10 Tips for Getting the Most Out Of Cloud Computing

(This article was written by Bilal Mehdi, Senior Consultant, Glasshouse Technologies (UK) Ltd reveals the top ten tips for getting the most out of cloud.)

The buzz around Cloud computing continues to gather pace. Few are aware however that the concept covers a vast array of elements including software, service capacity, storage, middleware, virtualisation, security and management tools, all delivered as services through the Internet. 

This means that businesses have less to manage themselves, so they can focus on strategic IT projects, while cloud services offer a raft of solid benefits.

These include: efficient delivery of services; less expensive services based on hidden shared infrastructure; better business unit control; improved capacity management and optimised energy usage.  

Many businesses are beginning to look at cloud computing, so here are my top 10 tips for getting the most out of your cloud provider to maximise the benefits:   

Management of Service Levels – Make sure services offered by your cloud provider meet overall pre-set service quality at affordable costs.

Financial Management – Do a detailed financial analysis of your existing IT infrastructure costs against monthly, quarterly and / or yearly utility fees for services provided through the cloud.  This way you can make sure that you’re getting value for money, or are reducing costs.