Is your IT department currently acting as a Cloud services broker?And what exactly is a Cloud services broker?

As our world of many clouds continues to evolve, increased opportunities exist for IT departments to move from the traditional "siloed" working environments to play a more critical role in corporate planning strategies.

Aligning ITandbusiness objectives are duties handled by an IT services broker, who is usually the company CIO.

This role has become increasingly recognized as IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) becomes a piece of the intercloud fabric.

The time is now for corporations to begin viewing their IT departments as more than the group that resets passwords and helps new-hires withtheir computer set-ups.

In order to manage the cloud transition and embrace the role of cloud services brokers, CIOs and IT leaders should consider these five steps:

1) Develop your future thinkingand let go of the idea of how your IT department has done things in the past and think about what processes can be reengineered or what new capabilities need to be developed. Your IT group is best able to identify technology gaps in an organization's processes as CIOs contend with hybrid cloud environments.

2) Create yourInfrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS) Building Blockand ensure it's agile, so your IT department can manage infrastructure services in a highly automated fashion and deliver to users in just minutes. By enabling a hybrid cloud environment in the IaaS layer, IT can more easily play the role of cloud services broker.

3) Add the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), which uses the agility in the IaaS foundation. Ultimately, this delivers greater efficiencies and flexibility in the deployment and deployment of cloud workloads. Without PaaS, development and testing of initiatives would require dedicated capacity to be allocated by IT.

4) Ensure required security standards. The SaaS and Infrastructure Security building block is where IT's ability to serve as a cloud service broker plays a critical role and for an organization's integrity, cloud-based services are best managed by them as a one cohesive infrastructure.

5) Make your vision a reality and implement transformational change!Now that you've assembled all the necessary building blocks, find a trusted partner to help you define and implement your vision. Tools like Cisco Domain Ten can help your IT department create evaluation criteria that helps them play their role as cloud services broker.

Additional Resources:

• Becoming a true IT service broker  CIOs discuss how much progress they have made towards setting up IT to run like a business | via cio.com.au| via cio.com.au
• How can leaders manage the transition to a cloud services broker? Check out the new Gartner newsletter to learn more:  5 Aspects of IT's Enhanced Role as Cloud Services Broker
• The Future of IT: Drive New Consumption Models with Cloud and Hybrid IT via Gartner
• Visit Cisco Powered Cloud Services for IaaS web home
• Cisco Intercloud Provides a Platform for Application Enablement and Innovation by Kenneth Owens
• What's New in Cisco Domain Ten Framework 2.0 by Parag Parekh
• Securing Cloud Transformation through Cisco Domain Ten Framework v2.0 by Parag Parekh
• Visit Cisco Domain Ten Framework  web home

If you want to learn more about how to prepare for growing cloud workloads, how to evolve your IT department to harness the true potential of the cloud, and how to develop a more strategic approach to IT operations and service management, be sure to :

Watch the Cisco Intercloud Workload Migration Webcast (Available on demand).

Cisco Live,May 18-22

or follow the conversation online@CiscoCloud with #CLUS and #CiscoCloud.

Watch the Cisco Live Opening Session and Keynote by John Chambers on Monday, May 19 at 3:30 p.m. PDT.

Watch the Cisco Live Technology Business Vision  keynote by Rob Lloyd on Tuesday, May 20 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Register today for the Cisco Powered Cloud Day at Cisco Live on Monday, May 19. The insightful day will focus on opportunities and challenges that can be addressed with cloud.

Watch the Cisco Live Cloud Technology Trend Keynote -Aligning Your Strategy and Business for Cloud Success by Dr. Gee Rittenhouse and Faiyaz Shahpurwala on Tuesday, May 20 -1:30 p.m. PDT.Visit

Cloud Executive Perspectives to get additional cloud insights for IT leaders.