Implementation of Cloud Services in a Business Environment
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7
Implementation of Cloud Services in a Business
Environment
Whenever there is a decision to extend or to alter an existing infrastructure in a
company, it usually involves certain conditions that are mandatory and some, which
can be categorized as optional. Thus specific requirements need to be fulfilled.
These requirements are usually derived from the overarching business strategy and
based on the allocation of limited resources (monetary and non-monetary). A good
starting point to establish a list of requirements is the Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It was compiled in the late 1908ies by the Central
Computer and Telecommunications Agency in UK and has been revised a couple
of times since to provide an up-to-date approach towards IT related services
(
Harding, 2011, p. 85) & (Hugos & Hulitzky, 2010, pp. 76-79).
For business purposes it is necessary to define certain areas, suitable for cloud
outsourcing. In Chapter 6.2 - Cloud Checklist, a simple example for a production
company identifying opportunities for cloud services has already been discussed.
Chris Harding (2011) points out a holistic approach towards the requirements
definition for companies, that plan to outsource processes into the cloud:
Table 4 - Cloud Services Requirement Areas
Area
Requirements
Functionality
Service functionality
Backup
Bulk data transfer
Supplier choice
Supplier choice
Performance
Availability
Reliability
Recoverability
Responsiveness
Throughput
Manageability
Configurability
