A cloud management platform (CMP) is fast becoming a de facto requirement for enterprises pursuing a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy. But what should you be looking for in a CMP? Many companies make the mistake of taking a “boil the ocean” approach to a CMP evaluation. We’ll share best practices and discuss whether you need an RFP.
2. Speakers
• Josh Fraser
• SVP, Sales & Business Development
• David Redmond
• Director, Sales Development
3. A Platform to Manage Every Customer
Cloud Analytics
Self Service
Cloud Management
Universal Cloud Management
Any Cloud, Service, VM, Server, Container
Public
Clouds
Private
Clouds
Virtual
Environments
Bare Metal
Servers
Containers
Containers
Containers
Containers
4. Beyond “Least Common Denominator”
4
Compute
Storage
Network
Database
Built-In Integration
Cloud Service Plug-Ins
AWS
Lambda
AWS
Elastic
Beanstalk
Google
Container
Engine
Azure
PaaS
and more…
Created by
• RightScale
• Customer
• 3rd party
5. 1. No standardization or
repeatability
2. Manual processes
3. Tribal knowledge
4. Complaining developers
5. Migration headaches
6. Lack of version control
7. DIY orchestration
overhead
8. Lengthy SDLCs
9. DevOps transformation
pains
10. Vendor lock-in
11. Shadow IT
12. Lack of structure
13. No visibility
14. Unpredictable costs
15. Cloud account sprawl
16. Security & compliance
holes
17. Wasted reserved buys
18. Manual showback/
chargeback
19. Unrealized EA discounts
20. Complexity with access
control
21. Instances abandoned or
under-utilized
22. Fast pace of cloud
innovation
23. Multiple GUIs/portals
24. ITSM incompatibilities
25. Orphaned container
strategy
Challenges with Hybrid & Multi Cloud
5
6. CIO
I&O / Cloud Leaders
Architects / Dev Leaders
Shift IT to say “yes” instead of
“no” to enable the business
Broker multiple cloud services
Need infrastructure on-demand to
deliver software faster
Need to support the latest dev
trends (DevOps, CI/CD, Docker)
Convince business units to
leverage their brokered services
instead of going around IT
Want to use cloud provider of
choice and choose any add-on
IaaS+ / PaaS services
Bring shadow IT under
governance
Support the latest dev trends
(DevOps, CI/CD, Docker)
Moving toward CI/CD
Managing/optimizing costs
Move more apps to the cloud
Want to use Docker
Navigate the OpEx model of
public cloud
Ensure apps in the cloud meet
SLAs and are secure
Often prefer API or CLI over a GUI
Attract/train resources with cloud
expertise
Ensure existing on-prem
environments are used more
efficiently
Want to use their favorite tools for
config management (Chef,
Puppet, Ansible)
Stakeholders to Interview
8. ITSM Providers
Identity Management
Source Control
CI/CD
Plan to Integrate with Your Ecosystem
System Monitoring
Application MonitoringInfrastructure Management
SIEM Tools
Configuration Management
RightScale!
CMP!
9. “Ignoring important cloud management requirements when
executing their cloud strategies has caused I&O leaders to pick
the wrong tools, incorrectly think that a single CMP is all they
need, or choose tooling that is too complex for their
organization's skill set. !
In some cases, I&O leaders do not do anything because they
do not know what capabilities to seek.”
Don’t Boil the Ocean
9
Source: “IaaS Cloud Management Tool
Selection Methology (Gartner, June 2016)
10. Difference Between RFI, RFP, and RFQ
RFI
RFP
RFQ
Purpose
Develop strategy or
learn more about
supplier’s
capabilities
Determine feasibility
of each potential
supplier’s bid
Compare costs
between competing
vendors
Level of effort
Medium (Client) /
Medium (Vendor)
High (Client) / High
(Vendor)
Low (Client) /
Medium (Vendor)
Format
Open-ended
Open-ended, but
with formal
parameters
Closed-ended
Best suited for
Customized
solutions
Customized
solutions
Commoditized
products
Sources: Reference.com, Negotiations.com!
11. Automation &
Orchestration
Governance
& Planning
Platform &
Integrations
Structuring Your RFI/RFP
How can we enable
DevOps/agile software
development?
How can we manage any
cloud, server, service,
VM, or container – both
new & existing?
How can we leverage
the entire ecosystem?
How can we turn analytics
into action?
12. “As more public and private cloud services are provisioned, there is a great potential for waste
in terms of resources consumed and/or dollars spent to achieve both agility objectives and
SLAs. This is compounded by decentralized IT spending, which is expected to reach 50% by
2020. For example, Gartner client inquiries show that it is not uncommon for public cloud
service bills to be two to three times higher than expectations.
Moreover, traditional data center issues of low infrastructure asset utilization and
overprovisioning of capacity resources have spilled over into the private cloud environment. As
reflected by Gartner client inquiries, many have asset utilization of just 10% to 20%,
suggesting significant room for improvement in cost and usage.”
A Word About Analytics to Action
12
Source: Innovation Insight for Dynamic
Optimization Technology for
Infrastructure Resources and Cloud
Services (Gartner, February 2016)
16. The Forrester Wave:
Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions (Jan, ‘16)
16
“Our evaluation of the 11 selected vendors
validates our analysis that the hybrid cloud
management solutions market is very active
and mature.”
!
18. 1. Can be confused with success criteria
2. Can become a token exercise
3. Don’t capture nuances (i.e., security models)
4. Slow time-to-market
5. Vendors exaggerate capabilities
6. Don’t allow for interactive conversation
Pitfalls of RFPs
19. Client A
Client B
Industry
Retail
Banking
Evaluation approach
Lengthy RFP, followed by
checkbox-style pilot
Competitive pilot with 32 success
criteria, agilely weighted
Complicating factors
Success criteria did not change
after pilot results reset what was
possible
4-stage security review
Decision holder
Black-box executive committee >
zero engagement w/ vendor
Team consensus, led by pilot
sponsors > direct engagement
Duration
12 months
< 5 months
Decision
Settled on DIY approach
Selected SaaS-based CMP after
meeting 29 of 32 objectives
Outcome
Saddled with technical debt;
poorly positioned for multi-cloud
future
Common interface for managing &
governing dev & prod workloads
across AWS, SoftLayer, and HP
Tale of Two Enterprises
20. 1. Rethink your RFP process > technology buying has changed
2. Try before you evaluate > SaaS is made for diving in
3. CMPs are emerging technology > be wary of “you don’t know
what you don’t know”
4. Keep success criteria agile > you’ll learn as you go
5. Focus on 1 - 3 use cases and/or problem statements
6. Talk to analysts & reference customers
7. Get answers on vendor’s vision & roadmap
An Agile Alternative to an RFP
21. • 7 Common Questions About a Cloud Management Platform (RightScale, April ‘16)"
• The Forrester Wave: Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions (Forrester, January ‘16)"
• IaaS Cloud Management Tool Selection Methodology (Gartner, June ‘16)"
• Market Guide for Cloud Management Platforms: Large, Emerging and Open-Source
Software Vendors (Gartner, April ‘16)"
• A Comprehensive List of Management Requirements for Organizations Using Public
Cloud Services (Gartner, April ‘15)
Suggested References