As the initial CIO skepticism about cloud services fades and ITOs start looking for the advantages of cloud, writes Scott Lowe in his latest Wikibon Alert, “The CIO and the Cloud: Embrace, Extend, Innovate”, they should consider Big Data Analytics as an early use case. However, they should be careful about “platform sprawl”, the 21st century equivalent of “server sprawl”, and apply strong governance practices from the start.

In an Alert inspired by the April 23 Peer Incite discussion on the impact of cloud services in general and Amazon specifically on the IT organization, Lowe writes that CIOs have no lack of choices of possible platforms, from both large providers like Amazon, Rackspace, Switch, and ViaWest, to smaller startups like Cloud Sigma. The problem for CIOs is that these vendors offer different services and degrees of service. CIOs definitely want to chose platform providers that focus on their vertical industry, in part because the provider will offer services tailored to that industry’s needs, such as HIPAA certification for healthcare providers, and in part because large data sets specific to issues such as performance comparisons among peer are more likely to be available there.

However, a one-for-all approach often is not possible. For instance, data speeds and the cost of transmitting multi-petabyte databases across the network often make it more practical to move the analysis to the data than vice versa. So if the data you need is on a particular platform, you would be wise, all things being equal, to use that platform for your analysis.

That is where the issue of provider sprawl and the need for strong governance comes in. What IT does not want is to find that various LOBs and divisions in the company are going off on their own to a scatter-shot selection of platforms, creating a provider management headache and diluting the organization’s clout with the providers.

CIOs definitely need to use cloud services when that makes good business sense, Lowe concludes. However they should take a controlled approach and maintain control of the situation.

Like all Wikibon research, this Alert is available in full without charge on the Wikibon Web site. IT professionals are invited to register to join the Wikibon community. Membership allows them to post their own questions, tips, and research, as well as comment on published research on the site. Members also receive invitations to the periodic Peer Incite Meetings at which their peers present on how they are using advanced technologies to solve business and technical challenges.