The emergence of cloud represents a major break in a traditional information technology services, which are no longer tied to dedicated hosting. The services began to move freely about the infrastructure, whenever and wherever needed. But it does not mean that companies need to completely reinvent their IT to implement projects in the cloud.

Many organizations have as their main objective of business agility in responding to demands to reduce costs to deliver services and minimize risks. The cloud hosting projects do not change those goals and, indeed, accelerate the process of achieving them. But to succeed in this movement, we need to undergo four major changes: infrastructure, organizational processes, services and culture.

1 – Infrastructure Transformation

Perhaps the most significant change involves the IT infrastructure. In this scenario, it is no longer possible to maintain traditional architectures fragmented, with stacks of applications and data segregated into silos of hardware. The architecture of cloud computing services is unified and smooth. Applications and data move through the cloud to deliver services anywhere and at any time.

And how to transition from a fixed to a fluid environment? You can create environments for testing. Thus, it creates a period to gain experience and further scope of the project, including critical systems.

2 – Transformation process and organization

Over the years, organizations have developed best practice processes for IT disciplines, such as those based on ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library). These practices provide large gains to generate agility, reduce costs and avoid risks.

These processes must be maintained when a project starts with cloud services. And there are several ways to use them, even if it is necessary for some sort of change adaptation processes and increased harmony with cloud environments. For this, there are several technologies that simplify and automate that process management in the cloud.

A service orientation requires an organizational structure for IT that is capable of managing and supporting a cloud environment. The transformation may involve several new functions. For example, the company can replace teams structured by lines of technology by teams such as service administration or management of IT products that work in a service perspective that crosses all technologies.

3 – Processing Service

The ITIL best practices are focused on helping organizations to move in a service perspective. Cloud can support this approach by allowing executives to request services themselves, which increases the agility to meet business needs.

Business executives do not care about the components of IT infrastructure that need to deliver a service. They want speed in a service request and delivery on time. To meet these requirements, standards facilitate the request for services, and simplify management and reduce costs.

The management of business services (Business Service Management) helps companies transition to a service-oriented approach to service management. BSM is a comprehensive and unified platform to make IT work. This lets you manage the infrastructure of a service point of view of linking them with hidden components of the IT architecture supporting these services. Thus, the technology department can manage services based on the impact they have on business, increasing efficiency.

4 – Cultural Transformation

In the past, some departments had budget or organizational difficulties and, consequently, were slow to meet the demands of business. Today, cloud services brings agility, meeting minutes in service demands, which represents a major cultural change not only for the IT area, but for all departments of companies. Thus, executives may be more agile in responding to market changes and seize new opportunities.

IT must be the driving force behind the cultural transformation. Effective communication of the benefits that cloud computing can bring is essential. The message to be passed is that people can request services without effort, fulfilling orders without delay and user expectations with quality services.

Putting It All Together

Cloud hosting is transforming all aspects of IT: infrastructure, processes, service orientation, organizational structure and corporate culture. But despite all the changes this is still an ongoing process, and companies can move to the cloud without putting aside all that has been developed in its traditional environment.

The corporate objectives are still the same: get to be extremely agile in responding to business demands, reduce costs to deliver services and minimize risks. Cloud Providers can help to achieve these goals, and companies can use technologies (virtualization, automation and portals) that provide a basis for design of the cloud. ESDS Data Center helps you to manage services, achieve maximum value, strengthening the ties between IT and business, help to ensure the success of businesses.