When we talk about cloud, we also need to talk about management. Having the support of an expert and the right technology to manage cloud resources, which allows us to address this issue in a comprehensive way: governance, security and backup, taking a complete look at the "health of the cloud", is essential to achieve the true benefits for which cloud has become so popular in the business world. 

According to IDC projections, by 2023 cloud in Latin America is expected to grow by 30.4%, while for Chile this figure is expected to be close to the average for the region, with a growth rate of around 29.7% for enterprise cloud services. 

Cloud is here to stay, even more so in the context of the pandemic... Today we see that it is growing and will continue to do so, but how can we manage it efficiently?

The first thing to do is to define what is cloud management. When we talk about cloud management we refer to the exercise of control over the resources and services of the cloud infrastructure, whether public, private, hybrid or multi. For organizations, this is a highly relevant task, so being able to channel it properly is essential. "A well-designed cloud management strategy can help IT professionals control their dynamic and scalable computing environments," explains Fernando Carrillo, Cloud Leader at Anida Latam.

When managing the cloud, companies face multiple challenges that must be overcome for the cloud to deliver the expected benefits. Some of the main ones, in the specialist's opinion, are:

• Lack of visibility of resources.
• Various threats that appear on a daily basis.
• Inability to enforce coherent policies.
• Incorrect configurations.
• Slow security processes.

Adequate management

Properly managing the cloud can help organizations achieve key day-to-day objectives that will facilitate their cloud operations and, indeed, are part of the benefits that migrating to this type of environment promises.

For example, one of these is self-service, i.e., the flexibility achieved when IT professionals access cloud resources, create new ones, monitor their use and cost, and adjust the allocations made to them.

In addition, he adds, "it is also possible to achieve workflow automation, which allows operations teams to manage cloud instances without human intervention." "A third goal is cloud analytics, which helps to track workloads and user experiences," he explains.

Undoubtedly, there are also different reasons why an adequate cloud management contributes to the efficiency of organizations. This is detailed by the Anida Latam specialist, who lists some of these: 

• Distributed work is facilitated, as it allows teams to work anywhere with an Internet connection, facilitating greater collaboration and fluidity, regardless of whether they are at home, in an office or on the move. In other words, it ensures that teams can continue to work together regardless of their location.
• It generates an integration of systems in a cloud environment, allowing an agile and fast 360º vision, since all systems are compatible and integrated with each other, as they share common technology.
• Properly implemented cloud systems offer enormous potential for cost savings and increased team productivity.

Well, all this can be achieved, but to achieve it, as we mentioned, it is essential to have adequate cloud management. Otherwise, organizations may face several problems, which are not minor, such as lack of cost control, which may substantially exceed the original expectations; low self-provisioning capacity and therefore greater dependence when expanding resources; environments that are not synchronized with security policies; lack of visibility of performance, etc. 

This requires "expert hands". "It is transparent for companies to entrust this task to a third party with the necessary knowledge to make the most of the cloud's potential, allowing the organization to benefit from its advantages," explains the professional.

He adds that among the advantages of supporting cloud management in an expert we can find:

• A service aligned with best practices; companies dedicated to cloud support are specialized in these services.
• Access to world-class infrastructure; specialized service providers usually have a broader scope already in place from which several advantages can be gained.
• Extended coverage with 24×7 support service.
• By having an outsourced service, metrics, SLAs, KPIs, etc., are the responsibility of the provider.

"There are providers that can address cloud management in a comprehensive way, which means much more than just providing operational continuity of support and resource management, it requires applying governance, security and backup (Cloud Governance, Cloud Security and Cloud Savings). These companies are fundamental, because delegating cloud management for the organization to them will mean having the complete package of services that will make your cloud experience the best. Here the concept of "cloud health" is fundamental, which aims to offer users the ability to govern, visualize, optimize and automate this in an integral way", emphasizes the Anida Latam specialist. 

"Applying from the beginning this perspective focused on the 'health of the cloud' that considers a management report that allows us to know what that state is, interacting with the user and looking for improvements to be a constant throughout the service, it is possible to apply all these concepts to make improvements in the operation, independent of the type of cloud, which is ultimately what the company requires," concludes the Cloud Leader. 

cloud

cloud