Who am I? And if so, how does the cloud fit me?

Technological innovations and modern civilization achievements have confronted mankind with a multitude of new questions. Who is to blame when an autonomous vehicle causes an accident? What is the role of data protection in the 21st century? And probably one of the most relevant questions for many companies at the moment is: Should we take the plunge into the cloud? While many questions are being discussed without conclusive answers, at least from a business perspective, the latter question is a solvable problem.

Key issues in assessing whether a company should focus on on-premises solutions, hybrid approaches or a cloud-only strategy are different business variables that are closely linked to the respective day-to-day business. In addition, decision-makers and managers should focus on concrete industry and sector-specific aspects when looking for a scalable and future-proof solution.

Intensive consideration of the needs of the company and the possibilities arising from the overall regulatory situation is therefore mandatory, in addition to business management considerations. In short, only those who know their own company can make a statement about which solutions are possible for the future.

In order to be able to plan the company-specific strategy and to comprehensibly determine advantages - for example with regard to a specific cloud approach - it is initially advisable to carry out granular analyses of the relevant company aspects. In doing so, the individual criteria for the respective solution variant (i.e., on-premises, hybrid approach or cloud-only, for example) should be assessed on the basis of possible different manufacturers and hyperscalers. The criteria are determined specifically for the respective company.

Six important parameters

• InfrastructureThe central question in this criterion - also from a business and monetary point of view - is which hardware and software components are needed to achieve the company's goals. In addition to cloud applications and capacities, this also includes any data centers stipulated by legal requirements.
• Operation: In order to find a practicable strategy that will ensure business success in the coming years, the management of day-to-day business must of course also be included in the assessment. This raises the question of which (SAP) applications employees need, how these are made available, and what costs may arise as a result, depending on the strategy.
• Innovations: Different industries have different fields and speeds of innovation. While some companies ensure their success by ensuring that the infrastructure and operating conditions are able to implement innovations as quickly as possible, others rely on consistent and long-lasting systems.
• SecurityData is the gold of the 21st century - as hackneyed as this wisdom sounds, it is also true. Here, too, the requirements of companies can differ. In some industries, for example, legal conditions may ensure that certain applications or data can only be hosted within the company - i.e. on-premises.
• Flexibility: The requirements for the IT environment can sometimes vary from
  change from day to day. Additional computing capacities (for example, as part of retail promotions) are just as much a part of this as a test environment for new applications that is only used when needed. This criterion therefore raises the question of how flexibly corporate IT should be set up.
• CostsOf course, the costs of any strategy should also be considered as an essential criterion. In addition to acquisition and maintenance costs - for example, in the case of on-premises strategies that rely on hardware computing services - licenses, operating costs and capital expenditures also play a decisive role.

Depending on the industry and company, individual criteria may be more important than others. For example, the variable "flexibility" may be less decisive for the corporate IT of highly regulated industries - security, on the other hand, is an even more relevant criterion for companies from this industry.

In order to enable an initial delineation of the practicability of the different cloud strategies, it is useful to start with a thought experiment: What do ideal-typical examples of users of an on-premises solution, a hybrid approach or a cloud-only strategy look like? It goes without saying that every company has different requirements.

As is so often the case in life, the "one size fits all" approach does not work in reality. However, a basic classification can already be achieved by the fact that the respective strategies have advantages and disadvantages that can be decisive for some industries. For example, on-premises solutions are particularly advantageous in those sectors and industries where there is a high degree of predictability and business processes must above all be secure and reliable.

In practice

The following three examples illustrate the challenges faced by individual industries.

The regulated environment, such as a hospital association or even the pharmaceutical industry, has to master special challenges: Infrastructures and operating scenarios here are planned for the long term and must be available extremely reliably. Existing data may often only be available within the company's own infrastructure simply because of the legal framework - in the worst case, outsourcing would violate data protection regulations or regulatory requirements (for example, FDA-compliant requirements). This could result in considerable damage to the company. In addition, little flexibility is required with regard to possible applications, and costs for the company's own data center can therefore be planned and amortized over the long term (cost shift from capex to opex). In addition, with clear regulatory requirements, the retention periods of the data as well as its whereabouts and structure are often predefined and can therefore be easily planned.

If we take a look at the requirements of the insurance industry, we can already see parameters that can determine a hybrid environment. Here, too, security aspects are paramount, but modern applications can create added value for both employees and customers. The innovative strength within this industry could also be a decisive criterion for certain applications to be developed within a test environment in the cloud and ultimately also operated there in a permanent state. In addition, costs can be saved
by storing data that is not sensitive in the cloud. Customers' access to their data within the portals is also smooth in this area.

The opposite of consistent corporate IT that can be planned for the long term can be found, for example, in international e-commerce platforms. Due to the high level of innovation in this industry, a pure cloud approach can minimize expenses while ensuring maximum flexibility with regard to workload peaks - for example, during the Christmas season. In addition, companies pursuing this strategy also have advantages with regard to the development of new products and platforms - a decisive criterion for long-term competitiveness.

Cloud and strategy consulting as the key to success

Only those who know their own company and its target groups well will find the optimal solution for the future. Certain criteria can help to gain a good self-assessment and to decide on a profitable approach. However, it is difficult for many companies to make an accurate assessment of their own needs based on their internal perspective.

As in philosophy, it poses difficulties when subject and object
are congruent - or in other words: In many cases, it can be worthwhile to obtain a second, external opinion in order to identify the best possible strategy. Devoteam's experts will support you in making an accurate assessment of the various criteria and will also address individual company-specific aspects. Together we may not find answers to the question of the meaning of life - but when it comes to the question of which cloud strategy is worthwhile for you in business terms, our specialists will certainly have an answer that suits you.