Enterprise cloud: Now? Later? Never?

Colin Lacey of Unisys evaluates the key aspects and considerations of cloud computing.

“In time, perhaps any workload can move to a private, public or hybrid cloud. Today there is some complexity and varying risk”
-Colin Lacey

Ongoing cuts to IT budgets, pressures for IT to be more agile in responding to business opportunities and overall cost reductions are leading CIOs and CTOs around the globe to seriously consider cloud computing as a game changer for their enterprises. IT executives are looking to cloud computing to solve challenges ranging from managing the enterprise IT infrastructure economically to improving employee productivity. The conversation has evolved from thought leadership to practice.

Chances are that sooner or later you are going to need to evaluate how cloud computing could benefit your business. When that time comes, consider up-leveling the thinking from applications to application workloads. The question is: which workloads make sense to move to the cloud now, which make sense to keep in-house now, and which ones should be exempt from the cloud discussion this year or perhaps even forever.

Colin Lacey, Vice President of Cloud Computing at Unisys Corporation, walks through key aspects and considerations as you evaluate cloud computing's potential for your enterprise business.

What are the key business criteria used to evaluate workloads appropriate for private and public clouds?
Colin Lacey. There are at least 3 key considerations, which are risk tolerance, cyclical workloads and payment options. Risk tolerance encompasses topics such as security, compliance requirements, IT reliability and network performance. For example, what impact would a brief disruption in service have on your business? What impact would a data breach have?

Most applications don't run all the time and don't really require dedicated resources -   although IT traditionally has given almost all workloads dedicated assets - so cyclical workloads are a key consideration, particularly at a time when cost-efficiency rules, this capital outlay can no longer be justified. IT now has the means to consolidate many workloads onto shared IT infrastructures, whether those are public or private clouds, or a combination known as hybrid clouds.

Enterprises can choose a public cloud with a subscription payment model or alternatively, they can maximize their IT capital spending by migrating workloads to an internal, private cloud where they can achieve very high levels of consolidation and IT automation. The key in any case is eliminating capital expenditures, therefore payment options remains a key consideration.

Which types of applications are appropriate for the cloud?
CL. It's not really about the application or even the data characteristics that fit the cloud, it's about the service and ensuring that the cloud has the agility both to deliver elastic capacity and to dynamically meet the operational requirements of the business function that it is supporting. 

Which workloads are best in private and public clouds?
CL. It's best to start with a detailed feasibility analysis (such as Unisys offers) analyzing the potential target area for cloud adoption, aligning business demand with IT supply through the business value chain, and identifying potential risks and impacts to the business.  This type of analysis decomposes the target workload for evaluation against cloud deployment patterns. Consultants can aid organizations in analyzing current-state infrastructure and operation, create a value analysis and determine the applicability and feasibility of applying cloud architecture within the existing infrastructure and into public clouds.

What are some common workload deployment patterns to consider?
CL. There are four common workload deployment patterns: low latency; complex transaction; intensive numerical processing; and information integration.

Low latency - is your mission-critical workload sensitive to millisecond-level latency delays? These workloads typically require high system resiliency and data transfer at wire speed without queuing or buffering.

Complex transactions - workloads that require a lot of data requests or network interaction between internal and external systems to complete a single transaction.  They usually occur in real or near-real time.

Intensive numerical processing - workloads that process large data sets (millions of records, gigabytes of data), involving iterative calculations. These massive calculations and rewrites need to be done in the least amount of time.

Information integration - workloads that deal with integration of large amounts of data from multiple sources into a unified view.  These typically have requirements for high security, high throughput and the ability to aggregate, translate and distribute data.

Where does a business start to map out the benefits that cloud computing promises?
CL. Today many organizations are dabbling with cloud computing for development and test environments and for backup and recovery needs. Email and Microsoft SharePoint services in the cloud are gaining in popularity as well. At the end of the day, it's wise to carefully consider a top-down approach to understanding the demand characteristics of your business workloads. This IT-to-business-value-vhain mapping clarifies where cloud computing can provide the most benefit to your business.

Are there workloads/applications I should not yet consider for the Cloud?
CL. In time, perhaps any workload can move to a private, public or hybrid cloud. Today there is some complexity and varying risk, depending on the vendor's solution, in moving certain workloads to a public cloud.  Enterprise workloads composed of multiple, co-dependent services are more difficult to control when the infrastructure is external to the enterprise - for example, when it's managed as a public cloud. Also, workloads requiring a high level of regulatory compliance and accountability can make auditing the content more difficult in a public cloud, so you'll want to understand the cloud provider's auditing procedures and ability to help you meet your regulatory and compliance requirements. Lastly, workloads based on third-party software that does not have a virtualization - or cloud-aware licensing strategy aren't usually suitable for the cloud because they may require licenses for total cores on the physical box, regardless of the number of virtual machines (VMs). For these complex workloads, a private cloud may be the best place to start.

In addition to technical considerations, what other factors influence the successful adoption of cloud?
CL. Business risks related to processes for adequate audit and compliance reporting, issues relating to end user service levels, or even competitive differentiation based on specialized technical implementation are sometimes just as important as cost reductions. An organization's cultural and process readiness to entrust a critical portion of its operations to a third party is something that could easily be underestimated yet could be core to the success or failure of the transition to cloud. For business reasons such as these, it's important to consider the full spectrum of private, public and hybrid cloud options that will best meet your business needs at this time. Some organizations, however, will consider the in-house control of core functions as an opportunity for competitive differentiation and even advantage, and choose to keep these workloads in-house.

How do I know how to use what we already have, or can cloud be a self-funding implementation?
CL. By using the Unisys top-down, fit-for-purpose methodology, you can determine how to best align IT supply with business demand and optimize your environment to balance IT efficiency with business effectiveness. You can employ the methodology and approach to effectively solve a specific business challenge or apply it across your entire business value chain to determine the best-fit solution. 

Where do I begin, and are there low risk steps I can take toward cloud?
CL. Education is always a good start. Take the time to think through and document key considerations before you begin. You can do this independently or with a combination of online ROI calculators and vendor advice. These will likely be sufficient for a small pilot; however, the aid of an external trusted advisor often provides the necessary discipline and focus an organization needs to accurately assess and communicate unbiased options to management. One good place to start may be the Unisys Cloud Series on YouTube.

Whichever approach you take, consider these: Business drivers (time to market? costs?); 'Pilot' workload (perhaps a development and test environment, or a new service); Technology needs (infrastructure, platform, storage, network); Process changes needed within your organization to gain expected benefits; Financial analysis, calculating expected ROI; Success criteria to evaluate implementation of cloud computing.

As Vice President of Cloud Computing at Unisys Colin Lacey leads the Cloud Computing Business Office responsible for execution of Unisys four-part cloud strategy including Unisys Secure Cloud, Private Cloud, Transformation Services and Hybrid Cloud.