Survey finds enterprise IT pros generally positive about IT service management in the cloud, but performance concerns pop up, too
Survey finds enterprise IT pros generally positive about IT service management in the cloud, but performance concerns pop up, too.
Some enterprise IT executives struggling with their service management initiatives are finding hope in the cloud.
That’s the upshot of 1,000 senior enterprise IT decision-makers surveyed independently by Vanson Bourne on HP’s behalf. In a survey report issued last week, “IT State of the Nation 2010,” Vanson Bourne notes that 41% of total respondents believe service levels are guaranteed to improve as cloud computing use increases.
Private clouds: Not for the faint of heart
That said, 21% of the survey respondents indicated they aren’t quite so sure whether the cloud will positively affect service levels. Assuring application performance in the cloud worried 63% of these respondents, while 42% expressed concern that they would be unable to monitor service-level agreements effectively in the cloud. (Security, interestingly, rated as a top concern for only 36% of respondents.)
“The importance of performance in the cloud backs up real-world IT experiences. Large businesses themselves often resemble cloud computing businesses, transacting processes on behalf of customers who have no knowledge of the security risks taken on their behalf, but trust them to manage this invisibly. Most customers assume adequate security measures are in place but are intolerant of slow transactions,” the authors surmise.
“It is clear from this research that application performance is the new battleground for IT services in the cloud and this is where IT teams should focus their efforts if they want to improve perceived service levels using cloud computing,” they add.
In addition, the survey found that the average enterprise IT respondent customizes 41% of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or IT service management processes to meet organizational needs. Only 8% of respondents said they haven’t customized ITIL processes at all. “There is clearly room for improvement here,” the authors say.
“Non-standard IT procedures for rolling out new functionality, for engaging with new partner or supplier organizations, or following corporate mergers and acquisitions, can complicate seemingly straightforward business decisions. … without standardized IT processes, the availability of infinite processing power [available via the cloud] will not deliver efficient IT.”
Schultz is a longtime IT journalist. You can e-mail her or find her here.
