Organizations that lack a high-level cloud strategy risk wasted investment and failure. Cloud computing, with all its features and benefits, also comes with some multidimensional perks. The cloud computing paradigm has been driving innovation in almost all sectors of the market; contrary to the popular belief that cloud computing is just beneficial for computing applications. It is imperative that IT leaders think ahead and prepare a Cloud strategy for their Organizations.

To make full use of the Cloud computing arena, one needs to have a strong strategy in place. One that works for the business as a whole, and also one that works for the employees. There are some brilliant options to choose from and some great support services to avail but which one to choose? And what investment to make? We look at some cloud computing strategies that leaders should keep in mind while building from the bottom up.

4 Things to Consider for Building an effective Cloud Strategy for your Company

1. Private cloud or public cloud or hybrid: A very confusing but one of the most important decisions a leader has to make is to choose the type of Cloud he would like to deploy on. A Private cloud is definitely more secure and robust but costs more. A Public cloud is lean and relatively cost-less but comes with security concerns. A Hybrid cloud needs expert developers and careful planning to deploy, which increases operating costs as a whole. Careful consideration should be done while selecting the cloud and the pros and cons should be weighed against each other.

2. Value your options and choose: Cloud computing was first adopted by small and medium-sized companies for simple and low-cost solutions because their needs dictated that. Many large organizations are adopting cloud computing for cost-cutting and speed-to-market benefits. They view clouds primarily as an enabler of process improvement and a means of reducing costs in specific pockets across IT. You need to see where you fit, and what the purpose of the shift is. Do you need it for IT support or do you want to induce the BYOD paradigm in your workspace? Your choice would also depend on your bandwidth needs. In the end, choosing a Cloud computing platform is all about dealing with trade-offs.

3. Plan your budget: If you have made a decision on what fits your needs, you need to next choose your IT support backbone. There would be a minimal investment in the storage hardware, but you might have to invest in hiring the proper workforce for Cloud development.

4. Technology: After you have locked in your needs and the budget available for it, take a look at the best technology stack available for the task in the money that you have allocated for the shift to cloud computing. Keeping in mind your Go-to-market strategy, choose from among many of the Cloud service providers in the market today. A lot of them would provide additional features like social media integration and higher security measures, which might be valuable to you, so choose wisely.

Disaster Recovery, Backup, Scalability, Resilience, High Availability, and other capabilities of the Cloud have helped create an interesting solution set for Organizations to choose from. The power of the cloud lies in its versatility and flexibility. With more resources available to the average user on demand and without locking up its CapEx, Cloud computing is capable of delivering more content faster, and to more devices. There are many ways to utilize the cloud and each can have its own considerations and best practices. Aligning those best practices with your business goals is the key strategy that should be followed.