You already know the benefits of cloud migration. That’s evidenced by the fact that over half of the world’s corporate data is already stored in the cloud, with cloud data centers accounting for 3% of the world’s total energy consumption.
Cloud computing enables ease of resource creation, the ability to create and disable test environments, and scalability up and down to meet business needs. Not only that, but modern cloud providers like Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Adoption Framework and Amazon’s AWS Cloud Adoption Framework have enterprise-grade security.
In fact, over 7,500 government agencies use AWS Cloud, and the US government has a strong presence across Azure’s ecosystem. This is because governments understand the many cloud migration benefits associated with a hybrid cloud setup. Additionally, they are used to running mobile operations in remote locations and setting up projects in the blink of an eye to focus resources where they’re most needed.
However, you may not realize that 86% of enterprises experience a host of challenges while managing their cloud environments. There are several issues being reported, like controlling cloud costs and maintaining control over trade secrets and proprietary data.
Challenges and Solutions in the Cloud
Rather than discussing the business benefits of cloud migration and ignoring the challenges, let’s instead outline the challenges of migrating to the cloud and how to navigate them for the most success:
Challenge 1: Creating an effective migration strategy.
At Allata, one of the biggest problems we see is the lack of a cloud migration strategy and plan. This needs to include a vision for the use and future of the cloud, goals that can be measured, and true business objectives. Moving to the cloud without these will cause problems, and you can quickly get derailed and nudged off track if you don’t have a solid plan to stick to. This cloud migration plan will connect clear technical and business objectives to your journey so everybody is on the same page and stays on track.
Solution: As part of your strategy and planning process, once you determine a goal, you need to quantify progress and success by setting benchmarks and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and failure. If you don’t have this, you’ll be in the cloud but you can’t truly articulate the business benefits of doing so. You don’t need to do it alone, and we’re happy to help you build the perfect cloud migration strategy and plan to fit your needs.
Challenge 2: Ensuring the right amount of security.
Cloud security can be a major concern depending on your industry and the applications and data you use. Security considerations must be at the top of your list when laying out plans for the cloud. The need for security in the cloud is no different than on-premises, but the way it’s executed, configured, and monitored differs. These differences must be accounted for.
Solution: As part of your cloud migration strategy and plan, be sure to identify any sensitive data and applications and take appropriate precautions to protect them. Applications and data will differ on-premises and in different clouds, which require different network protections and encryption levels. There are services where very little protection is provided by default, and that can leave you exposed until you manually activate them.
Placing sensitive data on a public storage network is one of the biggest concerns people have when moving to the cloud. Be sure that whatever you put in the cloud has the appropriate level of security controls in place to match its level of importance and sensitivity.
Challenge 3: Accounting for interoperability and appropriate testing.
Applications vary widely, and it’s not always just about the code you write. It’s about the supporting software, the infrastructure, the operating systems, and several other factors. Before you migrate or move an application to the cloud, you must have a detailed testing plan for each application. Not all apps may be immediately compatible with the cloud environment. Some applications work better on a private data center. Other applications require minor tweaking, while others may require extensive recording.
Solution: Before initiating your cloud migration plan, you must identify potential interoperability issues. Testing is the only way to do this, making it a vital part of your plan that you should execute carefully. The last thing you want is to migrate everything to the cloud only to shut down business operations because you didn’t find out until it was too late.
Even for a “simple” lift-and-shift migration, make sure you account for identifying and addressing interoperability issues between on-prem systems and cloud services. This type of testing is a vital step toward successful migration. Many organizations that encounter problems with their migration overlook this and wait too long to do any testing. Testing should be baked in at every stage of your migration plan. Doing so allows you to spot issues early.
Challenge 4: Controlling cloud sprawl.
Controlling costs and sticking to a budget is a big challenge for most organizations that are moving to the cloud. This is because navigating the sprawling cloud options and services, alongside numerous add-ons, can be confusing. It’s very tempting to try and match your on-site capabilities and capacities, but it’s not how to best optimize cloud spending.
It’s easy to end up with cloud sprawl by adding more than you need, and it’s one of the biggest cloud migration challenges. Over-architecting with too many resources — or resources of the wrong “tier,” such as premium or standard, etc. — can bloat your cloud presence and become more of an obstacle than a helpful tool.
Solution: Be sure to develop the right plan, research tiers, and options. Slowly ease into the cloud migration while scaling up only as much as necessary to handle business needs. If you need help navigating the market, we’re happy to serve you. Our cloud experts know what works for large enterprises and how to properly plan, organize, and execute a cloud migration strategy.
Next Steps
As more and more corporations begin utilizing all of the benefits the cloud has to offer, now is your time to make the most of this technology, too. Your move to the cloud must be strategic, carefully planned, and complete with proper intention, as moving without these core tenants will create more challenges along the way. Fortunately, even when you encounter these challenges, there are simple solutions to help guide your business through cloud migration.