Does Your IT Department Have a Cloud Service Manager?

As cloud computing continues to spread throughout enterprises, mid-market companies, and SMBs alike, IT departments of every size must learn how to manage different SaaS and IaaS contracts, providers, and services.

This requires a different, if overlapping, skillset compared to administrating and operating on-site infrastructure. While much of the back-end remains the same, new titles and job roles are becoming popular for positions that identify business drivers, hammer out cloud contracts, and keep track of the complete lifecycle of a cloud service.

The Cloud Service Manager is one of these, but CTOs, Cloud Product Managers, Cloud Systems Engineers, and even Project Managers may have to fill the same shoes. What exactly is involved in being a Cloud Product Owner or Cloud Service Manager?

Not Quite an Engineering Job, Not Quite a Strategy/Leadership Role

Okay, so I just mentioned that Systems Engineers might have to fill the role of a Cloud Service Manager, and at many organizations, that’s true. However, Engineers, Cloud Architects, Cloud Developers, and similar technically-oriented positions are much more likely to be focused on the design and daily operation of cloud environments — the actual administration and management of snapshots, setting up new VMs, maintenance like updates and patching of Operating Systems, troubleshooting network configurations, provisioning storage…you get the picture.

A Cloud Product Owner or Service Manager is generally a higher-level position that has deep understanding of the technical aspects of cloud computing, data centers, and virtual infrastructure; as well as the overarching strategic business decisions that need to be made around IT services.

With many departments turning to shadow IT in order to get the products they need for special projects and daily work, plus an average of six clouds in use at the average company (according to a Rightscale survey from this year), there are quite a few contracts and pieces of infrastructure that have to be kept track of in your typical organization.

The Cloud Service Owner or Cloud Manager must identify redundant systems and be responsible for the complete lifecyle of all cloud services in an organization, working closely with senior management of all departments and the IT team.