There’s no denying that meticulous research of potential cloud providers is crucial to a hassle-free migration. However, this does not guarantee that every component within your cloud infrastructure will work together seamlessly, complementing one another to maximize efficiency and output.

The first step to creating such an infrastructure is to look at the cloud as a virtual data center.

After all, the cloud is where virtualized versions of your computing platforms, operating systems, networks, firewalls, gateways, and other IT components are stored.

As such, your cloud components need to be carefully designed, monitored, and managed. Every cloud management question needs to be answered in order for the cloud to be as effective and streamlined as it could be.

 For instance, how will you maintain a record of all the components if you plan to scale these environments on demand? And what will your customers expect from you now that you’ve moved to the cloud?

 Consider adding the following to your cloud management strategy to ensure a cohesive corporate cloud ecosystem:

Single view of inventory

Your cloud management solution should be based on a single view of the inventory that needs to be managed. Using separate inventory views for virtual and physical inventory will lead to inconsistencies and long-term integration challenges.

Visible monitoring platform

Your ability to track asset demand can make or break your cloud investment. Visibility in cloud monitoring is crucial to keeping you informed about how each system is performing and whether certain tools could be automated to boost efficiency and reduce costs.

 At SimplyClouds, our leading monitoring platform ensures 24/7 visibility into your cloud infrastructure. As such, we’re able to fix issues quickly and deploy new solutions that are in-line with your internal policies.

Policy-based remediation tool

Speaking of policies, they’re often neglected but are absolutely necessary in the cloud. Creating cloud policies will help you detect risky behaviors, suspicious activities, and violations from users. Even better, there are various policy-based remediation tools that can be integrated to help you mitigate risk quickly.

 Consider what policies you need to enforce within your cloud environment, whether they pertain to access, files, sessions, or anything else that will improve security and user experience. Once you’ve tested and fine-tuned your policies, an experienced cloud provider will have no problem deploying tools to automate actions that respond to and remediate risks.

Integration with security monitoring

Cloud monitoring tools that are not integrated with security make monitoring more difficult. Having one management tool that oversees everything saves time and ensures better visibility and control.

 Some of the features you need for effective security monitoring are real-time threat identification, automated risk remediation, and stringent policy-based intervention capability.

Solution stacks from a single vendor

Deploying new solutions from a single vendor gives you a single point of contact which makes life much easier. It also minimizes ongoing integration costs, which is why we recommend you use tooling configurations that are as close to your vendor’s default as possible. This way, excessive configurations will be kept to a minimum, thereby lowering ownership costs in the long run.

 While the cloud is undeniably powerful and cost-effective, managing it requires a well-defined and flexible strategy that your cloud provider must be able to support today and for years to come.

 SimplyClouds understands that cloud migration is only part of the equation. This is why we’re with our clients every step of the way, from initial consultation and deployment to customization and ongoing management. We have extensive cloud experience and offer flexible and scalable solutions that ensure a hassle-free cloud experience. If you’re looking to migrate to the cloud, or have questions about the management side of things, just give us a call. Even if you don’t end up becoming our client, we’re happy to advise.