A brief analysis of the two disadvantages of cloud technology development: lack of breadth and experience

More and more companies are planning or migrating to the cloud. However, the IT industry says the process of excessive access to the cloud is hampered by a lack of a wide range of skills and competitive in-house IT resources. In addition, cloud computing has changed the role of it in the enterprise, whether in the technical or non-technical areas, with the times, and constantly develop new features, this is the urgent need of enterprises.

Chris Morris, assistant vice president of cloud technology and cloud services in the Asia-Pacific region, said cloud computing was completely different from the premise model, which changed the skills requirements of the IT industry.

"With cloud computing, we can purchase applications from external vendors as a supplement or replacement for in-house application developers," Morris said in a recent interview with ZDNet Asia. So we need not just the application developers who can write and test the code, but the people who know the nuances of the company's business, because they can choose the right cloud service for the company. However, these people are the company's shortage. "

Lum Seow Khun, director of the Business Unit (business) of the Independent software vendor (ISV) and the IBM ASEAN cooperation developer, points out that the skills required by the cloud architect are critical and are lacking in today's market. These skills include designing cloud infrastructure and application solutions.

As a cloud architect, Khun in an e-mail message, not only should you have full knowledge of the design and deployment of IT infrastructure, but also the overall infrastructure and application dependencies of the cloud systems used by business people and end users.

She further noted: "At present, only a small percentage of senior system administrators and solution architects have enough experience to assume the responsibilities of cloud architects." Most IT professionals only have specific skills in specific areas, or lack breadth or experience.

That, analysts say, is why today's enterprise architects cannot quickly transform into a qualified cloud architect. Steve Hodgkinson, head of IT research at Ovum Asia Pacific, a marketing research firm, explains that most enterprise architects don't have direct experience in integrating cloud services into existing enterprise infrastructure frameworks and legacy systems.

Hodgkinson wrote in the Mail that the development of cloud services in the niche (niche) market is becoming more and more important, but for "how to confidently integrate cloud services into existing internal IT services", making cloud services a seamless part of the enterprise IT portfolio, there is a general lack of experience in the market.

Improve management capabilities in the cloud

Weaknesses in cloud skills are embodied not only in technology, but also in management, which Hodgkinson defined as the ability to weigh the key risks of the purchase, contracting, and use of cloud services.

"In fact, because of the strangeness of cloud services, the potential risks and problems are exaggerated," he said. Similarly, the real risks and problems of internal IT systems are often underestimated because people are too familiar with it. "

Therefore, audit and risk managers should develop the capacity to conduct risk assessment of multiple procurement modalities for IT services in a more impartial and objective manner.

Morris of IDC agrees with this and points out the current deficiencies in the management capacity of external services. The previous companies favored a combination of self-built applications and outsourced services, so many companies are struggling to maintain good relationships with multiple cloud providers.

Morris said that only by mastering how to manage and monitor relationships, contracts and service level agreements with multiple suppliers (Service-level agreements, or "SLAs") can we maximize the benefits of cloud computing and effectively achieve the ultimate goal of cost savings.

Enhanced understanding of the cloud

Morris said that the current weakness in the company's cloud capabilities can be summed up as "time", although the recent cloud computing deployment rate is soaring, and the cloud industry hype is one after the other.

He admits that during the recession of 2008, technology training and education unfortunately became one of the top plans for companies to shrink their IT budgets. Just then, cloud computing is emerging, and experts are debating whether cloud computing can be a long-term concept.

In addition, Morris added, all cloud-savvy professionals have long been snapped by it and cloud service providers, as companies have to deploy their cloud environments through external consultants and professionals, and because of inexperience and difficulty in achieving ROI goals, Choosing to deploy within the enterprise consumes more time.

IBM's Lum also points out that cloud computing is still in its early stages of application and is expected to dominate the market in the next 3-5 years. Such a time span, she says, has created an opportunity for High-tech industries, academia and the government to work closely together to promote the maturity of cloud technology. Last year, for example, Tue Blue giant held an IBM SmartCloud summer camp in Singapore, attracting students, developers and IT professionals to better implement the cloud by improving the necessary skills to manage the cloud.

Morris points out that the rise of cloud computing and the rising demand for relevant skills provide a significant incentive for it talent retention and scalability, as the ability to upgrade means higher wages.

Over time, he explains, the skill gap will certainly shrink. In fact, skills are not necessary for end user organizations, because the enterprise may eventually choose to hire cloud experts on the basis of the project, discarding the original internal deployment strategy.

The IDC analyst further stressed that the preparation for migration to the cloud would not only represent the maturity of cloud technology. It also requires business leaders, especially business managers, to have a clear understanding of the "energy" and "inability" of cloud services.

"Most of the time the business manager deployed the cloud strategy just to get the CIO's approval," he said. This can cause disputes within the enterprise, as business managers ' decisions are not necessarily able to effectively integrate all existing IT infrastructures. "

The complete preparation for migrating to the cloud means that business unit managers are trained to fully understand the opportunities and costs of outsourcing services so they can make better strategic plans to increase revenue and profitability or develop new markets, Morris said.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)