Strategic Tech Slideshow: Enterprise Cloud Strategy: An 8-Step Action Plan

Cloud computing has been a useful tool as CIOs look to help transform business and leverage IT for business success, but many organizations have blazed a cloud trail without a cohesive strategy in place. A report from Forrester Research, "Achieve Cloud Economics for Operations and Services", can help you take your ad hoc deployments and create a plan for action that aligns IT and business. "Only CIOs can help the business strike the right balance between the agility, efficiency, security, compliance, and integration that's required for a successful cloud strategy," Forrester researcher John R. Rymer says in the report. As you develop your strategies, you need to show the business value of new cloud technologies, figure out where cloud can benefit the organization best and plan to transition staff to a new way of doing business. One thing to keep in mind: Cloud computing is about "flexible business service, not technology," whether you choose public, private or hybrid cloud solutions. Here, CIO Insight takes a look at what CIOs must keep in mind while developing cloud strategy, based on Forrester's research.