Last September, I noted the tipping point for cloud management is nigh to make the case that, as we migrate into cloud-based systems, control and governance of those systems should be a priority: "At some point, companies have to get serious about how they'll manage these cloud services, including monitoring use, uptime, security, governance, and compliance with SLAs."
As cloud deployment continues, the need for a centralized approach to control these new resources, along with the existing resources, becomes a more pressing matter for a few key reasons:
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- Many cloud deployments are carried out in support of devops. This typically means the use of many different public and private cloud services, as well as traditional development technology. Thus, there needs to be centralized control of these resources in the move from design to development, then to test, and finally to deployment.
- The complexity brought by cloud computing requires that these sets of resources need to be abstracted in order to be used productively. This means placing governance or management systems between the people and systems consuming the resources or services and the hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of services that will appear as enterprises move to cloud computing.
If you're moving to cloud, what should you be thinking about right now? What's obvious is that we need to get ahead of the complexity. Create a strategy and a plan to manage an environment where the number of resources from public and private clouds will expand dramatically over the next several years. Look at existing and emerging technology to help, such as those that provide governance and resource management.
The core problem is that most in enterprise IT don't think this way. The rising complexity will push them in the direction of more governance and control, resulting in less productivity and less value. In other words, the typical IT organization will act too late. Don't be one of those.
The better approach is to create a plan right now to deal with the complexity before it emerges and changes. Invest in people, processes, and technology, making sure that, as you onboard cloud computing resources, they actually improve your organization.
This article, "Don't wait till it's too late to prepare your cloud governance," originally appeared at InfoWorld.com. Read more of David Linthicum's Cloud Computing blog and track the latest developments in cloud computing at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.