Cloud

In a few short years, cloud has transformed business in ways previously impossible to imagine. Today, organizations tap cloud-based hardware, software and services to boost agility, increase competitiveness and innovate faster than ever before.

Cloud is both a catalyst and a connector. Cloud offers the ability to source, scale and deliver computing capacity on demand. Powered by a public, private or hybrid cloud, organizations are better equipped to handle changing business needs and create new services to improve performance.

Traditionally, IT leaders have a set of roles focused on activities such as incident management, application performance management and services management. These roles rely on certain tools to carry out their tasks and effectively manage ITIL and service assurance processes.

Once the cloud migration is under way, possibly with the assistance of a third-party provider’s App Owner, new roles appear.

• Cloud administrators will be needed to manage the estate of legacy and cloud applications.
• Financial administrators will be needed to manage payment of the cloud as-a-service offerings.
• Software developers will become increasingly necessary to take full advantage of the agility and speed that a cloud infrastructure will bring to the software development process.

These new resources—some of whom may come from the talent pool previously dedicated to service management—will rely on new tools such as the TechRobots Cloud Platform or continuous improvement/continuous deployment approaches to optimize cost and drive new innovations. Middleware and an integrated service bus supports the new control plane, end to end.

Seeing the new landscape laid out this way can help IT leaders understand what a cloud migration might mean for them. Looking at the cloud through the lens of a new control plane helps them realize that the transition is not something to fear or resist, but something to celebrate. At the end of the day, embracing cloud computing technologies gives them greater, not less, control. And it puts them back in the driver’s seat, where they belong.