Cloud computing has spent a lot of time transforming organisations. Placing data, systems and applications in the cloud has redefined how organisations engage with, and manage, their operations and data. It offers, says McKinsey, impressive economic potential – upwards of $3 trillion globally by 2030 – but it comes with a disclaimer. Cloud will deliver solid and measurable benefits but they are realised only within a clearly defined strategy, change management, and a considerable time and financial investment.
First, the benefits.
Cloud is scalable and flexible so you can adjust your usage to meet your budgets, and your infrastructure to meet your growth. It offers expansive storage, access to best in class technologies, smooth service delivery and a virtual and accessible support crew ready to resolve issues as they arise.
It also has some impressive cost benefits as McKinsey found when analysing a variety of use cases:
- Operational cost savings of $311 billion
- Digital risk reduction of $407 billion
- Innovation-driven revenue of $2.3 trillion
Cloud can be customised to suit your unique business model and requirements. Now available in the flavours of public, hybrid and multi-cloud, companies can pick and choose their performance and their platform. It also offers superb security – public cloud service workloads, says Gartner, are 60% less likely to experience a security incident when compared with a traditional data centre.
Second, the best practice.
The starting point is the platform. What cloud infrastructure is best suited for your business and its growth? The impressive features sets and capabilities of top tier hyperscalers such as Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud has made it quite tough to pick a favourite – which is why multi-cloud has become so popular. Now, companies can use cloud services from competing providers to create a cloud stack that includes a mix of public and private cloud solutions and that fits their unique profile.
As a leader in this space, Azure is a solid bet for companies edging towards cloud. Modernisation on the Azure platform, according to a Forrester study, has the potential to deliver a 228% return on investment, an increase in application development of up to 50%, and a 40% reduction in infrastructure costs.
The second step is the move itself and this can be a daunting prospect. Ultimately, there are a lot of balls in the air and they’re carrying their own balls and you don’t want any to drop. You need to prioritise a solid cloud migration strategy that helps you dodge the challenges and complexities while gaining all the benefits.
Best practice means:
- Outlining a clear strategy that’s built around visibility into your business and has clarity around what the migration is expected to deliver.
- Outcomes clarified, you next need to plan your route and have the flexibility to adapt when issue arise. There will always be complexities in any migration, the key is to work with the right people to overcome them.
- Ensure you have the right tools, change management and processes in place to prepare your environment properly.
- Benchmark and implement governance best practices within your environments and workloads.
- Consistently manage your environment to ensure it is always finely tuned to meet your business needs and to prevent unnecessary expenditure or usage.
The move can be complex and there are risks and some companies shouldn’t make the move because of their unique operating environments. However, if you have clarity into your needs and how cloud can support them, then you are heading rapidly towards a pain-free experience that’s going to deliver results.
