According to a blog by Gartner’s Tom Bittman, private clouds are failing! He asked 140 respondents who had private clouds in place, “What was going wrong with their private cloud?” A whopping 95% said that there was something or the other wrong with their private cloud. Using the wrong technologies, failure to change the funding model, or the operational model, focusing on the wrong benefits—these were some of the issues covered.
(Image Inspiration: Gartner Blog)
Let’s analyze the various issues that Gartner finds are the reasons for private clouds failing.
What are the benefits you are chasing? Usually private clouds are set up to keep costs down, and to have better control. But pretty soon, as the business grows, the complexity grows as well. And costs spiral out of control, as you add users, servers, air conditioning and IT resources. However, clouds are really about agility, elasticity, not so much about low Opex.
Do you have the right ‘cloud’? Is it really cloud, or just virtualization that you have in your private cloud? Just having servers virtualized doesn’t constitute a cloud. Do you have elasticity, agility, self service? Or do you just have some great automation?
The cloud is not a replacement, it’s a part of your IT strategy: The mistake companies end up doing is to view the cloud as a replacement for their IT. It’s not. The cloud is a part of your IT strategy to make the business more nimble and agile. The cloud helps you break out from a locked-in infrastructure that doesn’t adapt to your changing business needs.
Do you have the right technologies? Just because a technology works for the short term, or costs less, it does not mean it’s right for your business. It may seem right for the immediate need, but it may be all wrong for the long-term business goal. Technologies have to be chosen for the long haul as well, and not just what works for now. Ask the right tech advisors who also understand your business imperatives before you get locked into a technology.
Do you have the right team? It’s just not easy to find IT teams that have all the capabilities that your private cloud demands. And it’s even more challenging to retain them. Most IT managers have never run a cloud before. And if that means you see more of downtime, then the private cloud will be considered a failure.
A great solution here is to run it as a Managed Private Cloud with Progression. You get to have a private cloud, while it’s managed by cloud experts at Progression.
