Planning for Cloud Integration: Pitfalls and Advantages - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 394

Don't underestimate the challenges. It is often the case that management or middle
management underestimates the challenges in working with legal departments and infor-
mation security departments. On top of that, collaboration, coordination, communication,
and progress reporting within two departments can be a major challenge. Moreover,
don't underestimate the power of resistance to change by the employees. It is natural to
be afraid of change initially because actors such as leaving the comfort zone, extra effort,
fear of job loss, and even fear of failure.
Don't overpromise. To overpromise is to expect too much of a team within a given
time frame. It is a good practice for both upper and middle management to recognize
realistic goals. This minimizes tangible (expenses) as well as intangible (effort, time,
confidence) losses.
Summary
Cloud integration can be a tricky business. Therefore, planning plays an essential part in
the overall integration process. It involves optimizing organizational resources to reduce
costs and improve efficiency. Administrators need to weigh the amount of resources used
against company or project requirements. Choosing from among a number of candidate
cloud models and services depends on multiple factors, such as projects, services, users, and
processes. All factors must be considered to better address the needs of an organization.
Competitive advantage, consistency, and team cohesiveness can be directly associated
with an organization and its culture. However, the culture can be an advantage as well as
an occlusion. To integrate cloud-based IT infrastructure, the current culture needs to be
assessed, understood, and transformed in a frictionless manner. Change can be a daunting
undertaking because the current culture can be an embedded part of an organization and
there might be a certain level of inertia. Leadership, communication, and employee motiva-
tion must be the points of concentration because they play very important roles in carrying
out such a challenging change.
Chapter Essentials
Optimization to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs If an organization is spending more
than required on resources to accomplish its objectives, it should consider optimizing usage
and capacity and reducing costs. Administrators can choose from among various levels of
resources (compute, memory, storage, and networking) to better suit their needs. To avoid
full-scale blackouts, businesses can deploy mission-critical services at alternative data centers.
This avoids total dependency on a single cloud provider.