Clouding is risky
Peeling back some of the data points from VMworld reveals some interesting insights into the state of Cloud in the enterprise. According to VMware only 5% of enterprise data lives in the Public Cloud. In five years that number is expected to jump to 50%. What does this mean?
It means we are only at the very beginning of the enterprise consuming Public Cloud in any meaningful way. If we are at the very beginning, who are all of these consultants helping enterprises form a cloud strategy and what validates their playbooks. If Cloud consumption from a data perspective will grow 10X the playbooks offered by consulting companies today are very immature.
We don't have enough data to understand what works and doesn't work. Will companies consume cloud using APIs or will enterprises just spin up VMs and use AWS/Azure as expensive data centers? How will charge back work at scale? Will the pay for use model of Public Cloud create a greater degree of have and have not in the enterprise? Marketing has the budget and ROI business case for Cloud, but what about HR? Without a centralized IT cost center will business starve critical back office functions?
What are the real security concerns for hybrid cloud use cases? How do organizations ensure data that needs to remain within their borders remain within their boarders? How is network security and auditing performed across multiple boarders? What tools are needed to aggregate and analyze that data?
With only a 5% sample and extremely fast ramp up, I can safely say, there isn't a Cloud practice that can reliably predict these risks and their mitigation. The enterprise will have some spectacular disruption that not even high priced consultants can predict.
I'm no exception, I've built small scale clouds but this hybrid approach to IT is extremely new. I've been working on a series of courses for Pluralsight that help educate enterprises on the technology side. However, we have a lot to learn before there's a reliable playbook to help enterprises navigate integrating Public Cloud into operations.
It reminds me when companies said "electronic mails might be a risky bet" decades later regular mail is what's risky nowadays. We just need to adapt and adopt :)
Cloud Technology still is on an early stage but it works, and from the IT perspective is ready for enterprises too. But are enterprises business processes ready to be executed on the Cloud? At some level you cannot force old business processes to efficiently run in the Cloud. It’s not technology alone, it’s how business processes evolve, creating new models and revenue streams. If IT buys the latest technology but LoBs keep doing the same, that's financial insanity.
Good stuff. I think the Cloud Consultancy is required for the very reason's you site. The tech is fairly new and maturing at a rapid pace. Enterprises considering the varied options for cloud adoption would benefit from a Sherpa to help guide them through their journey. No magic bullet.
Great thoughts, Keith! Your point about the lack of a centralized IT is spot on and more or less completely contradicts what "pundits" said not too long ago about that organization disappearing. It does bring up the thought that the role of IT will change significantly, and likely more toward the role of arbiter and vendor manager (if it isn't already).