When You Wish Upon
"The Cloud"
by Erin
Griffin
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business
Website
It seems that every networking event this year, every
tech magazine issue, and every vendor worth its salt is talking about "the
cloud." The cloud, in one of its many forms - public, private, or mixed -
has become ubiquitous! I'll confess: I started off my cloud gazing with
little interest and several doubts, but I've learned a lot over the past
year about the potential benefits of obtaining software, platform, and
infrastructure as cloud services. I'm not quite ready to "drink the kool
aid" yet, but it's starting to look pretty tasty. Still, I have five
wishes that need to be granted before I can consider a major move into the
cloud.
Wish #1: Service
Comparable to What I Provide Now.
When our CEO says jump, well . .
. you get the picture. As CIO, I have to provide the level of service that
our senior management and board expect from the IT team. So, how do I
create SLAs that really ensure that a cloud provider will meet these
demanding standards? When a cloud provider doesn't meet the SLA, the
reimbursement is generally a partial rebate of the provider's fee. When
the internal IT staff doesn't meet the SLA, the "price" can be much
higher. So, for example, if I want to have "bursting" support for high
levels of availability at peak times, how do I know I can rely on the
cloud to provide it? If my cloud provider doesn't provide the support for
the load at the time I need it, I will be compensated with a portion of my
hosting fee, whereas if the internal IT team were to fail in this example,
we'd be accountable for the lost revenue. That high internal price results
in a great motivation to deliver service. Then there are the service
issues that are, frankly, out of the control of most cloud providers. The
last mile connectivity from premises to data center can be fraught with
latency. When users are accustomed to running heavy applications over a
private network, accessing them over commodity Internet lines can really
impact their perception of system performance.
Wish #2: The
Ability to Customize.
We're all unique, right? Every organization
has its - dare I say? - "secret sauce" - the customized software
applications and systems that are a major part of the value we bring to
our customers. Being able to establish and support a custom implementation
in the cloud is still a challenge. For example, we are implementing
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But we need a special search capability that has
to be either developed or added as a bolted-on application from a
third-party provider. We need such ability to customize standard
applications in order to make them effective for us, and that means in the
cloud as well as on premises. I'd like to have applications delivered for
us to customize and then be maintained in the cloud.
Wish #3: High
Security.
Our data is an "attractive nuisance" - people are
interested in it because we have personal information on very public
figures. Controlling access to that data is critical. No matter what
security promises are in our agreement with a cloud provide, and
regardless of the amount of SAS 70-2 control in place, we will be loathe
to release control over our member data to an outside firm. Although
security can be a selling point for Microsoft's products, abdicating our
control over this information poses a significant risk that must be
addressed. In addition, the cloud providers I have investigated do not
encrypt data in motion or at rest, requirements that have begun to crop up
in data security and privacy legislation. Bottom line - I need to be able
to affirmatively state that my cloud provider is better and more
knowledgeable about data security than I am.
Wish #4: Easy
Integration.
Not only are our systems highly customized, they are
extensively integrated. I need an end-to-end integration of solutions; in
particular, hybrid solutions that support only certain user groups and are
integrated via web services with locally hosted options. I haven't yet
seen a hybrid solution that provides easy manageability between
on-premises and hosted solutions. And I want to manage performance,
access, and the like seamlessly, whether that data or application or user
resides in the cloud or on premises. And by the way, which cloud? Just as
there are many clouds in the sky, there are many cloud providers. Will
information in Oracle On-Demand play easily with enterprise applications
developed in Azure?
Wish #5:
Clarification of Legal Issues. Our data is part of our intellectual
property. Access to that data creates a risk that it will be used in ways
that negatively impact our organization. For example, we control access to
determining who is eligible to work under a SAG contract. Providing access
to work history data could enable other entities to try to make such
decisions about our members. E-discovery is another big issue, both in
terms of our own need to provide access to electronic assets as well as
concerns about allowing inadvertent or unauthorized access to our data in
the cloud. If a subpoena is served for access to our data, how will our
cloud provider respond? Will we be notified of what data was delivered?
Further, what is our obligation to report the remote storage of customer
data? As laws surrounding electronic data continue to change, I want to be
certain that I'm in compliance and that our organization continues to be
served by operating in the cloud.
Despite the fact
that my wishes aren't yet a reality, I've decided it's prudent to assess
what steps we can take, and when, to avail ourselves of cloud computing's
potential to save on infrastructure costs and to increase computing
capabilities. I'm looking forward to putting together my cloud computing
roadmap, and I encourage other CIOs to create their own cloudy forecast.
Erin Griffin
serves as the Chief Information Officer for the Screen Actors Guild, the
nation's largest labor union representing working actors. Recognized
nationally for visionary leadership, Ms. Griffin is known for aligning IT
with business, uniting diverse stakeholders around a common goal,
leveraging next-generation technology solutions, and leading turnaround
initiatives to accelerate growth, resolve business challenges, improve
operational performance, and elevate the organization's industry
reputation. She is also part of Microsoft's CIO Advisory board.
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