Cloudy Thinking and Digital Transformation

Microsoft vs Google in Cloud Computing

By G C Network | May 22, 2008

Many took note of the Randall Stross essay in the New York Times last weekend. In it he succintly described why Microsoft is failing in it’s attempt to bridge the…

IBM at Forrester IT Forum

By G C Network | May 22, 2008

At the Forrester IT Forum yesterday in Las Vegas, Rick Lechner, VP Enterprise Systems at IBM, made the following comments The changing face of globalization (transformation from exporting to multi-nationals…

HP & EDS

By G C Network | May 21, 2008

In an interesting take on his Enterprise Architecture blog, Chris Pearson sees the HP acquisition of EDS as a ploy by HP to remain relevant in a cloud computing world.…

The Library of National Intelligence (LNI) – A Possible Cloud Application

By G C Network | May 20, 2008

In the MAZZ-INT Blog a couple of weeks ago, Joe Mazzafro artile on “Intelliigence and the Concept of Customer” stated that a “realistic business model for the IC to assume…

Net-Centric Enterprise Services – An Update

By G C Network | May 19, 2008

Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) is about to enter the initial operational test and evaluation phase. NCES are a set of capabilities that support network-centric warfare operations and information sharing. It…

Microsoft Renews Yahoo Bid

By G C Network | May 19, 2008

Microsoft renews Yahoo bid and is now offering to buy a piece of Yahoo. I believe this is just the opening of the second round. Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson

Cloud Computing Risk

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

CIO.com reviewed the top three concerns that the IT executives have regarding the adoption of cloud computing – security, latency, and SLA. These concerns seem similar to those previously assigned…

Grid vs. Cloud – May 17, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

From Geva Perry’s April 25th blog Cloud Computing overtaking the term Grid Computing With the term “cloud computing” rapidly being hyped everywhere, I did this little exercise on Google Trends…

Blogsphere Clouds – May 16, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

The cloud is billowing in the blogsphere !! Virtual Computing in the Cloud — How a Universal Dialtone Will …Virtual Cloud Computing represents the next wave of virtualization and offers…

Gartner on Cloud Computing / Yahoo vs. Icahn- May 15, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

Gartner thinks that cloud computing may be the next big thing: By 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will pay for some cloud computing service and 30 percent of…

(Originally posted on the Engility Corporation Blog)

 

There’s a lot to gain from cloud computing, but success requires a thoughtful and enterprise focused approach. Cloud computing decouples data and information from the infrastructure on which it lies. A process that is a LOT more involved than dragging some folders from your desktop to a shared drive.

Cloud computing as a mission transformation activity, not a technological one.

As an organization moves from local information hosting to the cloud, one of the most important challenges is addressing cloud computing as a mission transformation activity, not a technological one. Cloud computing isn’t a new technology. It’s a new way of consuming and provisioning information technology services. Adopting cloud computing means paralleling your mission processes, rethinking the economic models and abstracting your applications from the technology stack silos, which are currently the norm.

Interactions and dependencies between mission applications may be more important than the data or application itself.

One of the first lessons we learned supporting customers was that cloud migration shouldn’t be planned as an application-by-application movement to a different hosting environment. Cloud adoption is an application portfolio activity. Interactions and dependencies between mission applications may be more important than the data or application itself. That’s why upfront screening, analysis and digital infrastructure modeling are so critical. Boeing flew its Dreamliner aircraft designs on a computer before they started to build. Shouldn’t we (and our customers) test future IT infrastructure on a computer before moving to the cloud? 



That is the digital transformation approach we recommend to our customers, and we have now built an entire methodology around it called Cloud ASCEND. We formed an alliance with a few select partners: Cloud Security Alliance, Burstorm, Sequoia and IBM. These companies bring tools, lessons and optimizations available from the commercial sector (the technical operations viewpoint). We blend those offerings with the experience we’ve gained actually transitioning applications to the cloud and the lessons we’ve learned in the DoD and intelligence community (the secure mission delivery and performance viewpoint).

We knew the Cloud ASCEND digital transformation methodology couldn’t be some static, one-size-fits-all approach we trot out for every customer challenge. Our methodology constantly evolves because the world is always advancing. This is an important realization that all organizations need to internalize. Cloud computing enables rapid employment of new mission processes. It lets mission owners deploy capabilities that they didn’t know existed. Cloud ASCEND is agile because effectively delivering the mission requires an agile methodology. 

It lets mission owners deploy capabilities that they didn’t know existed.

Getting ready to migrate to the cloud? Consider a digital transformation strategy that delivers information mobility, operational scalability and mission agility. These are the real benefits that make the process worth the effort. Organizations can apply a digital transformation methodology to determine when and how to get started, allowing them to reduce risk, reduce complexity and migrate with confidence. Cloud ASCEND enables a sort of future proofing because digital transformation means thinking today and doing tomorrow.

 

Cloud Musings

 

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