3. IT knows your business Working with business groups builds IT tacit knowledge, which means IT has a rich context of understanding subtle elements of the way the overall business operates. Keeping the cloud private enables business units to harvest that tacit knowledge to get better systems and to increase end customer satisfaction. Marrying cloud computing with internal IT marries the best of both worlds. Furthermore, keeping IT functionality within the company enables personnel transfers back and forth between IT and business units, further enriching tacit knowledge. By contrast, arms-length service providers don't really understand your business, no matter what they say-and anyway, with lots and lots of customers, the attention external providers offer is split. Which brings us to the next "pro" for private clouds.
4. Ability to react more quickly to changing business conditions Let's say something big changes in your business-not an individual application needing 500% more compute resources; after all, that's a problem cloud computing is supposed to solve. No, something really big-say your company buys another that is nearly as large. You need a ton of work to get ready.
An external cloud provider is going to work to contract, whereas people associated with a private cloud are more loyal to the company and will move heaven and earth to support the extra work. If the crunch comes, who would you rather rely on: an internal group, or an external provider?
5. An SLA that means something I already noted that too many outsourcer SLAs are worth exactly the paper they're written on, which is to say, very, very little. External cloud providers offer no or restricted SLAs. Internal groups offer SLAs and, if the SLA isn't met, you have some influence over the group-you can always threaten to fire the CIO. By contrast, if an external cloud provider falls short on the SLA, you'll get a sympathetic meeting and an offer of a cut-price refund.
6. Privacy Data privacy is a nightmare. Companies face large numbers of complex, poorly understood, and inconsistently enforced data privacy laws and regulations. Putting external cloud computing into the mix threatens to take a challenging situation and make it even more challenging. Many companies, when faced with adding additional complexity to existing privacy requirements, will punt on using an external cloud provider. Keeping the cloud private bypasses any potential problems posed by external cloud providers and makes cloud computing easier to accomplish.-
--PB---
7. IT staff motivation Nothing is more demoralizing than watching your employer outsource some juicy new technology while asking you to patch a decrepit old application long past its prime. And for sure, if new cloud initiatives are placed with external providers, employees will quickly see that the way to gain new cutting-edge skills is to go to work for a cloud computing company. Keeping your cloud initiatives in-house will raise overall employee satisfaction, since it shows that long-term career growth is possible.
8. Incremental change Rather than transforming the way IT is done in an instant, moving to a private cloud eases the transition. Putting private cloud computing in place enables the IT organization to begin reaping the benefits of the cloud without overturning every existing process. It's better to take a number of small steps rather than stumble trying to take a giant leap.
It's easy to recognize that the question about whether to do cloud computing is easy -it's a big yes. However, the decision about whether to implement a private cloud or use a public cloud is much more difficult. Many factors play into the decision. In this piece I've outlined some of the strongest reasons why companies should consider whether a private cloud makes more sense as an initial way to get started with the cloud. Next week, I'll look at the other side of the coin: why moving to a public cloud makes more sense-in the short and the long run.
Bernard Golden is CEO of consulting firm HyperStratus, which specializes in virtualization, cloud computing and related issues. He is also the author of "Virtualization for Dummies," the best-selling book on virtualization to date.
Cloud Computing Seminars HyperStratus is offering three one-day seminars. The topics are: 1. Cloud fundamentals: key technologies, market landscape, adoption drivers, benefits and risks, creating an action plan 2. Cloud applications: selecting cloud-appropriate applications, application architectures, lifecycle management, hands-on exercises 3. Cloud deployment: private vs. public options, creating a private cloud, key technologies, system management The seminars can be delivered individually or in combination. For more information, see http://www.hyperstratus.com/pages/training.htm
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