05 Apr 2011
Gartner warned earlier this month that cloud contracts are often riddled with problems and companies are unaware of the risks involved in relying on a provider (Cloud contracts: the devil is in the vagueness).
According to Gartner it is essential that organisations planning to contract for cloud services do a deep risk analysis on the impact and probability of their risks. And although I fully agree with Gartner’s points, I also think it is vital that organisations have complete visibility of their IT estate before they proceed to this stage. To know what you should be paying, you need to know what you will be using.
Today, many organisations are looking to reduce overheads and streamline their processes by moving services online as well as automating many manual tasks and consolidating IT assets. However, few organisations have accurate, up-to-date information about the technology that underpins them, and this will only get more complicated as companies look at virtualisation or outsourcing their IT into the cloud.
When entering into cloud contracts, organisations need to get a better understanding of what IT assets are being used at the time, how they are being used and cost allocation before they can successfully transfer their assets from a physical to a virtual world.
Moving forward in cloud and virtualisation scenarios, organisations will be required to review their licensing, support and maintenance contracts more regularly so that they have complete visibility of their IT estate. As outlined by Gartner, part of this will involve organisations understanding exactly what the terms of their cloud contracts are, if they are likely to change over time and whether these terms suit the demands of their IT estate.
Paul Winters, BDNA
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