Gaining Full Visibility into Your Data
Many IT leaders, as Wilson explained, want to improve their hybrid infrastructure. But to do that, they need to see all of their information. Where does the data live? What parts of a given environment need to be communicating with each other? To answer those questions, businesses can deploy operating systems to help organize the data and automate updates to it.
This step is crucial in creating a unified dashboard so businesses can see all of their data. From there, it is easier to categorize, organize and secure the data. “We live in a world that is always on demand. Our devices are always running, and users expect that same continuity. We need technology to be fast,” said Stein. “But we can’t accelerate the speed without that layer of visibility.”
The more visibility into their data IT leaders have, the better decisions they can make. These are judgment calls that will serve their business three months, 12 months or 24 months down the line.
For Scott Harrison, director of hybrid infrastructure solutions at CDW, optimizing applications in a public cloud environment is another way to encourage success. “There are simple efforts businesses can take to improve their security through software-defined architecture and automation,” Harrison said.
With this safeguard in place, businesses can run “continual and automatic checks on the cloud and on-prem, 24/7/365,” he added. These strategic moves “turn IT into an innovation engine.”
DIVE DEEPER: How can IT leaders scale solutions to fit their business models?
Cross-Environment Communications and Consistency
Once IT has visibility into its data, the next phase is making sure that operations are unified across the environment (from cloud to on-premises). This is also a crucial step in making sure that the organization’s hybrid cloud strategy aligns with the rest of its infrastructure.
“Your applications and data are the lifeblood of your companies,” said Harrison, speaking to a roomful of executives. “All your data sits in your infrastructure, so it needs to be configured with agility and flexibility.”