The Cloud Services Broker has many roles and is designed to solve complexity – helping the enterprise migrate to the cloud is paramount.

In previous blogs I wrote about the evolution of the Cloud Services Broker (CSB) and the need for the Cloud Service Broker to offer not just technology but also focus on the end game of providing business outcome solutions. As I continue to visit with CxO’s on their view of cloud and the role of the Cloud Services Broker they all see the value and benefits of working with a CSB but even more so now since we are at the beginning stages of consuming cloud they also see the need for the Cloud Services Broker to provide cloud migration services – how do I get from here to there. This is what I hear from many CxO’s that they are looking for:

1. The ability for the Cloud Services Broker to understand that the end game is to deliver business outcome cloud solutions. This means starting the cloud migration conversation from a business goals, challenges, processes and even culture perspective – we may need to break out the white board.
2. The Cloud Services broker must also have the ability to deliver,
   • Cloud Aggregation – multiple cloud services, multiple XaaS – who needs a Cloud Services Broker that only delivers 1 or even a small handful of XaaS?
   • Cloud Integration – bundle XaaS into meaningful business outcome cloud solutions
   • Cloud Customization – from a technical perspective such things as a unified UI, billing, value add solutions
3. The Cloud Services Broker must also have a proven cloud migration methodology in place including such things as initial assessment/baseline, solid project plan, project management and a model of starting small and growing while delivering a solid ROI along the way. By the way, a significant ingredient to a successful cloud migration must include the “soft” items. What do I mean by that? At the end of the day you will be changing (and it better be for the good) how people work and do their jobs every day. People don’t like change and you’ll need to understand that, address it and be patient.