Tech Journal Major Considerations to Make When Deciding to Migrate to the Cloud
By Mike Sprunger / 19 Mar 2020 / Topics: Cloud Modern infrastructure
By Mike Sprunger / 19 Mar 2020 / Topics: Cloud Modern infrastructure
For a variety of reasons, many organizations haven’t experienced the cost reductions, performance enhancements, reduced operational overhead and other benefits believed to be gained with a migration to cloud computing. Those companies may wonder why they decided to move applications and workloads to the cloud in the first place after the lack of business value they thought they would receive. Unfortunately, these organizations are forced to decide between staying on a cloud that’s delivering less than promised benefits, moving their deployments onto new infrastructure that must be built out (which further exacerbates budgetary challenges) or moving their workloads back onto the outdated infrastructure they aimed to leave in the first place.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are four major considerations that, if applied correctly, can support any migration to completion. Those considerations are: migration strategy, governance and security, project management or logistics, and deployment. With careful forethought of these operational considerations, enterprises can avoid derailed cloud migrations and begin to realize the value they were promised with the cloud.
One of the key considerations for any cloud migration project is the overall enterprise strategy. Migrating to the cloud without having a purpose-built central plan will lead to significant cost overruns, resource misallocation issues and an extremely muddled IT environment.
Any proper cloud migration strategy starts with developing a deep understanding of your own infrastructure and applications. Many companies aren’t certain of how many cloud-based services they use. Step one should almost always be taking inventory of what processes, data, workloads and applications are being used within your organization — and then building a comprehensive framework for how exactly those processes, data, workloads and applications can be migrated to the cloud. The key in developing this master strategy should be how best to guide the enterprise toward realizing its objectives with the cloud, at the lowest possible cost.
A good preliminary step is getting an objective measure of your cloud readiness and/or maturity from an outside party. Click here to take an online assessment that provides rankings in 12 operational areas associated with the successful integration of cloud-based services.
Another important consideration that shouldn’t be overlooked while planning a cloud migration is general business governance. In many ways, cloud data storage is more secure than traditional, on-premises data storage. Cloud providers are subject to stringent security standards and go to great lengths to ensure that your data is secure. However, organizations still carry a significant portion of the responsibility. Sensitive data in the cloud needs to be handled with the same level of security, privacy and integrity as on-premises data. Therefore, there needs to be a clear definition of rules, practices and processes as part of an overall business governance strategy, which among other benefits, can help reduce or eliminate expensive unforeseen changes to cloud adoption.
Many organizations have a solidified process for managing projects. Reusing cloud-enabled templates for project management is just as vital for cloud migration initiatives as it is for other types of projects.
Project and service management activities include identifying business problems or opportunities, defining solutions, formulating project strategy and creating a project team. Once the scope of a migration project is clearly defined, companies need to make sure they have the necessary expertise to execute against their cloud migration strategy. If they don’t, they need to look for a third-party vendor who specializes in these skills to partner with on their cloud journey.
The type of cloud deployment service that best suits the needs of the organization is another major factor in any cloud migration. There are three main types of cloud computing services:
Each cloud service presents unique opportunities and challenges. Companies need to further research deployment options and be prepared to support the service type(s) they choose.
The cloud promises unique business value. It opens up opportunities for increased flexibility, efficiency, costs savings and other strategic benefits that can transform your business. However, without carefully planning and developing a cloud strategy, it’s easy to not capitalize on the full scope of the value the cloud offers.
Many organizations that are moving into cloud deployments are doing so for the first time. Understandably, they’re unsure of what lies ahead and have not formulated a comprehensive cloud migration strategy considering all four of the major pillars outlined above. When moving to the cloud, failing to consider these important factors will compromise the likelihood of success, which, in turn, increases the chance of missing out on the full value the cloud can bring.
By taking the time to build a comprehensive migration strategy, engage with experts and make necessary changes, enterprises can ensure a successful migration to the cloud. To learn more about these and other considerations when moving applications, workloads and data to the cloud, read the whitepaper, "Migrate to the Cloud Securely: 10 Key Factors.”
Senior Manager of Cloud and Network Security
Mike brings several decades of experience in security and networking. Mike holds titles of Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, among others. At Insight, he defines, develops, and oversees delivery of security services for our clients as they modernize and transform IT.
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