THE EDGE
he appetite for cloud adoption
is growing, with Gartner
forecasting worldwide public
cloud revenue to grow 17%
this year, and cloud computing to be
among the top three areas where most
global CIOs will increase their investment
next year. However, businesses face
challenges with cloud adoption and
a recent report by RightScale found
that 35% of cloud spending is wasted.
Budgets are being allocated to underused
resources and poorly planned migrations,
meaning that businesses are not getting
the full value of their cloud services.
T
One way to avoid careless migrations and
idle resources is to implement a thought-
out cloud adoption strategy that can be
used as a roadmap to successfully chart
and manage your migration to the cloud.
These strategies improve processes and
help businesses architect platforms that
can grow with the company. Systems that
are not properly architected can cause
many issues further along the line, so a
proper cloud adoption strategy is a vital
part of digitally transforming a business in
future years.
requirements and potential growth when
migrating to the cloud, as this will directly
impact the cloud platform. By addressing
business goals and analysing the impact
of moving to the cloud, a clear project plan
can be put together.
In addition to this, organisations should
carry out a gap analysis to identify any
existing problems and other services
that could potentially increase business
profitability. Migrating to the cloud is
an opportunity to rectify these existing
problems in the IT architecture. Once
this has been decided, it is vital that
businesses consider the level of IT
management required. Is there an in-
house IT department that can manage the
cloud on their behalf, or would it be more
cost-effective to outsource to an external
IT team to run it?
Plan
Once the research phase is complete, it
is time to put together a specific cloud
Assess
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
strategy. Businesses can choose from a
range of cloud services including public,
private and hybrid. If they are unsure
as to which solution would fit their
requirements best, a Managed Service
Provider (MSP), with Technical Solutions
Architects, can help to design a cloud
solution that is tailored specifically to
the requirements of a business. The MSP
can ensure that the company has enough
resources, servers and a solution that
meets their budget.
When the cloud platform or solution has
been architected, businesses can begin
to think about how to migrate data from
the existing provider to their new one.
Depending on the specific applications
they wish to migrate, this process will
vary. This is why it’s crucial to map out the
required actions and internal resources
with a timescale as part of a high-level
project plan.
Below are my four easy steps to assist
businesses with creating and executing a
successful cloud adoption strategy.
Before migrating to the cloud, businesses
need to look at their existing platforms and
solutions. Not all applications can run on
or move seamlessly to the cloud, so this
must be taken into consideration. If some
applications require dedicated servers,
this will affect a business’s cloud model.
It is essential that businesses define their
BY ADDRESSING
BUSINESS GOALS
AND ANALYSING
THE IMPACT OF
MOVING TO THE
CLOUD, A CLEAR
PROJECT PLAN
CAN BE PUT
TOGETHER.
Jon Lucas, Co-Director of Hyve
Managed Hosting
One model of migration is referred to as a
‘lift and shift’ operation, where enterprises
move their data and applications to the
cloud without making any modifications.
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