Shell Outlines Best Practices for Enterprise Cloud Adoption

In the age of increasing cyber threats and Internet crimes, it’s clear large corporations and enterprises cannot afford to be lax with data – they are among the most discerning and security conscious cloud computing customers. Many opt for hybrid solutions that allow the organization to manage some resources in-house and others are provided externally.

For example, oil and gasoline giant Shell uses Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) primarily for temporary infrastructure, such as testing and development systems for its programmers. On any given day, the company has up to 1,500 servers running on Amazon Web Services at a time, according to Gavin Bain, service manager for cloud computing at Shell.

During the Amazon Web Services Summit in London this week, Bain explained the three pillars of Shell’s adoption of cloud that have helped it to maximize the business benefits while minimize the risk.

The first was to approach Shell’s senior policy group, which is responsible for assessing the company’s risk, and ask them what the company could put in the cloud, Bain said. The group determined it didn’t want the company’s most confidential data in the cloud, or its most critical applications, and underscored the need to ensure compliance.

To enforce these rules, Shell implemented a governance board that is charged with approving request to move applications into the cloud. But security practices are the same whether it applies to data that is stored on-premise, or in the cloud.

“One thing that we’ve recognized very early on is that best practice around IT management doesn’t really change [with cloud computing,]” Bain said. “You have to look after the same thing.”

As part of its cloud strategy, Shell also needed to protect the benefits of cloud computing and decide why the company was using cloud, and how it could protect it.

“It is entirely within our ability to suck all the benefit out of cloud computing,” Bain said. “So we needed a clear idea of why we’re using cloud computing and how to protect that.”

“Enabling the business” is the third pillar of Shell’s cloud adoption strategy, which means helping business units make the most of cloud. The company has developed a “center of excellence” team that helps project teams figure out how to get on cloud.

In summary, when it comes to building a cloud strategy, the key points for enterprises include the importance of knowing why you are adopting cloud and knowing how your organization’s data is classified.