Journey to the Cloud: 5 Tips for a Successful Migration

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Sean Davis

2 Articles

Migration

Cloud

IT

Technology

Strategy

If you’re considering a cloud migration, you may feel overwhelmed by the following unknowns: What kind of cloud environment—single cloud or multi-cloud—is right for you? What business problems are you really trying to solve? And, where do you begin? Here are five tips to begin your cloud migration with confidence:

1. Seek the Right Perspectives

As you begin your migration journey, keep in mind that you can’t solve business problems with the same minds that created them. Using author Frederic LaLoux’s Advice Process, carefully consider opinions from those who will be impacted by the migration, and the individuals who will be accountable and responsible for the end-to-end migration process. Seek advice and ask: What outcomes are most important to them? How will the cloud support their goals, or how will this cloud solution impact their day-to-day activities? Collecting these answers will give you the right context for your decision.

2. Solve the Right Problems

Migrating to the cloud is not about jumping on the bandwagon, cutting costs or finding a solution for just one department of your business—it should benefit your entire organization. It’s a problem that your business and technology experts need to resolve together. Your IT and business departments need a shared understanding of how your business operates and what your organizational needs are. There should be clear alignment on IT’s capabilities and the business’ responsibilities. From there, both units should weigh the pros and cons of each cloud path to find the best solution that supports the organization’s strategy.

3. Align Your Cloud Strategy with Your Goals

Multi-cloud or single cloud? Cloud native or cloud ready? The right cloud strategy depends on your organization’s goals and their strategy to meet customer needs. Some examples of customer needs are speed to market, resiliency and portability. Each of these have different benefits and drawbacks with respect to cost, complexity and scale; therefore, it’s important for your organization to understand these pros and cons in the context of their business goals. For example, if you prioritize scalability or speed to market, you should consider a cloud-native, single cloud strategy; but if you prioritize portability, you may want to consider a multi-cloud strategy.

4. Analyze Your Market

Depending on the industry and the services provided, every company leverages the cloud in a different way. It really depends on your customers’ needs, the market you compete in and the size of your organization.  Based on these factors, you may or may not decide to leverage the cloud or adopt a cloud strategy. So, before you jump on the bandwagon for any cloud solution, make sure your cloud strategy aligns with your overall market needs. Conduct market research and take the following into consideration: What are my competitors doing? How is the cloud being used in our industry? How can the cloud create value for my customers and business? How does it support the existing services that I offer?

5. Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst

Challenges are inevitable, but they’re easier to overcome if you dedicate a budget for innovation and error, form a strategic backup plan and arm yourself with lessons learned from past experiences. One way to accomplish this is by allocating a self-governed error budget, which strikes a balance between innovation and reliability. Another way to surface these challenges and key learnings early on, is to pilot a small initiative and then iterate it to scale. It also helps to talk to other companies and customers about their cloud migration experiences—what unforeseen challenges did they encounter? How did they overcome them?

Choosing a partner that can guide you through every step of your journey will also maximize the success of your migration. Contact us to learn how our cloud experts can help and learn more about our cloud migration solution, Cloud Migration Factory.

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