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Tap into the power of the Cloud for your business

Any tech sales pitch or article you read these days will sing the praises of "the Cloud" and how it can transform your business. But look beyond the hype, and you'll find that "the Cloud" is no more than a new delivery model that brings IT services and applications back to that age-old business question: Make vs. Buy? The Cloud Computing Starter Kit is a collection of templates, calculators, checklists and project management tools that will help your team cut through the hype and evaluate the bottom line of moving your vital applications and data to the Cloud. Our team of IT consultants and professionals have compiled years of real-world experience into these easy-to-use tools that will help you:

• Evaluate the functional areas that are best suited of your initial entry into cloud computing
• Compare strength and weaknesses of vendor candidates with confidence
• Negotiate rock-solid contracts that ensure data security and service uptime
• Calculate the real costs of moving to the cloud vs, keeping IT in-house
• Plan the key strategic and tactical events that will guarantee a successful Cloud computing implementation.

Here's what you'll find inside the Cloud Computing Toolkit:

1. What is "The Cloud"
   
   • A brief overview of cloud computing, what it is and is not, and how to sell it to your peers and management both inside and outside IT.
2. Cloud Services Checklist
   
   • A spreadsheet of recommend services to consider moving to the Cloud. You can filter this list by criticality, cost and complexity.
3. Cloud Computing Checklist
   
   • Are you ready to move to the Cloud? This checklist provides a list of the steps from pondering a move to the cloud, through selecting a vendor, to migrating your data and "flipping the switch" on a live cloud application.
4. Cloud Computing MS Project Plan
   
   • This simple "starter" project plan in Microsoft Project format will help your team identify and track key strategic and tactical milestones in your Cloud Computing Evaluation. This plan can be modified with your dates, team, and costing information.
5. "Make versus Buy" Worksheet
   
   • A worksheet to determine whether moving to the Cloud is cost-effective for your business, versus keeping the service in-house. This tool can be used to evaluate your project over a range of years, and encompasses the full range of expected expense, from initial data migration to in-house support staffing.
6. Cloud Vendor Comparison Checklist
   
   • A checklist to use when evaluating cloud vendors, either through your own research or during vendor presentations. Complete the checklist for each potential vendor and then use it as a tool to compare competing vendors.
7. Key Cloud Vendor Links
   
   • A quick list of links to leading vendors in the technology areas that you may be considering for a move to the Cloud.
8. Cloud Vendor Comparison Worksheet
   
   • A spreadsheet that helps you track the strengths and weakness of potential cloud vendors as you "shop" potential cloud service providers.
9. 5 Tips for Moving to the Cloud
   
   • Concrete tips that will help make your move from internal service to the cloud a success.
10. Cloud Contract Negotiations Checklist
    
    • An overview of the legal and key service guarantee issues you may encounter as you negotiate a contract with your cloud provider.
11. Cloud vs In-House Presentation
    
    • This PowerPoint template will help you present the information included in this toolkit to other managers and teams in your company.