Cloud migration is a big deal, a huge trend among businesses today. And for good reason. It’s secure, it removes responsibility from your company, it allows for automation of various tasks and keeps things running efficiently, and it saves you money. Typically, you want to utilize as many cloud services as you can to reap the most benefits and get the most savings from the cloud. But there is such a thing as going too far into the cloud. There is also such a thing as moving to quickly into the cloud, which creates its own set of problems.
Going too far into the cloud happens when you push the wrong systems to the cloud. Not everything should move to the cloud. Let’s say, a company has a project that requires 80% of the code to be refactored to work in cloud systems which will cost an exorbitant amount of money. The company decides everything must go to the cloud and will push for this project to migrate. The company will blow through the migration budget but won’t figure out how to effectively get this project into the cloud. So the company admits defeat and is left with project abandonment costs nothing else as a result. People lose patience and now you’ve spent all this money and worse case the company decides to abandon the cloud.
Speeding into the cloud is also detrimental. Say you have a data center you no longer want to pay for, and someone suggests moving everything to the cloud. It’s an excellent idea but your contract with the data center isn’t up for nine months and you don’t want to pay for two things at once. You might suggest moving everything in nine months when your contract is up, but moving systems to the cloud isn’t like flipping a switch. There has to be overlap while you’re doing the migration for your business to run uninterrupted. Additionally, it’s possible your migration can get done in nine months, but it could take 2-3 years. It’s all very dependent on what systems are being migrated, how many systems and how many people can work in parallel.
This scenario usually ends with cut corners. Modernization doesn’t happen and people lift and shift just to get things into the cloud quickly. But without modernization, without verifying that what you are doing will work in the cloud, you end up with failed projects. Systems end up insecure because security is skipped in favor of speed. You go fast and you end up with your spending out pacing your savings quickly.
In both of these scenarios, your company loses money, loses sleep, loses functionality, an the timeline for the migration inevitably is extended. However, strategically slowing your plan down to include modernizing systems first while focusing on services that are essential will make your business and cloud migration more efficient. You’ll save money and ensure security. Your customers and business partners will never see downtime. And your cloud migration will be realitvely seamless. You also have happier employees because they’re not being woken up in the middle of the night when something breaks. Leaving you to focus on growing your business instead of growing your cloud migration budget.
Do yourself, and your business, a favor when it comes to cloud migration. Hire an expert. Don’t just listen to their advice and nod and smile, actually take the advice given. Experts know the best way to do what needs done, the most effective way to get it done and the most efficient. They will keep you secure, modernized and assist with a seamless transition.