Architecting your organization for the cloud

1. Summary

While cloud computing has seen widespread adoption, many organizations still see cloud-based services as something to be kept at arms length rather than as an integral part of an organization’s extended IT architecture. This not only results in missed opportunities but also means that applications and services are architected without taking the wider area network into account.

Aimed at heads of infrastructure in enterprise organizations, this paper considers how organizations can benefit from aspects of technology that lie beyond the corporate boundary — that is, the cloud — without being hampered by sometimes-artificial technological, organizational, and financial constraints.

Key findings are as follows:

• Organizations looking to use cloud-based infrastructure are doing so to rationalize existing assets and/or enhance their ability to deliver data and services.
• However, organizations do not always prioritize architectural and business decisions based on physical constraints, meaning that the resulting infrastructure functions suboptimally.
• By thinking like service providers, organizations can make better use of cloud-based infrastructure and services, which will mean facing down the inertia caused by existing IT investments, organizational structures, and procurement attitudes.
• When looking to make the most of cloud-based technologies as part of IT initiatives, organizations can benefit from a physical-first attitude as to where data exists and how it needs to move.
• To build trust and confidence in the cloud, evolution from existing platforms and architectures is key. At the same time, however, decision-makers should embrace the widest possible view of what constitutes IT architecture, taking physical constraints into account at every level.

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