Week 10 - ITIL

Hey All and Happy Halloween to You!

Welcome to Week 10 of my Cloud Computing and Governance course with  Bellevue University.  This week we are going to cover something a little different.  We are going to discuss the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL.  Organizations should be using this Library when they are making an IT decision when they are going to either adopt a new technology, or need to solve an issue within the IT realm.

A perfect example is within this course's realm of coverage, as many organizations are attempting to measure the risk vs reward to Cloud adoption.  What ITIL will do is it will give the IT administrators or even the Organization Leadership questions they need to ask when they are thinking about this option.  

ITIL has been in use since technically the 1980s when computers were just taking off and companies were thinking about their first computer.  In the beginning, the ITIL documentation was near 50 volumes and was since condensed to 5 volumes in 2019 with the 4th and 5th versions.  The process has become a lot more streamlined.

Another solution that ITIL can give is how to work a help desk.  With Cloud adoption, the organization will also need to adopt a better equipped help desk and ITIL can help there as well.  It is quite literally a one stop shop for any type of process or adoption of new procedures.  It will help the organization set up the correct framework and help them succeed through their endeavors.

Well that is all this week bloggers! Until next time!

Week 9 - Cloud Service Providers

Greetings IT Bloggers!!
We are in Week 9 of the Cloud Computing and Governance blogging journey through Bellevue University.  This week I want to discuss the leading front of Cloud Service Providers.  Amazon.  In the brilliance of Bezos (Amazon CEO), he saw the transitioning of on premise data centers and thought "Hey...what if we took this brand new technology (Cloud) and implemented it worldwide in our data centers and offer it as a service to organization?". By doing this he entered a realm that would increase the value of his company exponentially.

Amazon is currently the leading provider and developer of Cloud services.  Their user base is ahead of Microsoft Azure, but Microsoft has a higher Annual Revenue in 2018. Some would think that this meant that Microsoft is outperforming Amazon.  This is false.  Amazon takes most of their profits and places it directly back in to Research and Development and Innovation.  This lowers the annual revenue. Microsoft is sticking with what they know and taking all profit. 

The reason that consumers go for Amazon is because they know that it is at the forefront of the technology and they are getting what they pay for.  Also the price point is lower than most of the other CSPs as they have a plethora of resources available that running out is not a concern and they can fit as many clients as they want onto their servers and storage arrays.

It is notable, however, that choosing to go with Microsoft is not a poor choice either.  They are incorporated into the most popular Microsoft software applications already and make it ready for enterprise usage.  But with that comes a more expensive solution.

At the end of the day it is the choice of the consumer but it is paramount to do your research beforehand.

Until next week bloggers!

Week 8 - Are You Ready?

Greetings Cloud Computing Bloggers,
We are now 2/3 of the way through our Blog journey through Cloud Computing and Governance with Bellevue University.

One of the biggest questions when an organization is thinking about transitioning to the Cloud is if they are ready for the transition.  It sounds trivial but it is a huge question to pick apart and delve into as a company.  If you do not have a general knowledge about what the CSP has to offer then you are just setting yourself up for failure in the future.

In my opinion, the most important question to ask, is if your Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been solidified and concrete enough that it covers any type of issues that might arise once you have transitioned.  An example of something that needs to be covered in an SLA is the average up-time of the Cloud.  If you comb through some standard SLAs you will see some will mention a 99% up-time or a 99.9% up-time.  These are pretty "near perfect" numbers, but when you are given access 24/7 it is simple to state that you have fulfilled that number by going back to the very beginning of service.  A good addition to this SLA would be a stipulation with how long the CSP can be inoperable.  There was one example that stated that the service could only be down for a total of 30 minutes or less or less or else there would be a percentage of refunds for every minute over 30 minutes taken off of the monthly bill from the CSP.

I would encourage all organizations to stand up a department that has the sole responsibility of all SLA and contractual obligations to ensure there are no loopholes written in by the CSP to get around outages or data protection and liabilities.  All responsibility should be directed towards the CSP as they are the entity that is being trusted with the Platform, Software and Infrastructure in the Cloud that is provided to the client.

That is all I have for you all this week!! Until next time!

Week 7 - Cloud Computing Myths

Greetings All!
Here we are once again to discuss some facet of Cloud Computing as I journey though my BSIT 400 Cloud Computing and Governance course with  Bellevue University.  We have passed the halfway mark so that is always exciting!!! This week we are going to talk about some Cloud Computing Myths, what they are and potentially why they were debunked as false.  I have located a quick list of 10, but I will cover 2 of them here with you that are my favorite.

The first myth is The Cloud Hurts the Environment. I chose this one because I work as a Weather Forecaster and the fact that setting up singular data centers to take away the stress and workload of HUNDREDS of companies could hurt the environment baffles me.  If anything it is HELPING the environment.  To use virtual servers at a CSP rather than an actual server on-premise along saves energy.  Most CSPs are aware of the increased amount of power they are utilizing, but in doing so they are furthering their research and utilization of renewable energy to lower their environmental impact.

The second myth I want to share is The Cloud is ALWAYS Cheaper. If a business goes into their Cloud transition with the mindset that no matter what they do they will be saving money might be a little disappointed.  The Cloud is more cost efficient, but if you already have a large data load on-premise, you are still going to be paying a hefty price to host that in the Cloud.  What the Cloud IS giving companies is the ability to save the upkeep costs of having to upgrade their equipment and take that financial burden.  By going to a CSP, the hardware falls on them and clients can be comfortable that the CSP is always going to run the top of the line hardware for the price they are paying.  The benefit of the CSP is that you are ONLY paying what you are USING.  Unlike some on-premise data centers, you might have 5 servers but are only using 3 of them fully so you are wasting powering up and running data through 5 because you think you need them.  This is where you can find savings.

There are so many myths out there if you do some research you can find that there are many untruths out there.  At the end of this blog there is a link I used for some of my information, but feel free to do your own research too!

We will talk next week! See ya!!

https://www.rackspace.com/en-us/library/cloud-computing-myths

Week 6 - Cloud Risks/Vulnerabilities

Greetings Bloggers!
This week in the BSIT 400 Cloud Computing and Governance Course at Bellevue University we are going to discuss the Risks of Operating in the Cloud and the vulnerabilities that it poses.

To keep it simple, when a company goes to the Cloud for a storage solution is giving up a lot of control when they do so.  In the traditional sense, a company would have a storage array on their own data center and would have their own security measures to keep their data safe.  They would operate their own encryption standards.  When you migrate to the Cloud you are surrendering that control to the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) and you don't get the option for what type of security measures are employed and the type of encryption.

Secondly, when you are hosting all of your data with a plethora of other companies, you are essentially creating a one stop shop for cyber criminals to target and to attempt to steal the data.  Lastly, on the same lines, if the ONE building where your data is hosted, if there is a natural disaster than all of your data will go along with it.

Someone would tell you to just pay for further backups of your data, but this takes away from the benefit of the Cloud being a more cost effective solution than an in-house data center.

The pros certainly do outweigh the cons in Cloud operations, but it is a factor that all companies big and small need to consider.

That is all I have for this week everyone! I hope it was at least thought provoking!

Until next week!