The CIO cloud blueprint: A strategic planning guide

Last updated:June 2014

Essential Guide

Browse Sections
  • Cloud computing advice straight from the pros
  • Find the ideal cloud infrastructure for your organization
  • Need-to-know terms for crafting a cloud blueprint
  • Implement cloud technologies, but pay mind to risk
  • Cloud computing examples, advantages and challenges for CIOs

Editor's note

Implementing cloud computing technologies is no longer a question of "if" for enterprise CIOs, but of "when" and "how." Employees, customers and clients want immediate access to business applications, platforms and corporate infrastructure from their office computers, laptops and mobile devices to make working in the 21st century seamless and efficient, and the cloud can provide that and more.

But making best use of the cloud can be complicated. IT leaders crafting a cloud blueprint must decide between public, private or hybrid cloud models and then ask whether software as a service, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and other such offerings would best align with their company's strategic direction. In this CIO Essential Guide, get integration advice from cloud-first CIOs and expert cloud advocates in order to set your cloud blueprint in motion.

This strategic planning guide on tailoring a cloud blueprint to your organization is part of the CIO Briefings series, which is designed to give IT leaders strategic management and decision-making advice on timely topics.

1Implement cloud technologies, but pay mind to risk

Once you've established a blueprint for your enterprise's cloud strategy and selected the appropriate services to suit your organization's needs, it's finally time to integrate. Whether IT decides to host cloud services publicly or privately, there's a sky-high number of considerations to assess. In this section, our recent news stories and expert columns provide pointers on getting cloud implementation right the first time, and keeping them running smoothly thereafter.

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