By David Shilman
September, 2014
Enterprises are rapidly introducing Software as a Service (SaaS) in place of both purchased and custom-built solutions deployed in on-premises data centers. SaaS business software has the potential to significantly streamline organizations’ business capability engineering efforts by empowering business stakeholders to perform functions such as software configuration and change management, reducing business units’ dependency on in-house IT support. More than 60% of businesses utilize cloud technology for performing IT-related operations.
Cloud Managed Platform (CMP), or platform as a service (PaaS), which is the focus of this article, provides comparably time- and cost-effective enablement for in-house software development, and, if done right, can further empower IT organizations to operate more efficiently. Examples of well-known CMPs include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Force.com. Skillfully planned, engineered and executed CMP adoption can also increase an organization’s ability to manage technical debt. Unfortunately, technical teams often consider cloud architecture without exploring the risks and challenges posed by existing technical debt. This article offers three principles for facing those risks and challenges, and for maximizing the CMP opportunity.