In a previously published blog entry, Joe Onisick put forth the theory that the biggest threat to a private cloud deployment is your IT staff. Greg Ferro disagrees. Here's why.

People are the No. 1 reason why private clouds fail. The traditional IT management team is composed of tactically oriented, powerless leaders who aren't familiar with their core business and aren't equipped to handle dynamic IT business challenges presented by private clouds. They're more comfortable with sticking with what they know, avoiding change and ignoring the business risk of preventing change. They will be the downfall of your private cloud deployment.

Today's IT management is unprepared for change and unable to map a dynamic IT environment like a private cloud into a static and unyielding business process such as that espoused by the Information Technology Information Library (ITIL) or The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF). Everyone can see that business drivers are changing. Engineers have already embraced the new technologies of the private cloud. Management must deliver new accounting methods, better risk management and long-term funding to develop new private cloud infrastructures. At the same time, IT managers are refusing to change the existing business processes, accept risk, and move their organizations forward.

This doesn't have to be the case. With some simple changes to executive thinking, IT managers can throw out the organizational dependence on outdated ITIL models and irrelevant TOGAF concepts, take control of a private cloud deployment and move the ship forward.

Expertise, automation, and silo busting are all required, say early adopters of private clouds. Also in the new, all-digital Private Clouds: Vision Vs. Reality issue of InformationWeek: How to choose between OpenStack and CloudStack for your private cloud. (Free with registration.)