Deciding to move your IT infrastructure to the cloud is no easy decision. Come to think of it, it’s a bit like moving house.
The amount of planning, organization and baggage seems to stack up in front of you. And it can resemble a bit of a mini-mountain.
However, as stressful as it can be, moving or migrating to the cloud is more than simply an exercise in business efficiency, or an essential cost-saving measure. It’s a crucial step towards digital transformation. Towards innovation and opportunity. We’d even go as far as to say it’s the key to making your business future-proof.
Cloud migration: where do you start?
Well, like moving house, migrating your IT infrastructure to the cloud is a daunting prospect. But it can also be therapeutic. After all, this is your chance to get rid of all those things you don’t need. A ‘cleansing’ process if you will. Kind of like the one like Will Ferrell’s character goes through in the film Everything Must Go. Without the being fired and divorce parts of course!
Rebuild or rehost? Or re-something else…
The big question [usually] is whether to rebuild or rehost? AWS’s Stephen Orban goes beyond that, suggesting that any cloud migration strategy must deal with “The 6 R’s”: rehosting, replatforming, repurchasing, re-architecting, retire, refrain. The truth lies somewhere in between. Why? Because each individual business is different and so has its own idiosyncrasies and requirements.
Step 1: self-evaluation
The first important step actually takes you half way. And what is that step? Simply to understand the inner workings of your current IT environment. Something which is not always simple unless you have an expert to guide you.
So this is your first priority. Then, based on your current data center assets usage and performance, you can plan for cloud instance types, custom images, regions and other related cloud parameters as well as make a valid cost projection.
Step 2: set a clear goal
You need to define the success criteria for your cloud migration project. Speed of deployment, cost reduction, new technology enablement (e.g. with containers), scalability (e.g. storage) can be one or some of those criteria.
Step 3: start small, think big
Plan for the whole environment but keep your pace to move things around slowly in the beginning. Try to understand what will be the process changes required in your organization coming together with this change from your data center to the cloud. Then, automate everything! When you do that, you’ve arrived at your destination. You’re ready to take full advantage of the modern way to do IT.
Can we help you?
If you’re looking to move your IT infrastructure to the cloud then we certainly can. Cloud migration is one of our [many] specialties. So get in touch with us today and see how we can help you ‘move house’ stress-free, and drive your business forward.