Build your Private Cloud Like AWS, and They Will Come

A recent TIP from SearchDataCenter on TechTarget, written by John Treadway of Cloud Technology Partners caught my attention.  The article, entitled "How to Build an Enterprise Private Cloud That is Better Than AWS", provided five excellent pieces of advice in building a Private Cloud (a.k.a. a cloud with your own stuff, in your own DC) that I believe you should heed (I've paraphrased John's words):

1. You have got to spend the money.  Period.  You're not going to get there with your current toolsets.  That isn't to say your current toolsets are a waste or that you should rip them out.  You just need better frosting on your cake, so to speak.  And, in John's words, "... you can't get there with a $1 million investment in half-baked vendor products.  At a minimum, you're going to need to budget $15 to $20 million to implement the base capability."  Of course, the returns will be there in spades, but you've got to spend to save.
2. Prepare to re-org to fit the new cloud model.  People simply won't be doing the same things as they were before the "reveal".  If they are, you've just wasted $15-$20 million.  A few things to expect:
• You won't need as many FTEs to do that stuff anymore.  Tribal knowledge in people's brains will now be in software as policy.  Those FTEs will be able to spend time doing more fulfilling, innovative things that benefit the business instead of spending 90% of their time keeping the lights on.
• You will have naysayers.  These guys are poison to the transformation.  You must have Executive buy-in and mandates from the top to ensure this is controlled.  But if you find poison and it won't magically turn to sugar, suck it out.
• The team will need a vision of the brighter, better future.  They may be fearful, anxious and may turn to poison, as described above.  Best to get ahead of this.  
3. The App Owners within supported LOBs should lead the requirements charge, not IT Ops.  In fact, it's probably best to keep them out of it for the first few miles of the journey.  This is not a slight on the IT Ops folks, just a reality that the AppOwners know what they need to stay ahead of the competition in their market.  Have them build this from the top down, from their perspective back ... however you want to describe it.  "How?" and "what?" is much less important that "why?"  Start with why, then figure out how from there.
4. Automate EVERYTHING.  Look for every repeatable manual process and commit it to workflow automation.  Don't skip a thing.  You'll never reach the level of automation of the big cloud guys, but they have an advantage in that they can just vanilla-ize everything.  No so with an Enterprise.  But the more you automate, the more efficient and agile your cloud.
5. Keep an eye on your cloud.  And automate that too.  It should be a closed system where it is watching, maybe even optimizing and correcting itself.  

My tips:  Plan with a trusted partner.  Don't be cheap (but don't be taken either - do your diligence, of course).  Go with what's been proven.  This is a fairly new industry in the grand scheme of things, so there is not a lot that has truly been proven, but there are few that have done this many hundreds of times.  There are also many who will talk like they have, but haven't.  Not even close.  Best to measure twice and cut once on that decision.

--Written by Greg Dean, but with structure and much content from the article mentioned above.