Knowledge Byte: Change Management for Cloud Computing Environments

Change management is a controlling process and is vital to ensure IT changes are controlled. Different types of change will require different types of change management to apply which are discussed throughout this section.

Change Management for Cloud Computing

• As cloud computing is an on-demand service model, in some cases change needs to happen quickly.
• Cloud services can require a mix of on-demand and traditional change management practices and processes.
• For an organization’s IT to be agile, a different approach to change management is required.
• Wrong implementation of change management can result in significant IT and business outages. Therefore, change management needs to be right.

Traditional change management needs to become adaptive and agile in cases where it benefits the business without introducing risk and impact from failed changes.

Why does Change Management need to adapt for Cloud Computing?

• To avail of the on-demand attributes of cloud computing which helps achieve IT and business goals, objectives, and strategies
• To help control reducing and retiring cloud computing and cloud-based services to streamline costs

A key aspect of adapting change management is to be more adaptive and agile and to make certain changes faster than traditional change management, but only where risk and impact assessment is formalized and aims to minimize issues occurring from making changes.

Issues Combining Change Management Approaches

These questions have to be considered and answered in order to operate change management within a hybrid IT environment.