Sunday, 12 February 2017 Blog ehdf

Migrate to the Cloud in 7 Easy Steps

Migration to the Cloud is showing an upward trend and the State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud Report by Verizon affirms the same – 65% of today’s organizations are using Cloud Computing. In fact, this figure is sure to rise as businesses are discovering the many benefits of moving to the Cloud, including lower CAPEX, improved application performance and high scalability, to list just a few.

Having said that, Migration to the Cloud is a journey that presents many challenges. Along the way, you need to consider more details than you first thought. We give you a 7 Step Guide to get started.

1. Do your research!
Your IT team must gain a working knowledge of the Cloud migration process. They must also allocate a suitable time frame for safe and secure data migration. Once the decision to migrate to Cloud is made, you must also evaluate whether to invest in your own IT infrastructure or seek the support of a Managed Services Provider (MSP).

2. Costs VS benefits
You must calculate the costs incurred through current computing systems versus those involved with adopting Cloud Computing. This includes training employees, software applications and service provider expenses. Once this has been determined, enterprises can choose their ideal Cloud platform.

3. Define a Transition Strategy
Determine the best possible way to implement and migrate to the Cloud. Outline the level of virtualization, or how many current applications will be outsourced onto the Cloud platform. This decision will depend on several factors, such as internal budgets, <>data storage needs, the need to implement a long-term business model, and security concerns.

4. Identify areas requiring external support
It is advisable to consult an expert on the complex technological mechanisms that will manage and store business information and internal data, such that organizations can use best practices to maintain the internal infrastructure.

5. Assess business needs and Cloud scalability
In case a company needs to scale up with increased storage requirements, the IT team has to ensure Cloud scalability without any significant downtime. Additionally, they must find out whether the increased data volume might result in greater service costs.

6. Customize your SLA (Service Level Agreement)
Larger companies often invest in and implement in-house Cloud infrastructure. However, by consulting a MSP, they can maximize the benefits of Cloud through customized SLA’s (Service Level Agreements). This should outline terms and conditions specific to an organization’s data storage and IT needs.

Outsourcing business information systems and applications to a Cloud provider requires operational regulations and transparency. It is important to establish these terms in the contract to ensure that the Cloud service provided meets an organization’s dynamic requirements.

7. Avoiding Downtime
Organizations must read the fine-print of their Service Level Agreement before the Cloud migration to be aware of the guaranteed uptime. Often, Cloud Computing provides an uptime of more than 99% due to the multiple data centers available to providers.

If you do it right, there are huge savings involved, as well as strategic advantages like agility and speed to market. And Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce beautifully puts it across – “If someone asks me what Cloud Computing is, I try not to get bogged down with definitions. I tell them that, simply put, Cloud Computing is a better way to run your business.”