Everyone has their own opinion on what constitutes cloud computing, but it can be loosely defi ned as the delivery of on-demand computing resources - everything from applications to data centres on a pay-for-use basis.

Mobile communications such as smartphones and tablets are driving the cloud computing revolution. The accessibility to thousands of downloadable applications has reset users expectations of the service they expect from their IT department.

Many IT departments are now viewed as cost centres, which delay the adoption of new technology, the danger being that users may bypass IT to access public cloud applications and services which IT has no means to support or manage, nicknamed ‘Shadow IT’. The adoption of a private or hybrid cloud services can revolutionise IT departments, bringing new levels of fl exibility and business agility, whilst retaining control.

Comms-care professional services cloud computing

Taking your Customers through the cloud Adoption Journey

Stage 1Envision

Stage 2Assess

Stage 3Design

Stage 4Deploy

Stage 5Optimise

Stage 6Support

The cloud adoption journeyThe cloud adoption journey for a customer typically follows Comms-care’s six stage delivery approach and consists of the following stages:

Comms-care’s team of cloud specialists is ideally positioned to guide your customers through their cloud journey from start to fi nish. With a vendor agnostic approach our cloud specialists are experts in understanding the unique benefi ts and challenges of cloud adoption and are entirely focused on assisting your customers in transforming their IT investment into a cloud optimised infrastructure.

In its simplest form, cloud computing, allows companies to procure technology as services from applications to data centres on a pay-for-use basis via the Internet. Whilst the concept of cloud may-be simple, determining how the cloud best fi ts with your customers’ needs can be incredibly complex.

The key focus of the Envision stage of the journey is to understand your customer’s current IT infrastructure, their pain points and future objectives and to then map these in to how the cloud can help them deliver business value while reducing operating costs.

The Envision stage helps your customer make sense of the cloud in the context of strategic, decision-making to identify the business

During the Assess stage our cloud specialists will conduct a deep dive in to understanding your customers’ applications and infrastructure to determine potential cloud opportunities, defi ne a target application and infrastructure architecture, and develop roadmaps for the initiatives required to support a move to the cloud. Our cloud specialists will ensure that the opportunities chosen are aligned to the customer’s cloud adoption strategy and that they are able to maximise the benefi ts and investment in the cloud whether it is private, public or hybrid.

Stage 1 - Envision

Stage 2 - Assess

value of cloud adoption, implementation scenarios (including risks and benefi ts), and the technical implications of cloud along with their impact on the enterprise. The stage looks to ensure that the customer considers their long-term objectives for the cloud rather than just short-term which could lead to unintentional limitations of their future capabilities and design.

The outcome from the Envision stage is the delivery of a cloud adoption strategy document that will clearly outline the strategic approach that your customer will take in adopting the cloud. The cloud adoption strategy document will act as the foundation and reference for your customer as they move through their cloud journey.

Following the identifi cation of the customers chosen cloud technologies and workloads, the stage will also include our cloud readiness assessment of the customer’s environment. The output of this assessment is the publication of a cloud readiness action plan which will provide detailed guidance on the steps required for your customer to meet cloud readiness status and to create a foundation for them to ultimately achieve their cloud adoption goals.

Stage 3 - Design

The Design stage evolves the conceptual solution into tangible designs; working with our solution architects and technical design authority teams we ensure your customer’s vision can be transformed into a functional deployment and that the optimal solution is designed to meet your customer’s objectives and strategy.

The Design stage starts with a series of design workshop sessions facilitated by our highly experienced solution architects who

Comms-care professional services cloud computing

Due to the dynamic and varied technologies involved in cloud computing, the deployment stage can include many different components but typically includes the implementation of cloud services co-existing with on premise services, followed by the transition of services. Regardless of the components involved we use the methodology that best suits each project and ensure the deployment is conducted to the highest quality standards by our

Following the successful deployment of the customer’s cloud solution, Comms-care’s cloud specialists will then work with your customer through the Optimise stage. The cloud is primarily chosen by customers for its elasticity, and we will work closely with the customer’s internal teams to fi nalise the solution and ensure it is

Stage 4 - Deploy

Stage 5 - Optimise

The fi nal stage of your customer’s cloud adoption journey is the transferring of responsibility of support into either yours or your customer’s support teams through handover training. Alternatively we can offer an in-house 24/7, UK based managed service providing

Stage 6 - Support

industry certifi ed deployment consultants, under the guidance of our solution architects.

Our delivery consultants work as an extension to your customer’s own IT team to make their transition to the cloud simple, effi cient and painless, whilst managing change to drive user adoption and maximise your return.

sized appropriately to achieve maximum cost savings whilst retaining or even increasing performance. This allows us to maximise the success of the project for both you the partner and of course the end user customer.

will encourage your customer’s own technical staff to actively participate. The solution architect will guide the customer’s technical representatives through the options available, providing them with the necessary technical detail, benefi ts and disadvantages, in order to allow them to make informed decisions on the options presented. Once the key decisions have been made the workshops would then delve further in to the key design decisions required in order to develop the detailed design documentation.

The output of this stage is the publication of the cloud adoption detailed design pack which will include fully workable and achievable technical designs that will meet the specifi cs of the required solution. The technical design detail will adhere to published vendor best practices and additionally draw on the experiences gained from similar projects that Comms-care has completed in the past.

on-going comprehensive support and a single point of contact with expertise to fault fi nd across all products and technologies ensuring total confi dence from start to fi nish.

Comms-care professional services cloud computing

Cloud technologies and vendorsComms-care’s vendor agnostic approach ensures that customers adopt the technology stack that fi ts their business rather than the business having to fi t around the technology. Cloud solutions include:

Microsoft Azure> Virtual Machines> Virtual Desktop Infrastructure> Blob Storage> StorSimple> Virtual Network> ExpressRoute> Traffi c Manager> Disaster Recovery

Infrastructure as a Service Technologies (IaaS)

Amazon> Amazon Web Services

Google> Google Cloud

VMware> vCloud Air

Microsoft Azure> SQL Azure

Platform as a Service Technologies (PaaS)

Microsoft Azure> Azure Active Directory> Azure AD Connect> Azure Active Directory Synchronization Tool> RemoteApp> Backup> Site Recovery> Multi-Factor Authentication> Machine Learning

Microsoft Enterprise Cloud SuiteOffi ce 365> Exchange Online> SharePoint Online> Lync Online> YammerEnterprise Mobility Suite> Azure Active Directory Premium> Azure Rights Management> InTune

Software as a Service Technologies (SaaS)

Comms-care professional services cloud computing

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For more information please contact us today:

Tel: +44 (0) 870 2644 303 www.comms-care.comcalls cost 7 pence per minute plus your phone company’s access charge