Free Ebook: Cloud Services Brokerage for Dummies®
Read Cloud Services Brokerage for Dummies® to learn about the state of cloud computing today, how CSBs add business value, what’s important to think about when considering a CSB, and predictions about what’s to come.
You know firsthand that the challenges of integrating, transforming, managing, and securing your enterprise’s critical business applications and data are many. You also know that you need to overcome these hurdles with agility and dependability. The demand to make data move as fast as business – in real-time – is huge. So much so that many companies are re-thinking their entire approach to strategic IT initiatives and moving integral parts of their business infrastructure to the cloud.
But the reality is that the cloud isn’t an all-in-one solution to all of your technology woes, and no single cloud services provider can fulfill all of your enterprise’s various requirements. More often than not, businesses moving to the cloud will require the services of many providers, and integrating your applications and data between these different providers can be a challenge in itself. Enter the cloud services broker!
Defining Cloud Services Brokerage
Most people think of puffy, cotton ball-like “fair weather” cumulus clouds when talking about clouds in general — and metaphorically expect that same “fair weather” experience when talking about cloud computing. But like clouds in nature, not all cloud services and cloud services providers are the same. For example, the cumulonimbus is an awesome and powerful cloud, capable of producing mighty thunderstorms and often extending into the stratosphere with a majestic anvil plume. It can also launch golf ball-sized hail stones many miles and unleash a maelstrom of deadly tornados. And a stratus cloud can immerse an entire city in a dense fog for days.
A cloud services broker, like your favorite TV meteorologist, can help your business make sense of the different clouds and cloud systems and prepare appropriately for a “rainy day.” This chapter delves into the growing cloud computing trend, and what cloud services brokerage is — and what it isn’t.
