Cloud Enablement

Empowering Organizations to Leverage Cloud Computing

Cloud enablement is the process of empowering an organization to leverage cloud computing services and technologies effectively and efficiently. It involves adopting and integrating cloud-based solutions to enhance agility and scalability in support of business operations. This can include migrating applications and data to the cloud, optimizing infrastructure, and implementing cloud-native technologies. Cloud enablement aims to maximize the benefits of cloud computing, including security, cost savings, flexibility, resiliency, accessibility, all while aligning with your organization's strategic goals.

It involves assessing current IT environments, developing a roadmap for cloud adoption, and implementing solutions that enable seamless integration with cloud platforms. The goal is to unlock the full potential of cloud resources to drive innovation, improve performance, and stay competitive in the digital era.

Cloud Enablement Solutions Focus Areas:

Cloud & IT Strategy

The Foundation that enables your Business Transformation

A sound Cloud & IT Strategy can evolve your business to become more efficient, innovative, responsive, secure and collaborative. The shift to cloud computing is in full force - experienced cloud practitioners are in high demand and in low supply. Gartner estimates that less than one-third of enterprises have a documented Cloud IT Strategy, yet cloud is the foundation of a modern, digital business. We can help build a practical Cloud IT Strategy, and help to bring it to life.

Strategies usually include a combination of various cloud based technologies (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, etc.), on-premise as needed, combined with organizational change and user adoption: People, Process, Technology & Techniques (PPTT). Thinkwise is experienced across all these domains to ensure holistic and integrated solutions for your organization.

Here is a sampling of strategic elements to potentially include in your Cloud & IT Strategy (not all will apply to every organization):

  • From ransomware risks in email, web browsing and unpatched desktop apps to user error and even malicious internal threats, Thinkwise are experts in IT protection, resilience and recovery. People, process, tools, and techniques combined can make for highly resilient IT environments.

  • Thinkwise have deep knowledge and experience in all things Disaster Recovery; in cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. Effective and affordable solutions include critical backup and retention, high availability, and replication to ensure your business can survive anything!

  • Leveraging cloud services can dramatically reduce the cost and efforts around infrastructure upgrades and management. Focus your IT resources on solving business challenges, not server, OS, and database versions upgrades.

  • Determine what’s required and how to track / monitor / patch / control / secure your IT services effectively.

  • Networking, especially in cloud, has evolved dramatically. Leveraging modern services, tools, and techniques enhance resilience, performance, agility, security, and offers cost benefits. Enable workers moving between offices, sites, home and on the road effectively, efficiently, and securely.

  • Avoid hardware sizing constraints, upgrade costs and migration efforts with limitless cloud scalability. Grow or shrink your resources on demand. Thinkwise can enable you to take advantage of cloud elasticity in a secure, reliable, and efficient manner.

  • Take advantage of advanced security capabilities available today. Improve Identity & Access Management with multi-factor authentication across all devices & applications. Leverage the expertise, tools, and services available from modern Cloud Service Providers AND when a third party solution may be required or preferred.

  • Modernize your IT Service Management, including new tools, including SaaS services. Improve how users obtain ongoing support as well as measurement of incidents and problems for continuous service improvement . Validate IT operations or MSP outsourcers have the right skills, costs and processes to help you succeed.

Builds & Migrations

Migrate Applications, Servers & Storage to Cloud

Once you’ve justified moving to cloud, it’s time to map out and prepare your applications, servers and storage to actually get there. However, there are a number of considerations beyond just the migration techniques to consider. Namely networking, data backups, high availability and disaster recovery service levels are key in determining cloud placement and architectures to avoid rework. Additionally cost management and operational efficiencies should be taken into account by applying a solid tagging strategy, which is key enable future automation, reporting and decisioning. Thinkwise helps you identify these various aspects as part of the migration effort so your migrations and your cloud transitions go smoothly.

Migrate Users, Email & Files to Microsoft 365

Moving your users to Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) requires the migration of emails and files with the least amount of disruption and no data loss. But its not just about a move. Email is simple to align. Microsoft 365 is a foundation for business workflow automation and collaboration and setting it up “wrong” can cause you much grief and rework later. Knowing the flow of departmental and cross-matrix teams of users is key to aligning a structure to share files, messaging, team collaborations and intranet sites that will best suit your organizational needs.

Thinkwise has designed and implemented tools and techniques to enable our clients to control, contain, and report cloud costs in real time. Managing cloud spend is challenging and can have significant implications.  The ability to procure IT resources with a simple "click" presents risk to organizations – IT admins often have the capability to "spend on demand", with potential long term technical debt and cost impacts.

Native tools are generally insufficient and third party tools can be expensive.  Real-time visibility, reporting and alerting are critical, and a well-designed tagging strategy will support these efforts. Contract management and Service Level Agreement awareness further help to ensure the services procured are in line with business requirements – over and under provisioning can have devastating results. Proper process and policies are also necessary to ensure cloud spend stays within budget.

Thinkwise can help you establish the right mix of people, process, technology, and techniques to realize the benefits that cloud computing has to offer, while keeping cost in check and the business aware and satisfied.   We have extensive experience with cloud cost modelling, presenting our clients with visibility into their future cloud budgets and providing options to improve.  For clients that do not have the internal resources needed, Thinkwise can provide ongoing cloud cost and contract management services.

Cost Management

Thinkwise advisors and consultants have extensive experience in IT Operations and IT Service Management (ITSM), across a broad spectrum of private, public and service provider organizations. Maturing and improving IT Operations is a challenge for most organizations. Keeping up with business driven change, new technologies and service models like cloud, is often competing with day to day operations and firefighting. Improving service levels, efficiencies and capabilities cannot take place if "Keeping The Lights On" continually consumes and distracts resources. We can help!

Rapid Change & Sheer Volume of “Things”

The rapidly changing and complex technology space requires discipline and modern tools and techniques to ensure long term viability of IT services in support of the business. The rapid proliferation of Cloud Computing, while eliminating many of the traditional responsibilities of IT Operations around facilities, physical infrastructure, cabling, and operating system/hypervisor management, presents many new challenges.  Additionally, contract and service management of the Cloud Service Providers (CSP) and Managed Service Providers (MSP) is a capability that many organizations struggle with.  The sheer quantity of “things” that IT has to manage (think about the vast amount of applications, data, VMs, networks, technologies, users, etc.) makes automation and orchestration a must for most organizations.

Modernization

To keep up with the volume and pace, advancements in IT Operations continue to be made. Regardless of the ITSM framework (COBIT, DevOps, ITIL, ISO 20000, etc.), a modern approach to dealing with the vast and complex IT landscape is necessary. Thinkwise can assist your organization to advance IT Operations and Service Management across a number of key areas.

Note that many of the tools described below can be procured in a variety of ways, including self-managed, SaaS, or via a Managed Services Provider (MSP):

Operations & Automation

  • Automation tools automate routine and repetitive tasks, such as system provisioning, configuration management, and software deployment.

    Orchestration tools coordinate and sequence automated tasks across different systems and platforms, enabling end-to-end automation of complex workflows and processes.

    Both are important tools and techniques that allow IT to deal with the large amount of data, work and entities they are required to support and protect.

  • Analytics and reporting tools leverage data from various sources, including monitoring systems, ITSM platforms, and other IT sources, to provide insights into IT health, performance, trends, usage, and patterns. These tools enable organizations to identify opportunities for optimization, improve decision-making, and demonstrate the value of IT services to stakeholders.

  • Modern IT operations rely on advanced monitoring and alerting tools to track the performance, availability, and health of IT infrastructure and services in real-time. These tools use metrics, logs, and event data to detect anomalies, identify potential issues, and trigger alerts for proactive intervention before problems escalate.

  • ITSM tools facilitate the efficient handling of incidents and problems by providing centralized incident management systems, workflows, and communication channels. These tools enable IT teams to log, prioritize, track, and resolve incidents and problems in a systematic and timely manner, minimizing disruption to business operations.

    Many SaaS and on-premises tools are available on the market today that can quickly be deployed and customized based on your organizations’ needs.

    Managed Service Providers (MSP) can also provide these tools and services if desired.

  • IT asset management tools help organizations track and manage IT assets throughout their lifecycle, from procurement to disposal. These tools provide visibility into asset inventory, configuration, usage, and compliance, enabling organizations to optimize asset utilization, control costs, and ensure compliance with licensing and regulatory requirements.

    These tools usually store, manage, and utilize asset data in what is commonly known as a Configuration Management Data Base (CMDB).

  • IT Operations and IT Service Management are key to supporting organizational IT processes. Thinkwise can help you define, update, and implement any of the following typical ITSM processes, including:

    • Asset Management

    • Availability Management

    • Capacity Management

    • Change Management

    • Cloud Cost Management

    • Configuration Management

    • Continuity Management

    • Incident Management

    • Problem Management

    • Release Management

    • Security Management

  • Self-service portals and collaboration platforms empower users to find information, request services, and resolve issues on their own, reducing reliance on IT support and improving user satisfaction. These tools provide knowledge bases, FAQs, chatbots, and forums for self-service support, as well as collaboration features for facilitating communication and collaboration among IT teams and stakeholders.

  • Service catalog tools enable organizations to define and publish standardized IT services and offerings, along with associated service levels, pricing, and fulfillment processes.

    Request fulfillment tools automate the handling of service requests, from submission to fulfillment, through self-service portals, workflows, and integration with backend systems.

    These services can be procured via on-premises tools, SaaS, or MSP if desired.

Modernized Governance

Thinkwise can help you mature your cloud governance via automation and orchestration technologies and techniques; to streamline governance processes, create and enforce policies and standards, define & implement necessary taxonomies, and ensure consistency across cloud deployments.

Today, modern cloud governance includes a variety of domains and focus areas which all contribute to greater transparency, control, reliance, efficiency, and security. Some of the main focus areas for cloud governance are provided below:

  • Aligns cloud investments with business objectives, ensuring that cloud initiatives contribute to overall business success and competitiveness. We work with the business to help understand new cloud technologies that support and drive organization efficiency and innovation.

  • Optimizes cloud spending and prevents cost overruns through effective resource management and real-time cost monitoring and alerting. Techniques such as tagging and better leveraging available data can provide transparency and protection.

  • Facilitate agile and innovative cloud deployments by providing governance frameworks that support rapid experimentation and iteration. Key features of cloud computing include speed & agility - ensure these benefits are not lost by implementing modern governance and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy.

  • Streamlines cloud operations, automates routine tasks, and ensures consistency across deployments to improve operational efficiency. Protect against configuration drift and unapproved changes to production.

  • It is important to create and implement practical policies & standards to maintain and report on compliance. Leveraging modern tools and techniques can significantly improve your compliance posture while simplifying and reducing efforts.

    It is also important that your employees, partners, and contractors understand and adhere to your policies & standards. Thinkwise writes and structures policies in an easy to understand and structured manner, further enabling compliance.Item description

  • Identifies and mitigates risks associated with cloud deployments, such as data breaches, service outages, and vendor lock-in. A clear understanding of cloud service contracts and service levels is key to managing your risks and implementing the tools and techniques to protect your organization.

  • Ensures that sensitive data stored in the cloud remains secure and compliant with legal, regulatory, and business requirements. Automate compliance reporting using data, tagging, and other techniques to reduce effort, time, and increase reliability and transparency.

Thinkwise 

We make organizations better with positive change in people, processes, and cloud technology.