CONTENT SUPPORTED BY VMware
Malaysian businesses enter a period of disruptive innovation and IDC expects 2015[1] to be a year where CIO’s take a step back to look at infrastructure as a platform for transformation and growth. Analysts expect Cloud to take on the role of a catalyst for growth as the industry matures from ad-hoc and opportunistic deployments to strategic integration geared towards innovation and business effectiveness.
Living in an ‘on-demand’ world, IT service and data needs to be available instantly at the push of a button. Risks and loss of data loss and downtime are extremely real with Singapore businesses loosing US$1 billion each year[2]. The challenges of the mobile-era requires businesses to meet rising expectations and demands through a new model for IT service delivery that is fluid, instant and secure. With the increasing amount of data and demand for services delivered over the internet Malaysian businesses are forced to look at options that require them to strike the right balance between balancing services and capabilities with agility, efficiency, security, and compliance.
The VMware APJ Cloud Index report from 2013, establishes the business plunge as 39 percent of businesses in Malaysia planned to implement cloud making Malaysia the second ranking country in APAC to be planning a cloud migration.
Cloud deployment and the demand for hybrid models that can run seamlessly have seen a sporadic growth across business and data centers in Malaysia. As a business committed to staying at the forefront of technology adoption and deployment, VMware has invested in innovations and solutions that offer industry’s first availability zero downtime live migration that allows for seamless migration and continuous operation without interruptions.
At VMware, we see cloud as much more than technology. It is an approach to computing and it addresses key issues including reliability, agility, flexibility, scalability, secure remote access and self-service enablement. These issues are critical considerations behind the development of a business’ cloud strategy. Therefore, when a client approaches us looking for advice on how to build their own public or hybrid cloud, technology takes a back seat. What is key for us at VMware is to ensure that our customers’ IT is adequately equipped to support the business’ need and corporate vision and goals.
Malaysian businesses are rapidly moving towards a liquid world with traditional, rigid business structures getting replaced with new, agile, and dynamic business models. Businesses are embracing mobility and enterprises are investing in setting up IT infrastructures that contribute to the business outcome.
As a pioneer in moving to new computing paradigms from virtualization and cloud through to the software defined datacenters, our solutions cover from the most basic to more mature and advanced offerings that take on today’s enterprise applications. To provide businesses this agility, we recently announced the industry’s first unified platform of virtualized compute, networking and storage for the hybrid cloud. Defined in software, VMware’s platform enables customers to create one consistent environment across the private and public cloud to run, protect and manage any cloud-native or traditional application. The platform also offers customers openness and choice in how to build and manage their applications and cloud environments based on their specific needs.
Most often, when our customers ask VMware to assist in building their cloud strategy from scratch, our approach starts with reviewing the business objectives and goals of this move to the cloud. This is closely followed by assessing the company stakeholder’s genuine appetite for change.
There is no one size that fits all when it comes to designing strategies, especially cloud computing strategies. Building a sound Cloud Strategy may need to start off with defining a clear set of business requirements:
The high-level business objective: This includes defining the business goal clearly- eg: is it increased business agility, preservation of capital, and use of business data. The points of value are very different from business to business, so it may be critical to define these clearly.
Core requirements: This would be around the business need in terms of performance, security, governance, and growth.
Core technology: Looking at the technologies that will provide the best value and benefits and defining the right technology partner to provide the best service support. An extremely critical aspect in developing the cloud strategy is to involve representatives from the lines of business in the process. Inevitably, discussions about public cloud will form part of the discussion. Public cloud raises issues such as data security and data sovereignty that extend well beyond the remit of the IT department.
Building a cloud should therefore not be considered as an IT issue in isolation from the rest of the business. The chances of success are dramatically improved when you have the right partner and the process is inclusive. Conversely, if lines of business are not “bought in” the chances of the plan having elements of failure will be considerable.
Ultimately, developing a well-thought and successful cloud strategy is a make or break situation. Choosing the right partner with expertise, technology and skills, and managing internal expectations will help organizations cut through the hype and derive maximum value out of their investments.
[1] IDC Malaysian CIOs Starting to Shift Focus from IT Efficiency to IT Effectiveness 2014
[2] EMC Data Protection Index Singapore 2014
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