The world has gone crazy for the cloud in the last couple of years. A certain pandemic has played a big part in that, forcing some organisations to migrate overnight for the sake of business continuity.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company had seen ‘two years of digital transformation in two months’ as customers rushed to adopt cloud solutions. And a recent IBM survey revealed that 88% of UK IT professionals have adopted, or plan to adopt, industry-specific cloud platforms to help speed up their digital transformation plans.
Now we’ve returned to relative normality, it’s a good time to take stock and consider where your organisation is in its own cloud journey. Are you realising all the cloud’s benefits? Do you need to become fully cloud-based or would a hybrid solution work better for you?
So, let’s look at the different stages of a cloud journey so you can identify where you stand, along with your next steps:
Step One: Build the business case
Every cloud journey starts the same way – by weighing up the benefits versus the costs to the business. On paper, the cloud promises to reduce costs, increase security and enable a company to become more agile. But it’s all at varying degrees, depending on the nature of the business.
Based on the business case, decision makers must be able to clearly assess the benefits, risk, compliance and data control implications. And, of course, the total cost of ownership.
Step Two: Assess your architecture
Having got initial buy-in for the cloud, it’s now about putting some flesh on the bones of that business case with a thorough assessment of your current IT architecture.
This will reveal what applications may or may not fit a cloud environment. It might make more sense to move only the ‘low-hanging fruit’ (the technology you can just “lift” and “shift”) first and foremost to prevent too much business disruption.
Step Three: Select a provider
With a clear view of your inventory all mapped out, you can move on to finding a cloud provider to match. It’s at this point you might want to engage a cloud migration specialist who can guide you through your different options.
Synergy uses the Microsoft Azure and 365 platforms to deliver our cloud solutions. That’s because they offer a pay-as-you-go service which can be scaled up and down according to the capacity of your business needs and environment; whilst benefiting from Microsoft’s global security and compliance experience.
Step Four: Map the migration path
It’s crucial that you map a clear migration path from existing environments. Switching to Azure is a well-established, easy process – Synergy can be on hand to help every step of the way.
Running alongside migration should be the development of a cloud governance strategy, to enhance data security, manage risk, and enable the smooth operation of cloud systems.
Step Five: Monitor performance
Having migrated workloads to the cloud, you can begin to compare pre- and post-migration performance. Monitor cloud performance in line with your provider’s service level agreements (SLAs) and your own performance goals.
Be on high alert for any customer-facing issues that arise from the new cloud environment, investigate unexpected changes and fine-tune applications and infrastructure.
Wherever you are in your cloud journey, Synergy’s leading experts can help you take the next step.
The world has gone crazy for the cloud in the last couple of years. A certain pandemic has played a big part in that, forcing some organisations to migrate overnight for the sake of business continuity.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company had seen ‘two years of digital transformation in two months’ as customers rushed to adopt cloud solutions. And a recent IBM survey revealed that 88% of UK IT professionals have adopted, or plan to adopt, industry-specific cloud platforms to help speed up their digital transformation plans.
Now we’ve returned to relative normality, it’s a good time to take stock and consider where your organisation is in its own cloud journey. Are you realising all the cloud’s benefits? Do you need to become fully cloud-based or would a hybrid solution work better for you?
So, let’s look at the different stages of a cloud journey so you can identify where you stand, along with your next steps:
Step One: Build the business case
Every cloud journey starts the same way – by weighing up the benefits versus the costs to the business. On paper, the cloud promises to reduce costs, increase security and enable a company to become more agile. But it’s all at varying degrees, depending on the nature of the business.
Based on the business case, decision makers must be able to clearly assess the benefits, risk, compliance and data control implications. And, of course, the total cost of ownership.
Step Two: Assess your architecture
Having got initial buy-in for the cloud, it’s now about putting some flesh on the bones of that business case with a thorough assessment of your current IT architecture.
This will reveal what applications may or may not fit a cloud environment. It might make more sense to move only the ‘low-hanging fruit’ (the technology you can just “lift” and “shift”) first and foremost to prevent too much business disruption.
Step Three: Select a provider
With a clear view of your inventory all mapped out, you can move on to finding a cloud provider to match. It’s at this point you might want to engage a cloud migration specialist who can guide you through your different options.
Synergy uses the Microsoft Azure and 365 platforms to deliver our cloud solutions. That’s because they offer a pay-as-you-go service which can be scaled up and down according to the capacity of your business needs and environment; whilst benefiting from Microsoft’s global security and compliance experience.
Step Four: Map the migration path
It’s crucial that you map a clear migration path from existing environments. Switching to Azure is a well-established, easy process – Synergy can be on hand to help every step of the way.
Running alongside migration should be the development of a cloud governance strategy, to enhance data security, manage risk, and enable the smooth operation of cloud systems.
Step Five: Monitor performance
Having migrated workloads to the cloud, you can begin to compare pre- and post-migration performance. Monitor cloud performance in line with your provider’s service level agreements (SLAs) and your own performance goals.
Be on high alert for any customer-facing issues that arise from the new cloud environment, investigate unexpected changes and fine-tune applications and infrastructure.
Wherever you are in your cloud journey, Synergy’s leading experts can help you take the next step.
Contact our team today who will put the wheels in motion to analyse your existing set up alongside your business needs.