On top of this, COVID-19 profoundly impacted the way we work. Faced with lockdowns, social distancing and similar measures, a large portion of the workforce needed to move online, and fast. Why then do so many IT leaders hesitate to purposefully migrate their applications to cloud instances? It seems that while many companies are convinced that the Cloud can benefit them, but when it comes to formulating a bona fide cloud migration plan, many simply don’t know where to start.
Cloud is reshaping the role of CTO
Many enterprise IT paradigms have come and gone over the past decade, and very few actually survive long enough to gain widespread acceptance. Cloud computing, however, has not only proven itself as a viable IT service delivery platform, it is also reshaping the entire knowledge economy on a global scale. Business entities of all sizes are finding the Cloud’s benefits far too compelling to ignore.
Outsourced virtualisation plays an integral part in digital transformation, which is near the top of every executive’s agenda. As more companies reap the benefits of cost savings, faster turnaround times, and decreased administrative burden, IT leaders have come to view the Cloud as a must-have in today’s competitive global marketplace. As Cisco Executive Chairman,
John Chambers, Cisco Executive Chairman: “At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years... if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”
Yet despite its long track record of tangible business benefits, some technology leaders have yet to adopt the Cloud at all. In their minds, the Cloud represents a fearful step into the unknown, bringing with it concerns for security, scalability, and control — risks that all CTOs have been trained to avoid. However, with the right guidance and a set of steps to gain the business benefits while deflecting the inherent risks, IT leaders can stack the odds in their favour as move towards cloud-based digital transformation.
This article will outline the steps CTOs and IT leaders can take to make sure their first steps into the Cloud will be successful ones.
STEP 1: Secure Executive Sponsorship for your Cloud
The first step toward an effective cloud deployment is arguably the most crucial to its success — gain the support of a strong executive sponsor. The Cloud represents change, and change can be downright scary for veteran line of- business (LOB) managers well entrenched in the old way of doing things. When the migration hits a few roadblocks, some will start questioning whether or not the reward of cloud migration is truly worth the effort. A strong sponsor with a strong enough presence is necessary to keep everything on track.
Your executive sponsor must not only be visible but also vocal as well. They must fully understand the ultimate business value that the Cloud brings to the organisation, and be ready to articulate it in a way that everyone in the enterprise can understand and feel. The Cloud will improve everyone’s work life by removing technological tedium that plagues so many corporations today. Employees display higher levels of motivation on the job when they feel their efforts are closely tied to company goals. A good sponsor can be the catalyst to sharing with them how the Cloud can help each of them succeed along with the company.
STEP 2: Analyse Current Application Catalogue
One of the true benefits of the Cloud is cost elasticity. You only pay for the computing power you need, while incurring less cost during off-peak hours. But which applications should you move to the Cloud to gain the biggest benefits for the lowest cost?
Before we can answer this, we must create a master list of currently running applications and which departments they serve. Don’t worry if you can’t capture every single one; a high-level list will help you identify those applications with the greatest opportunity for cloud deployment. Meet with the business leaders those applications serve to identify connectivity requirements, accessibility issues, and peak service times. You may unearth data sourcing requirements you never knew existed — issues that could affect your decision to migrate them. Depending on the complexity of the application, end users may have to change the way they interface with the application, so getting buy-in from the business side is very important.
Next divide your applications into three categories of cloud readiness:
- Those that can move to the Cloud immediately with no modification.
- Those that need some modifications before you can migrate them.
- Those that can never move due to the connectivity and usage constraints.
Applications that have few in-house dependencies are good candidates for your initial move. These apps have a high probability of migrating successfully. Save the more complex mission-critical applications for later when your team gains a greater comfort factor in app migration.
STEP 3: Decide Which Cloud Types are Needed
Cloud instances come in many forms, so it’s important for IT leaders to understand the differences between Cloud types and the implications of each. The most popular types of Clouds are public, private, and hybrid. The key differentiator is the location of the physical computer, and the degree of physical resource sharing among multiple tenants.
Public Cloud
A cloud service provider offers a public cloud as a secure server instance that their clients can access over a web connection or web browser. The providing vendor operates and maintains the physical server box within their own data centre. Quite often, many of the provider’s clients share space and bandwidth on the same box through virtualisation. To the client, the cloud server looks like just another mapped drive or remote desktop window. Shared resources and elastic pricing make the public cloud very affordable.
Access Workspace is an example of such a solution. Read about the success Ribtex International has had with cloud hosting a number of software applications.
Private Cloud
These cloud resources also take advantage of virtualization to deliver computing power, but the resources are not shared; they are dedicated to only one client. This way, private clouds insulate you from “noisy neighbours,” other clients sharing the same box who may be running CPU-intensive operations, leaving little for other tenants that share the same box. Some private clouds are located within the client’s own firewalls, but managed by a cloud service provider. Because resources are dedicated to one client, private clouds tend to be more expensive than public.
Hybrid Cloud
A hybrid cloud utilises both public and private cloud configurations. The mixed environment allows clients to shift workloads between a public and private instance in real time as the need arises. This can be particularly helpful for clients with seasonal computing requirements or applications that need the power of a private cloud, but may demand public cloud access in stand by mode for periods of unexpected heavy demand.
STEP 4: Assemble the Cloud Migration Team
Now that you have a cloud migration strategy that aligns to your company’s business case, you need a crack team of technologists to execute it. Ideally, your team should move company applications and data with as little service disruption as possible. In order to accomplish this, you should have the following key players in place.
Network administrator
Often referred to as the “admin,” this player will have a sound understanding of operating system connectivity and internetworking issues. This will be important when granting users and departments access to the Cloud instance. The admin should understand user and group accounts, permissions, filesystem administration and security.
Database administrator
Applications can’t do much unless they have proper access to the data they need to manipulate. The DBA can properly advise you on issues of relational database management, maintenance, and performance. Should an application display a data access problem, the DBA will be able to track down cryptic error messages and resolve them to minimise application downtime.
Applications developer
This team member doesn’t necessarily have to be the author of the applications being moved (although that would be extremely helpful). But the resident software development expert will be familiar with coding techniques used to create the current catalogue of applications, so they can effectively determine any programming changes necessary in order for the applications to work as well in the Cloud as they do in the data centre
One of the biggest challenges you will face as a leader is protecting your team members’ time. If you are not careful, other managers within the company will encumber your team with so many to-do list items that they won’t have time for your cloud migration project. Protect their time by explaining the importance of the mission to other managers, and be willing to get your executive sponsor involved if need be.
Because experienced cloud migration professionals are in high demand and short supply, many firms have chosen to bring seasoned outside teams in to manage their cloud migrations. A recent Greenhouse Data survey shows outsource cloud migration to be the rule rather than the exception. Less than 30% of respondents claimed to have ample cloud expertise among existing staff, and a full 78% hired outside cloud talent at least once during the course of a year.
STEP 5: Research Cloud Service Partners
In order to truly capture all of the business benefits the Cloud has to offer, you need a cloud service provider who understands what you are trying to accomplish and can deliver and support those services.
As you develop a list of cloud providers to consider, keep the following service points in mind.
- Superior uptime. Cloud services must be available on-demand whenever they are needed. Compare track records of uptime among cloud providers to determine the most reliable vendor.
- Effective support. Should things go awry and a cloud instance becomes unusable, you need your provider to fix the issue with the minimum amount of business disruption. Check the track record of the providers under consideration to make sure support is there when you need it.
- Global infrastructure. Strong cloud providers will maintain data centres all over the world. This way, computing demand can be shifted to underutilised servers to even out the workloads. A strong global presence should be a prime consideration.
- Strong ancillary services. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is perhaps the most popular Cloud service on the market today, but a strong provider can offer even more. Services like backup, proactive security, and disaster recovery are crucial for companies that deploy missioncritical apps and data to the cloud. You should consider a vast array of these types of services in addition to your primary infrastructure needs.
- High security. Security is perhaps the biggest concern executives have when considering a move to the Cloud. But a vendor that takes security seriously can actually safeguard your data more effectively than if it never left your company firewalls. Consider vendors that keep up with the latest anti-malware and hacking practices and auto-apply security patches the moment they come available. Cloud providers that hire engineers with industry-standard security certifications are particularly valuable.
Different business models require different cloud specialities and providers. Speak with cloud service providers and their support engineers. Tell them about your business needs and ask about their track record in fulfilling previous customer requirements. And if a vendor qualifies, put them on your short list of providers to consider.
STEP 6: Execute, Evaluate and Document
When all the groundwork has been laid, it’s time to execute the migration plan. Before kickoff time, it is important to adequately define success criteria and when it will be measured. This can only come from the line-of-business users; they must be satisfied with the end result before you can declare the move a success.
Because migration represents a minor threat to application availability, schedule your initial moves for a time when the applications will be idle, if possible. Weekend mornings are usually a good option, if company policy permits, as those times are comparatively light in terms of network traffic and online transactions.
Communication is paramount when migrating company apps to the Cloud. Both team members as well as business users should be in the loop when migration starts. End users should also be on hand to assess whether the applications operate the same way after the migration as they did before. Only then can you be sure that all of your migration succeeded.
Lastly, make sure you hold a post-mortem meeting with your team after the migration task is complete. Poll your team members to discover what went well, what didn’t, and what can be done to improve the ensuing rounds of future migrations. Invite a representative from your cloud provider to these meetings to share useful knowledge from their vast experience. This way, everyone can become more comfortable and confident with your next cloud deployment steps, and your chances of gaining all of the business benefits the Cloud has to offer will be much greater.
A WORD TO THE WISE - don’t let the talent shortage derail your Cloud venture
The Cloud has proven itself to deliver undisputable business benefits among companies who have adopted it. And while a very real shortage of experienced cloud engineers can complicate the more complex migrations, a talent shortage doesn’t have to be a showstopper. By following the general guidelines here, and enlisting the help of an experienced cloud provider, you can greatly improve your odds of success as you move mission critical operations to the Cloud where they can impact your bottom line in a positive way.
In short...
Virtualisation is all about maximising your IT investment by renting infrastructure from a cloud service provider, rather than buying it outright. This method of delivering computing capability delivers multiple business benefits you cannot achieve with legacy data centre.
- Hardware Cost savings. Rather than investing in assets that are sure to decrease in value over time, outsource them to a third party at a fraction of the cost it would take to purchase, administer, depreciate, and dispose of them yourself.
- Administrative costs decrease. Because you outsource your infrastructure instances, the costly administrative talent necessary to maintain them all but goes away.
- Shorter time to market. Internal customers needing new infrastructure no longer endure months-long approval processes to bring a new instance online. With as little as one phone call, they can be productive in as little as thirty minutes.
- Leverage top-class talent. Administrative talent is as scarce as it is expensive. Let your cloud provider specialise in recruiting and maintaining best-of-breed administrators to keep your IT infrastructure running at ultra-high service levels.
- Bandwidth to innovate. Nearly all CTOs agree that the biggest drain on their time is the daily maintenance of existing systems to support KTLO or “keeping the lights on.” By outsourcing these tasks to a competent cloud provider, you free up your time for proactive strategic initiatives which bring your firm real business value.
Even though moving to the Cloud implies a significant departure from legacy data centre ITSM operations, the above list of benefits far outweighs the cost of moving forward.
The final step is choosing a provider with the track record and expertise to help you take full advantage of cloud computing. The Access Group could be that provider.