Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
What Robert Frost so eloquently describes above, the Ted Talk generation would call “analysis paralysis.” Frankly, we’ve all been there. My weakness is the ice cream aisle of the grocery store. “I want some ice cream,” says my brain, but I am quickly overwhelmed by seemingly thousands of options. I might spend 15 minutes deciding, looking at what’s on sale, new flavors, organic vs lactose-free…and after all that time I end up grabbing the same flavor I always get.
So what happens in our brains? Wikipedia describes it like this: “Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis) describes an individual or group process when overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become “paralyzed”, meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon. A situation may be deemed as too complicated and a decision is never made, due to the fear that a potentially larger problem may arise.”
A Cloud for Everyone
When it comes to the Cloud in 2020, many IT professionals are under direction to pursue the “Cloud First” ideal. Cloud-first doesn’t mean Cloud-only; Cloud-first means accounting for Cloud strategies and adopting them when appropriate. Leveraging Cloud solutions should no longer be an “if”, rather it’s a “when.”
But…define the Cloud. Software as a Service? Infrastructure as a Service? Hosted platform or hosted app? Will you need to retain direct server access? Does IT need to keep any components on-site for compliance? Do you have custom components that would not be allowed in a hosted solution? Should you leverage the Cloud for High Availability or Disaster Recovery, and if so, how much downtime can your organization weather?
The problem most organizations face is knowing which Cloud options to look at, and what questions to ask.
Obstacles to the Cloud
In addition to knowing enough about the Cloud to make educated, informed decisions, you may be facing some internal analysis paralysis paradigms as well. Typical organizational challenges include:
1. Resistance to Change – sometimes because of technological fear of the unknown, team members may derail Cloud initiatives through complications and delay by committee
2. Theoretical Problems – created problems that don’t exist, leading to confusion and indecision
3. Status Quo – “We’ve always done it this way, so why change?”
4. “There’s an App For That” Paradox – investing in so many different application ecosystems that leads to suffocating complexity
5. Fear of Failure – avoiding or indefinitely postponing Cloud decisions in a desire to avoid choosing poorly
The Best Cloud is a Customized Cloud
It would be nice – hypothetically speaking – if there was a one-size-fits-all Cloud solution. But do not be fooled into thinking there is. Your partners at DataBank would not try to force a square solution into a round hole.
For every Cloud option that exists, there are Pros and Cons. Thankfully, DataBank has Cloud experts who have worked with all forms of Cloud solutions! We have also worked with many organizations to overcome common obstacles and put these solutions in place. We can help fill in your knowledge gaps, help you ask the right questions, provide clarity around all the options you have, and advise on which Cloud options make the most sense for your organization.
Taking the “road less traveled by” sounds lovely in a Robert Frost poem. But today’s ever-changing business landscape is a forest fraught with danger! Stick closely by your trusted guides at DataBank, and THAT will make all the difference.
