Organisations often hastily migrate to the cloud during disasters, especially when they lack robust disaster recovery plans. Driven to swiftly restore the production environment, they sometimes make sudden or even precarious decisions. In contrast, moving to the cloud should be considered a significant transition that requires meticulous planning and thoughtful decision-making, says Japie Botha, iOCO’s Business Executive: Cloud and Security.
“When a business considers moving to the cloud, it needs to clearly define which issues it seeks to address. Businesses need to understand the reasons behind their desire to move to cloud because working with cloud infrastructure can be more expensive than using on-prem infrastructure. However, if an organisation is aiming to reduce risk, modernise its technology infrastructure, or prioritise operational expenditure over capital expenditure, embracing the cloud becomes a strategic choice.”
Companies facing a predicament during a disaster incident when they don’t have a strong contingency plan in place, are best advised to secure infrastructure through an As-a-Service model from a local hosted cloud services provider. “Once the business’ production environment is live again, and performing well within the hosted cloud provider’s platform, they can make a carefully considered decision,” says Botha. “This decision may involve migrating to the cloud, returning on-premises, or continuing to operate within the hosted cloud after weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of each option.”
Establishing a temporary home for the workloads while the organisation assesses its situation, gives it the opportunity to devise its strategy with a cloud services partner. The partner is generally fully equipped to guide it through the world of cloud, be it hosted, or hyperscale cloud.
Cloud migration strategy
Lift and shift migrations to the cloud can become expensive for organisations, as many fail to use the full range of functions and features available. This is particularly important in the hyperscale environment, where careful planning is essential. “Hosted cloud providers typically offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service, which addresses the immediate need to quickly restore production operations. However, a complete cloud journey involves much more than this and can yield numerous benefits if executed properly,” explains Botha.
He cautions that developing a strategic plan to move to the cloud should not be taken lightly. Migration timelines vary greatly depending on the size and complexity of migrations. The key steps of a carefully crafted cloud migration plan include:
Planning and assessment: This step takes up to three months. The parties involved conduct cloud readiness assessments, evaluate the current application landscape, define migration goals and milestones, and develop a migration roadmap.
Architecting: This stage typically takes between one and two months. The cloud provider works with the business and its IT departments to architect the IT landscape. They take compliance, security, performance and costs into consideration.
Pilot/Proof of Concept (POC): This is an optional step that takes about two months. Funded by the cloud provider, the customer gets a feel for the cloud environment, while assessing its performance and ensuring its compatibility with cloud.
Migration: Most of the work occurs during this phase, which typically spans three to six months. Data migration is followed by workload migration. A great deal of planning is done where some workloads migrate as is, and others are newly deployed or modernised. Data migration strategies are implemented, such as lift-and-shift, re-platforming or re-architecting based on workload requirements.
Post migration testing: During this one-month phase, the parties identify and remedy any teething issues. They also perform back-up tests and put disaster recovery plans in place.
Training and change management: Training is conducted for technical staff to equip them to manage the platform. Efficient communication on the rationale and benefits of the strategy also takes place.
After outlining all these stages, businesses must continuously optimise and improve their strategic plans to ensure their cloud environment runs optimally and efficiently.
Moving to the cloud in a pro-active way is essential for successful cloud adoption in the long term, says Botha. “It allows businesses to scale and innovate, while it enhances collaboration and business continuity. On the other hand, reacting in a crisis with a rapid cloud migration may lead to rushed decisions and challenges in data migration, security and cost management.”
