businesses. However, with the current cloud environment, it’s more about understanding what the right consumption model is for your organization and what applications and data should / should not be placed in the cloud. How can you leverage technology to displace this challenge? Many organizations are still uncomfortable when it comes to migrating applications and data to the cloud. Fortunately, niche cloud services are providing platforms with pre-built security models specifically designed for their industry regulations. These security models are usually paired with compliance models for HIPAA, PCI, etc. so you can rest assure that their security measures are auditable.

Cloud Cost Management

What do cloud cost management challenges mean for your business? Many organizations are getting locked into 2 year consumption and/or subscription contracts and then finding that they are spending way more than they estimated. In addition, pricing with large public cloud offerings change often and managers don’t have the ability to normalize spend and usage controls across their organization. How can you leverage technology to displace this challenge? Look for cloud management platforms (CMPs) like CloudHelm that offer a single-pain-of-glass for viewing and managing cloud services. CMP’s with cost management functionality should enable you to monitor utilization and right-size instances, automate shutdown of temporary workloads, shutdown workloads during certain hours, find storage volumes not in active use, select cloud or region based on cost, and seamlessly move workloads into cheaper clouds/regions. Leveraging technology and expertise is about understanding the value of the cloud for your organization and pairing the right cloud service provider for your business needs. Cloud advisory services and assessments are a must to optimize your cloud management. Learn more about choosing a cloud confidently. For more information about this subject, IT services, and IT Consulting, please contact us.