If you are thinking of a move to the cloud, the starting point is to build a Cloud Strategy – and then develop a Migration Plan to support your business goals. This is achieved with a Cloud Readiness Assessment.

‘How to Build a Cloud Strategy and Migration Plan’

From this you will be able to agree a migration plan to optimise the advantages of the cloud, avoid any potential business disruption, identify the costs involved, manage legacy applications, and implement appropriate security measures.

There are inherent benefits in how cloud technology can support a business strategy. This may not always be fully understood at Board level. The objective is to establish what specific benefits will accrue to your business, what is the business risk analysis, and how do you mitigate against business disruption during the move?

The starting point in building a business case for a move to the cloud is to undertake a technical review and analysis of your current IT infrastructure or a Cloud Readiness Assessment. This is something that your IT department may have the resources to do, but it is worth considering getting an independent view and commissioning a certified and reputable cloud service provider to undertake this work.

The deliverables from such a technical review and analysis should include the following:

• Gain an understanding of the current IT capabilities
• Highlight any gaps between the current IT strategy and the business strategy
• Establish the compatibility of the IT strategy with the business growth plans
• Highlight any high-risk areas in the IT infrastructure
• Make recommendations on the existing IT operations which will bring benefits to your business
• Rationalise location of line-of-business applications for the future – on-premises, private cloud, public cloud or hybrid infrastructure
• Identify an improved business continuity solution to support business-critical applications
• Identify the required infrastructure needed to protect the business against unnecessary downtime and improve efficiencies through improved business processes, while future-proofing any further IT projects
• Allow your organisation to plan effectively with a clear roadmap
• Provide an all-inclusive monthly subscription-based pricing option, moving from capital to an operating expense

It is increasingly understood that a move to the cloud can come in many guises and can be a hybrid-cloud solution depending on your requirements. An Infrastructure Architecture Review, as part of a cloud assessment, will provide solutions for where the line-of-business applications would be hosted, and establish the most effective way to run applications in the Cloud. A combination of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) can be utilised to meet the needs of your organisation and optimise the right cloud solution for your business.

The adage that people buy from people certainly holds true when you are entrusting your IT infrastructure to an external resource. Big is not always best, and finding a company that is vested in the successful migration and implementation of your IT infrastructure should be the goal.

Your IT Partner of choice is someone whom you believe will go the extra mile to resolve issues as they arise, one that gives you a share of their mind and is vested in the longterm outcome of how your IT infrastructure supports the effective running of your organisation. A trusted partner that understands the strategic importance of IT in contributing to your business goals.

If you are thinking of a move to the cloud, the starting point is to build a Cloud Strategy and Migration Plan to support your business goals a cloud readiness assessment can assist you in developing this plan. From this you will be able to;

• Agree on a migration plan to manage risk and avoid business disruption
• Identify the costs involved
• Manage legacy applications
• Implement appropriate security measures