Managing the Transition to Cloud Based Service Delivery

2010's 'Turning Cloud Services into Business Reality' report noted that "cloud services can make it easier to respond to shifting business needs while removing many of the IT management burdens that can suck up time and money" but also flagged that "there are many areas in which it will never work, for reasons of legacy consistency, security containment, geographical reach, etc.".

The opportunity to enhance flexibility and better manage costs and support requirements is encouraging many organisations to look to the cloud as a solution to their service delivery requirements. Positive feedback from early adopters highlights fast deployment, ease of use, and responsiveness to fluctuating business usage levels.

Many potential Cloud customers remain concerned about the effective transition of services and processes, the upholding and prioritisation of service levels, and are wary of the possible risks, from the history and financial risk of who is offering it, to on-going client concerns about where data is being held.

To share experiences of transitioning services to Cloud and define best practice in managing this transition.

The final agenda will be developed through consultation amongst delegates - provisional discussion areas include:

• New models: service levels, response times, data access
• Transitioning: processes, preparations, execution
• Assurance & Security: responsibilities and auditability
• Exit Strategies