Prepare for what’s next on your cloud journey
According to The Channel Company’s latest statistics, cloud computing and cloud managed services are the fastest growing technology areas for state and local governments. We know that Cloud computing can mitigate organizational risk, enable a more predictable financial model and allow for the modernization of applications, but there’s more to the story.
The question now is: What is the right mix of private cloud and public cloud?
The hybrid cloud concept isn’t something new nor ground breaking but what is new is the realization that this is not as easy as one would think.
It can be challenging to determine what makes sense, what is achievable and more importantly what is financially and technologically realistic. Over the past few years the notion of moving everything to a public cloud has proven to be a less prudent way to manage critical citizen services. The issues associated with federal requirements (CJIS) and disposition of sensitive data for example, have created strong barriers to complete public cloud adoption. In addition, most critical legacy applications are not conducive to deployments in a public cloud environment. Most critical legacy applications must be re-architected, which requires skillsets and millions of dollars that most states don’t have. The integration of the public cloud (AWS, Azure, Google, etc.) with an implementation of a private cloud (on-premise or off-premise) is not a trivial architecture. Managing the integration of the two environments with applications that reside in each of those environments requires specific skillsets as well as experience to be successful. State and local governments unfortunately do not have the skillsets nor experience that can accomplish the integration successfully. It is critical that state and local governments find a partner that can make them successful.
Companies that have a long history of deploying private clouds have an advantage in a multitude of areas.
- They have experience in how to link multiple cloud environments
- They know what is required from a network perspective
- They know how to design, deploy and support the infrastructure that support mission critical applications
- They know how to manage the financial aspect of cloud on demand computing services
Cloud computing and managed services can be a financial operational benefit if implemented correctly. Having a truly dedicated partner to help you navigate the complex migration to a cloud world is the first of many critical steps on a successful journey. Cloud and managed services are tenants that are here to stay and it takes a team to implement successfully. The train has already left the station, are you on it? Want to be? Contact us.