Getting out of running your own data centers and IT teams and onto service based offerings sounds easy but there is a lot to do. Even if it isn't a move to cloud, the many, many issues involved in significant migrations or transformations cannot be underestimated and require careful management.

 

 IT systems today are critical to running the business and any disruption, whether technical or simply not managing the pace of organizational change, can mean huge penalties in revenue and reputation.

 

Cloud service providers give you great tools, but there is a point where cloud services stop and customers need to step up, but often you don’t have the depth of experience. At iTop Group, we have managed some of the world’s largest IT and systems transitions and transformations, including

 

·       migrations from in-sourced to out-sourced

 

·       mergers and acquisitions

 

·       change of service provider

 

·       ERP and CRM implementations

 

·       migrations to cloud based services

 

We know the risks, gotcha's and pitfalls, and can provide expert transition and transformation program and project management to get you where you need to go on time and on budget, and with reputation intact.

 

 

You would be living on another planet if you haven’t considered, or been asked to consider moving all your IT functions to the Cloud with the buzzwords IAAS, PAAS, SAAS etc. thrown around liberally.

 

There is a significant choice of now mature service providers across all of the layers. Each of the service providers offers an extremely rich array of tools with which to operate in a true pay as you go arrangement with many automation options.

 

The issue that most CIOs face however is that they don’t have the skills in house to make good selections and then manage the sensitive migration of services to one or more service providers, especially when one of the goals is to downsize the in house IT department. The ease of pay for what you use is also giving CIOs headaches as too many people are turning on services too easily creating end of month bill shock.

 

Governance and good process therefore is also key to successful transitions. iTop Group has a proven track record in working with businesses to select appropriate cloud services, then to plan and execute a seamless transition that does deliver the expected benefits with minimization of business disruption. We can provide or advise on the required forward governance and service management disciplines required to mesh with the cloud providers and continue to get good value for money and optimal end to end systems availability.

Integration is the key word here. Cloud based services indeed can fulfill the CIO dream of having someone else run data centers and indeed the infrastructure layer, disband the applications development teams, eliminate capital from the bottom line and generally maintain a very small business focused team.

 

Now CIOs want to do Big Data. But getting stuff in the cloud really does need someone to get it there and integrate it all coz the cloud guys just tell you there's lots of tools. It's like bringing your car for a service and the mechanic points to the hoist and tool box and says go for it! I feel like I have just bought a PC from a retail store but need the teenage boy next door to help me get it going. Cloud is really good if you know how to drive it but I don't have a team that can drive it!

 

And all the applications are hung together like a like a bunch of phone apps ie. not really hung together at all! They are all separate and nothing talks to the other bits. Oh yes they will all point to their APIs and toolkits but that’s only of use if you have the staff and time to apply them.  And if you get sick of one cloud supplier you don't know how to move it somewhere else. You need someone to help integrate all these pieces so that big data has a consistent reference repository and to help manage it all going forward.

 

Mat Ellis, CEO and founder of Cloudability, who writes at TheNextWeb.com, “These challenges of interconnectedness are playing out in parallel inside the enterprise. CIOs have a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide the leadership needed to guide their companies through these challenges. Done right, the ‘I’ in CIO becomes less about managing information and more about managing integration.”

 

iTop Group has been there on many occasions and can lead you through the vital integration step to enable the real value of migration to cloud to be achieved, and position you to reap benefits of data mining tools that haven’t even been invented yet.

 

Cloud Integration

Information Technology in 2015 – covers a lot of ground doesn’t it? On the one hand, it is getting more and more commoditised just like buying a mobile phone – who cares what happens in the background, I just want to make phone calls. On the other hand, businesses need to be integrated and multiple systems need to talk to each other. The pace of change is huge and it’s a full time job keeping up with what’s on offer so there is little time left to think about how to apply it or create business opportunities through technology. And time is of the essence in 2015.

 

iTop keeps up to date and already has had experience on how to apply the latest technology. We know the best Cloud has to offer and also the things to watch out for. We don’t make money from any particular service or software so we won’t push you down a path of the products that we sell. But we will understand your business, its drivers, and take you and key decision makers through a process of discovery to paint a picture of what is possible and work with you to decide what works best for your business.

 

Whether it’s a small 3 man business or a global multinational. From start-ups through manufacturing, oil traders, chemical plants or many other business types we have been there and know what works. Explain your challenge and we will tailor activities to help set your strategy and the core components that will get you there.

Business Transformation