Why we need Cloud Mixologists?

It was a real pleasure meeting a number of mature cloud consumers this week. There was a common theme in a number of the discussions which I thought would be interesting to share.

The customers said their cloud usage started as a heterogeneous cloud service landscape (e.g. purchasing point solution clouds). The business wanted to move the maturity upwards into common security, analytics, availability, etc. experience across the clouds. This brought an idea into my head; a really key skill for the cloud department in the business is a “Cloud Mixologist”.

A mixologist is a well known skill in layering ingredients in cocktails. The mixologist knows the combination of certain ingredients to create impressive drinks. So when you consider a cloud experience having a resource who knows how to blend and layer services to create a joined together experience is critical.

Cloud service foundation capability will be important for the Cloud Mixologist. The cloud service foundation should cover the security, common business functions (e.g. reporting) and availability to make sure clear guidance and plans are produced to produce an impressive one cloud.

The research we did in partnership with Opinium Research provided evidence to back up this key skill. 80% of customers stated that IT standardization was an important outcome from a successful cloud experience. Also the top focus areas are application integration 61%, system management 59% and service levels 53%.

Now I’m not expecting a customer to create a cloud mixologist as a role (which would be a cool job title), but having a Chief Cloud Officer will be a role of the future (or now) accountable for the cloud service foundation, cloud integration, cloud alignment and making sure a heterogeneous cloud experience is consider by the customer as one cloud.

Another key skill a Chief Cloud Officer will be handling the governance of virtual IT function as alignment across inside / outside IT is key (which again was confirmed in the research when 65% of customers who responded said governance was key for a successful cloud).

One of the reasons I enjoying working for Oracle is because we resolve challenges at engineering time and not at implementation time. Can I wish everyone a great Christmas and thank you for the kind comments I have been receiving on email. It makes the time it takes to write the pieces each week worth it.

I’m off to rest in the cloud for a few weeks!