When an enterprise is planning a migration to the cloud, anticipated benefits are often discussed in epic terms. Scalability and no hardware investment are key statements that excite both IT personnel and line-of-business managers. With benefits ranging from reduced maintenance costs to increased agility, discussions of cloud migration can motivate your team.
It’s important that enterprises anticipate the bumps along the road in their journey to the cloud. Some of the common mistakes can turn what should be a positive experience into a costly venture with critical consequences. Take a look at a few common problems encountered in a cloud migration:
Migrating to the cloud without a governance strategy. While a governance strategy doesn’t have to be perfected before moving to the cloud, there should be steps in place for the most basic considerations, such as data backups and security monitoring. When companies begin using the cloud without taking steps to address the three major areas of governance (finance, security, and monitoring), costly problems can quickly start piling up.
Moving everything to the cloud. This move may be appropriate in some cases, but many enterprises make the mistake of implementing sweeping transitions to the cloud, without enough consideration of whether or not an application is cloud-ready. It’s easy to negatively impact performance, customer experience, and even the bottom line if cloud migration is pushed too quickly. Many companies work out a hybrid approach as they get settled into cloud systems and find that it is both efficient and cost-effective.
Assuming the cloud services provider handles everything. It’s ideal when an enterprise finds a cloud services provider that feels like an extension of their own IT division, but it’s critical to have a clear understanding of the responsibilities of each party. For instance, cloud services generally include some security features, but the enterprise needs to know exactly where those begin and end. They need to know who is responsible for damages in the event of a breach and what measures are in place to prevent one.
Making assumptions about performance. Don’t wait for end users to complain that order processing has slowed down. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you determine performance with the cloud versus your legacy system. Consumers have high standards when it comes to system performance, so it’s important not to lose ground when you move to the cloud.
At Access Tech, we begin by performing an audit of your current systems, identifying its weaknesses and strengths. We then can pinpoint areas for cost reduction and performance improvements. By taking a disciplined, comprehensive approach, Access Tech helps you sidestep common cloud mistakes. Make an appointment with us to talk more about your move to the cloud.
For more insights on this topic: