Cloud Strategy

“Strategy is the difference between making a wish and making it come true. Stop having cloud wishes.”Cloud computing is an amazing resource that can provide fully managed platforms, auto-optimizing and even auto-healing operations, per-second billing, pre-trained machine learning models, and globally distributed transactional data stores. Cloud is also a critical enabler for organizations to compete in economies of speed. So, it's no surprise that most enterprises are engaging in a cloud migration or cloud transformation, as it's often called.Migrating a whole enterprise to the cloud isn't as easy as pushing a button, though. Simply lifting and shifting legacy applications is unlikely to bring the anticipated benefits whereas re-architecting applications to run optimally in the cloud can be cost prohibitive. Enterprises thus need a more nuanced strategy than simply proclaiming "cloud first!"A strategy isn't something you can copy-paste from a recipe book or from another organization. Diverse starting points, objectives, and constraints imply different choices and trade-offs. In addition, a cloud strategy doesn't just consider technical change but also includes close alignment across business, organization, and technology.Unfortunately, most books on cloud computing either stay at a very high level or are limited to specific vendors and products. This book closes this gap by questioning existing assumptions and presenting technology-neutral decision models ideally suited to defining and communicating a well-thought-out migration journey.This book is a valuable guide and a comprehensive reference for:Enterprise architects who are tasked with defining and communicating a comprehensive and balanced cloud strategyCloud architects who seek to understand the trade-offs embedded in cloud platform architecturesIT executives who want to harvest the full benefits of cloud computing and anticipate the ramifications of product and architecture choicesBusiness executives who are looking to align organizational changes with the technical transformation30 chapters guide an organization along its journey to the cloud, focusing on options, decisions, and trade-offs — the core elements of a sound strategy.Part 1: Understanding the Cloud - Cloud is very different from traditional IT procurement, so you'll have to rethink the way your IT works.Part 2: Organizing for the Cloud - Cloud impacts more than your tech landscape.Part 3: Moving to the Cloud - There are many ways to the cloud; please choose wisely.Part 4: Architecting the Cloud - Look beyond products and buzzwords and instead use rational decision models.Part 5: Building for the Cloud - The cloud is a formidable platform, but applications running on top of it need to do their part, also.Part 6: Embracing Cloud - To reap the full benefits of cloud, you need to go all in.