Cloud migration must follow a clearly defined strategy to ensure it hits deadlines and meets expectations

In our previous article, Leapfrog the migration challenge, we examined some of the essential steps to ensuring a seamless cloud migration for the organisation. Alongside having the right skills, developing a clear strategy is considered one of the most crucial elements of a successful cloud implementation. Without it, the business may as well stay where it is, Why? Because the benefits of cloud won’t be as well realised as they should, or could, be. It’s important to create a migration/implementation strategy that’s scoped correctly so the process ends on time and delivers what the organisation expects – the so-called bang for the cloud investment buck.

Many companies feel that cloud implementations rarely follow the schedule or the original promises made. To sidestep this frustrating reality, you need to:

1. Create a roadmap

This may sound like the most obvious step that any business would make when embarking on any type of investment, but with cloud there are multiple touchpoints that have to be considered before proceeding and many are often overlooked. The reason for this is the hype that often accompanies cloud with solutions promising the universe but rarely considering the process that has to be followed to actually find the universe.

This roadmap must include the culture of the organisation; the understanding of cloud and the delivery of services by everyone in the organisation, from IT to employee; the consumption models and their impact on business process and productivity; the services to be migrated; expectations around service delivery; cost parameters; and the overarching expectations of cloud delivery versus business strategy. These parameters are fairly broad and will require deeper analysis to ensure that any cloud solution delivers the right tools to the business.

2. Find the right partner

When it comes to delivery and deadlines and accuracy, the right service provider is essential. Avoid the jack of all trades for the saying is true – they are master of none. Invariably, service providers that specialise in cloud migration will have a far deeper understanding of the challenges, the infrastructure, the marketplace and the sustainability of any cloud solution and implementation. You need a partner who will collaborate with you not only on the technology, but on how well it will integrate with your business strategy and culture. The best in class solution may not necessarily be the right fit for your business and only a company that has a thorough understanding of the market will recognise the difference.

3. Recognise the challenges

No cloud implementation will be without its problems. The issue isn’t having issues, its not planning for them. Find out what your biggest challenges are likely to be – compliance, cost, security – and establish exactly how the cloud solutions have to work with and around these to get the best results. Data security, compliance, regulations, integration with legacy applications are some of the most common issues faced by organisations moving across to the cloud. To ensure that your concerns are addressed within your investment, put them into the roadmap, get them in front of the service provider, and make a plan for everything to go horribly wrong. According to research undertaken by CIO.com, compliance ranks higher than integration as a concern for many industries, specifically healthcare, finance and telecommunications, while 54% believe that security has to be addressed before the organisation can fully embrace the cloud.

4. De-risk everything

From application dependencies to applications, from management APIs to usage controls, ensure that you have focused on solutions and methodologies that minimise risk in key business areas. The right partner will ensure that your business receives the right training and support and will use their knowledge to identify risks that can affect your business and cloud implementation. Within this, also emphasise the long- and short-term objectives that you expect from your cloud investment. Failure to deliver on these will be introduce as much risk as any other part of the process.

ETZ Global has worked with multiple companies around the world in ensuring their cloud migrations are seamless and effective. Our expertise in SAP AWS, SAP Azure, SAP Cloud and SAP Migration, alongside our years of practice and planning, means we can give you the support, insight and deliverables that your business needs.