“To cloud, or not to cloud, that is the question”
Definitely not of interest to cloud solution providers…..
Not a day without massive announcement of the Cloud and the demand for the CIO to make the decision to move data & systems to the cloud. This is mainstream and a trend or?
Does a company have a chance of survival and is it on its way to elimination if they do not follow the wise men's recommendations or is there a way to succeed if not?
Unfortunately, I get caught up in many articles that describe the mega potential that is to move its system solutions in the cloud, but probably even more of all the statements that describe that a life outside the cloud is not an option! Is it driven by the desire not to be exhibited as an incompetent CIO, is it due to a lack of competence in running the operations yourself or is one caught in a strategy that includes Cloud? I hope it’s the last option!
I’m happy with the possibility for moving business systems in the cloud, but it must make sense and not least savings. What does the CIO choose as an argument? is it savings, scalability or is it because the necessary competencies not are present?
Cloud is a cool word and if you are in conversations with like-minded people, then it is not very cool if you are not in the cloud with your systems - you then brag that you have Microsoft 365 but what about the rest? I never hear anyone talk about IT security in the cloud or that their systems have become faster and better on the contrary - why has it become a must? “Cloud”
Cloud is cool but also an increase of your IT costs and if you have the competence in-house then there must be really strong arguments for letting a stranger manage your systems.
A large amount of IT systems are only delivered in the cloud and I fully agree that XaaS is perfect in many situations partly to create subscription business but also to retain customers over a longer period of time but I do not see many providers who can lower payment if the services decrease, for example, if a company is reduced in number of employees or affected by turnover! and of course there are providers who have this as standard but many do not include this in their services.
There are thousands of arguments for moving in the cloud but just as many who oppose so get this analyzed thoroughly before making your choices.
I am a big fan of cloud technologies and follow it closely but skeptically
Lars Romsøe, Group CIO – H. Daugaard A/S
Well put Lars Your points are valid and for sure you need to look at how you spend your money, when in cloud, as thinking one to-one will leave you with a poor business case. Let me not add to the pile of pros, as that is not intended. But when you look at cloud think agile, think devsecops, and think about what brings value to your business and focus, the flexibility to put up a platform in minutes rather than weeks and take it down again when the idea you wanted to test out, did not fly is the mindset you need to embrace...
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Lars. We are fully aligned and every time a face a potential new customer with intention of investing in a (New) ERP-solution, I find it of vital importance to take a thorough discussion about the pro's and con's related to "Cloud" or XaaS. Although most marketing campaigns seem to be focused on "Cloud", then there is not one single solution that fits all and hence it is always imprtant to take base in the specific company's situation and needs.
I don't think there is a definite answer to the questions raised in the article. To cloud or not to cloud depends on the business needs, economy, strategy and internal competencies. Smaller companies tend to have a hard time attracting a wide area of it-competencies internally, as it's obviously a large cost driver in wages. Partnering with a larger outsourcing provides can be the solution. Other companies has the incentive of not wanting to have a large CapEx investment in own datacenter facilities and hardware. An OpEx cloud-model could be the solution here (XaaS)? As I see it, companies with a relatively large it-infrastructure and number of VM's should make an it-assessment of their environment to conclude, wheather a system is better placed on own hardware, private- or public cloud for each system. My experience tells me that this is the optimal way to gain savings, optimal operation and scalability. Now operations is complicated if you have 3 different platforms, and this is why outsourcing is the best solution for a lot of companies - and able the internal ressources to do, what they do best - make value for the company and it's customers. Thank you for a great article. Read it with great interest!