By Lex Boost, CEO of Leaseweb USA

As the global economy continues to embrace public, private, hybrid and hyper-scale cloud models; the integration of cloud services across businesses goes far beyond the remit of an IT department. Successful integration requires board-level leadership and support. This is the dawn of cloud culture!

Leading from the top

The cloud has the potential to be a transformative technology that offers flexible, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure, so the vendor and technology deployment decisions taken before migration must match each company's unique business requirements.

Creating a successful and meaningful cloud culture upfront will make this a much easier task, but it has to start at the top of the company-ideally with a Chief Technology Officer. This is because it is a delicate balancing between reshaping policies and workflows while preserving the core philosophies and drivers that initially propelled the company to success.

Getting cloud culture right means thinking about your employees, your IT security, and your customers - particularly how each may react or change with your move into the cloud. If you encounter resistance in one of these areas once the adoption is underway, then operations could be impacted.

Joined up thinking 

Developing a cloud culture also means learning and understanding the links between communications, sales, marketing, product development, and security. The cloud has the potential to link all these aspects efficiently and effectively. However, if your cloud culture is not robust, the technology can cause confusion, disarray, and siloed working-all the things that it's supposed to prevent.

Having a strong cloud culture will also enable businesses to make a much more informed decision about which kind of cloud infrastructure to adopt. An increasing number of companies are opting for a hybrid option as they feel it offers the highest levels of flexibility, efficiency, and peace of mind. As an off premises option, hybrid cloud is the best fit for many companies and gives them the best chance of adapting to future challenges and changing IT landscapes.

When it comes to hybrid cloud, businesses need to select a provider with a comprehensive vendor and technology partner network. This will enable them to secure the very best fit for their requirements. Cloud providers with a limited vendor roster may try to box companies in to a hybrid solution that does not meet their needs.  Having a clear and technology agnostic cloud culture will mitigate that risk and help them make the best decision for their business.

More than just TCO

TCO was considered the driving force for cloud adoption for a long time. However, current IDG research suggests the need for improved network performance, faster product deployment, and a wish to improve customer service have all become more essential catalysts for cloud service adoption. These reasons are more comprehensive than a straightforward decision to select a cloud-based server as an IT cost-saving exercise. That's why it's critical to create, foster, and understand your cloud culture before the adoption process begins. It's also the reason why that process has to start at board level.

Getting the right people, and the right skills in place

Cloud migration and cloud service management require a particular skill set. That might mean you have to re-skill existing IT staff or create new cloud-specific positions. Some of the most common positions today are cloud architect, cloud systems engineer, cloud network engineer, and cloud security manager.

Whether you make new hires or offer to retrain, one thing is for sure: It isn't reasonable to expect an IT team that managed physical servers to understand cloud computing-at least until they have had some training. 

Picking the best cloud service provider for your needs

Creating, understanding, and teaching your cloud culture is also essential because it leads to a more informed decision about which cloud service provider to select. Different cloud providers have different ways of working, and businesses need to find the one that they can gel with. All of them boast about being an extension of your IT team. If you're to take that claim seriously, you have to understand your team first and make sure you get the right fit.

One of the largest hyper scalers had over 20 categories and over 90 cloud-based products. That was just one example of one hyper scaler in a crowded market of many hyper service providers. Understanding your own cloud culture helps navigate this potentially confusing market. It also ensures that you make the right product and service choices for your business. 

Working with a cloud provider that offers a technology agnostic and flexible approach will ultimately make this a much more straightforward proposition. It removes many of the vendor lock-in issues that organizations worry about and allows a company's cloud adoption strategy to develop and mature over time. For this reason, it's worth taking time to research a cloud provider that works will all of the big names, including Apache, Microsoft, and VMware. Those leading the cloud adoption process should also make sure their chosen provider has the flexibility to allow self-management their own virtualized environments.

Conclusion

Cloud computing started as a buzzword and quickly became a way for IT departments to cut costs and become more efficient. Because of its ability to impact almost every area of a company's operations with managed services, cloud computing needs a vocal, knowledgeable advocate at an organization's highest levels. It is necessary to implement new policies and best practices that ensure a smooth transition and help businesses get the best from cloud adoption-whatever form it ultimately takes for them.

##

About the Author

Lex Boost, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Leaseweb USA. He is responsible for the development and execution of Leaseweb’s core vision and strategy across the United States. With over 20 years’ experience in the digital industry, he has gained leadership experience from a broad range of organizations and cultures, including both B2B and B2C markets, in startups, as well as large corporations.