To the cloud or not to the cloud, that is the question

What to consider before kicking off your cloud migration project

As we examine the IT infrastructure terrain and enterprise strategy around it, most organizations today consider a “cloud-first” strategy the norm and not the exception. The benefits of moving to the cloud are perceived to be too big and the thought of being ‘left-behind’ on the technology curve too compelling for most organizations. Most organizations are jumping in feet first to take advantage of the cloud, expecting to fully reap the benefits of their journey.

However, according to Gartner, almost two-thirds of respondents reported their first attempts at migrating to the cloud were either more difficult than expected or failed outright. Furthermore, they said that they finished their migration later than expected and over half significantly exceeded their budgets to do so. A more alarming number is from a recent NTT Communications survey where 41% of respondents said that “migrating complex apps to the cloud is more trouble than it’s worth” and another 47% said that they have “less control over their application estate as it moves to the cloud”. Not worth it and less control? Not the outcome you were hoping for.

More questions to consider before migrating to the cloud

While the tangible cost benefits of moving to the cloud are undeniable, there are key challenges that should be addressed before a journey to the cloud is planned and executed.

• Are your business goals and expectations for cloud aligned with your ability to execute? 
• Is the cloud truly right for the application you are planning to move to the cloud? Is the application ready for the cloud?
• Is there enough training, processes, and governance to address challenges with access, security, monitoring, and performance that are sure to follow? (On the security note, Gartner predicts that, through 2020, 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault. Time to beef up your security measures and training as it relates to the cloud!)
• Is this the right time to move to the cloud? Is the business, technical and economic environment ideal to sustain a complex project that will require a fundamental change in processes and behavior?

If a deeper analysis leads you to conclude “not yet”, or that certain applications should not be moved to the cloud, you are probably right. According to Gartner, by 2023 more than 60% of organizations that have adopted a “cloud-first” strategy will replace it with a “cloud-smart” strategy.  The goal of a “cloud-smart” strategy is to balance cloud adoption with the organization’s circumstances, goals, and business value.

Cloud migration best practices

If you decide that the move to the cloud is appropriate for you, consider these best practices:

• Align the organization’s business strategy and the cloud strategy. If these strategies don’t align, even a successful move to the cloud will fail to deliver expected business results
• Close the gap between expectations and reality. According to Gartner, in-house teams often lack the technical, financial, and strategic skills required to meet what have usually inflated expectations regarding the transition to the cloud. There is usually a gap between expected gains vs what the cloud can deliver
• Establish an internal ‘cloud center of excellence’ that can help you establish governance, new operating models, and address challenges on an ongoing basis. This center of excellence will also help guide your evolving needs and strategy
• While most cloud vendors provide security and monitoring tools, unfortunately, that is like the fox guarding the henhouse. Just like you hire independent auditors to look at your finance, you should insist on 3^rd party vendors (other than your cloud service providers) to give you unimpeachable data

The cloud is a great fit for many workloads but not all applications and workloads can benefit from the cloud. Knowing whether it is the right time to move to the cloud all depends on your particular use case, workload, application, operational and financial reality.

For those applications you are ready to migrate, follow these six simple steps for a successful cloud migration.

If that cloud security stat still has you bothered, read this blog on 6 common cloud migration misconfigurations leading to security risks and how to fix them.