Using Cisco Technologies in a Multi-Cloud Environment

It is the general consensus across organizations and industries that cloud solutions offer the best in flexibility, speed, architecture and cost model. The cloud is quickly and surely becoming the biggest and most important operational and storage platform for companies. Cloud-related news is being covered by a number of publications, which are highlighting the benefits of cloud computing. Vendors are wasting no time at all, embedding cloud-based solutions into their existing portfolios, and dedicated cloud-software.

Even companies with legacy infrastructure that dates back decades, are now beginning to make the transition towards either a hybrid cloud environment, or slowly move the entirety of their operations to the cloud. However, despite all the rush to adopt cloud solutions, very of the organizations actually doing so have been able to glean any discernible long-term benefits out of it. Important metrics such as time-to-delivery, cost reductions and organizational growth are still proving difficult to come by, despite the massive investments in cloud architecture.

The reason for this has been determined as an absence of mature cloud strategies, and a lack of optimization on their end. The conundrum with cloud adoption is that while it is not difficult to begin the shift and implement the cloud platform, it is not as easy to actually achieve true success, in a monetary sense. In fact, the failure rate of general cloud initiatives is surprisingly high.

Additionally, A great number of cloud initiatives are founded with a sense of urgency to adopt the cloud as on as possible, and are devoid of a scalable, long term strategy to excel in the new environment. The opportunistic approach will simply not work, and what is needed to achieve optimal efficiency, benefits and operations is a solid, actionable and robust cloud strategy.

This is where Cisco comes in, with its intelligent Cloud Advisory, a service suite that helps tailor customized cloud strategies thereby reaching cloud maturity. The set of services is offered by both Cisco as well as Cisco partners. Following are some of the capabilities of Cisco Cloud Advisory that can be used to develop quantifiable performance out of the cloud strategy and implementation.

• Accelerate the multi-cloud journey, by streamlining adoption
• Eliminate cloud adoption risks, providing a clear roadmap that avoids the common pitfalls
• Optimize adoption fundamentals and assist with achieving cloud-based business goals.

Expanding into the scope offered by Cloud Advisory services; following is what a business can expect, in terms of practical solutions:

• Registering primary business requirements or processes that are driven by the cloud-based business goals.
• Identifying and setting priorities for primary usage cases which are associated with the requirements of the business.
• Conducting assessments of the current technical infrastructure, as well as processes pertaining to the overall project scope.
• Constructing a high-end solution package to automate the usage cases.
• Design a multi-phase, actionable implementation roadmap to create the solution, with the existing technical environment taken into consideration.

Cisco Cloud Advisory currently has 4 offers. They are:

Cloud Advisory for Cloud Consume: Design solutions which focus on model-based provisioning of apps across multi-cloud environments, while making sure that applications perform optimally.

Cloud Advisory for Strategy: Create conceptual solutions, keeping an eye on the high-end business infrastructure and create multi-phase projects in order to achieve the ideal cloud objectives.

Cloud Advisory for Cloud Protect: Deliver solutions for policy implementation which enforces the required security position across the various cloud environments.

Cloud Advisory for Cloud Connect: Create intelligent solutions that assist with creating a seamless cloud infrastructure across all the geometric and cloud-based locations of the enterprise or organization.

A cloud journey that is optimized according to the unique requirements of an organization is the ideal solution for a seamless cloud adoption. This is because every company is different and may have different needs in terms of environment. When it comes to functionality and trouble-free usage, Cisco is definitely a good bet for cloud managers in newly transitioning companies.

For potential Cisco experts who can guide enterprises through a transition into cloud computing with the help of Cloud Advisory, a Cisco certification can help tremendously, since it delivers all the required basic knowledge of Cisco systems. Additionally, it is a de facto method of Cisco training, which further equips cloud managers with an effective set of applicable cloud tools.