Being on a restrictive diet can take the fun and enjoyment out of food – especially when you have to give up life’s simple pleasures like sugar and carbs. You know what you should be eating, but change is hard. Trying to manage all your data in an efficient way that meets your needs now and into the future can spawn a similar response. Simply put, it’s a tall order and its often overwhelming. Paleo, gluten-free and no-carb dieters have new hope. There’s a trend brewing in the culinary world around a new approach to carbs called “cloud bread” that claims to be a high-protein bread alternative that could stave off cravings without compromising your eating habits.
So it’s official, everyone and everything is moving to the Cloud – even the bread.
But as I dive into the Epicurious article on cloud bread recipes, searching for the holy grail of carbs, I end up finding so many parallels between this food trend and our IT modernization movement.
Just a Trend or a Permanent Shift?
Apparently, cloud bread contains half the calories of a regular slice of bread, and depending on the recipe, has little to no carbohydrates and is completely gluten free. Ready to try it? Well, wait a minute. It’s made by whipping egg whites into a meringue and folding in egg yolks with your choice of a full-fat dairy product and more often than not, a little bit of sugar or sugar substitute. When baked it has a bread-like texture. So yes, it’s great for some, but not for dairy-free eaters and vegans. And like all good recipes the basic formula gets much better reviews when herbs and spices are added.
So, traditional bread is out, “cloud bread” is in? It sounds so familiar right? Yes, but it’s not an easy switch and “according to taste” takes on a whole new meaning in the IT modernization effort. All breads are not created the same, neither are Clouds.
What can IT learn from this culinary experiment bearing the same name?
- You need a chef: Cloud computing is not a “just add water” recipe. Much like cloud bread, performance is best when you have someone helping you add the right “spices” to the mix that yield a better product. When you go it alone, you miss out on the experienced counsel that could mean the difference between a five-star experience and a sub-par one.
- It’s not for everyone: Aligning the right cloud model with the applications and performance requirements is essential to making Cloud work. Done well, it can reduce the complexity and resource requirements of the organization. It’s the low calorie alternative to traditional data centers but your “dietary needs” determine the fit.
- Recipes can be simple or complex: Whatever your palette may be, your cloud solution can serve your tastes across a spectrum – from public, private or hybrid cloud to multi-cloud environments – depending on your workloads. Chances are you wouldn’t be able to convince your dinner guests to simply replace traditional bread with cloud bread – nor can your organization make the cloud switch without calculating resources and allocation for each step. Done well, the move to Cloud can allow you to reallocate existing resources to mission-critical tasks.
This is where the similarities end. I don’t foresee a day when only cloud bread graces the shelves of the grocery store, but cloud computing will continue to dominate the market when it comes to storage and management. No matter how complex your requirements are, there is a cloud option to help you modernize and manage your ever-increasing data volume. Cloud computing will never be “low calorie” but the growing options and ease of implementation that cloud experts can offer will help you stay the course, no matter what your diet requires.