Feds & The Cloud: Management Approach Must Evolve

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Sean Rhody and Kevin L. Jackson.

Cloud computing has introduced a new model of acquiring hardware and software. In reality, you aren’t acquiring anything physical, and much of the value of moving to the cloud is driven by the transition from using physical resources (hardware, software, and labor hours) to the consumption of online services (infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service) that deliver similar functions.

While the technical aspect of this change seems to capture all the headlines, the financial and governance aspects are just as important — but end up on the back burner. Unfortunately, the necessary changes in management policy, acquisition processes, and organizational behavior rarely get the planning they deserve or get executed properly in advance. This disconnect can quickly derail any cloud transition…

Government IT managers must accept that cloud computing means the purchase of a service, not the purchase of technology. This usually represents a fundamental change in how technology is acquired and managed. Because the transaction doesn’t involve any physical entity, the procedures and processes associated with the inspection, acceptance, inventory, and management of IT might not apply. IT managers must instead develop and put into place new parallel policies that apply to the delivery of virtual services…

Read more from the source @ http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-computing/feds-and-the-cloud-management-approach-must-evolve/d/d-id/1127782

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