Moving your IT Infrastructure to Cloud: 6 Factors to Consider

According to a 2017 McAfee report, 93% organizations currently use cloud services. The report also shows that 49% respondents in a survey are taking it slow with cloud migration as they don’t have cybersecurity skills. Moving your IT infrastructure to the cloud is no small feat and before reaching out to a cloud service provider, you need to consider some big factors as the ones below:

Consider the App

Take stock of your IT inventory and consider the data or app you want to move to the cloud. It’s best to avoid moving legacy apps and critical data to the public cloud, especially, if your organization has multiple dealings in the G2Csector, where data compliance standards are high.

Instead, for such apps, you can consider hybrid or private clouds, which provide the security of on-site servers with the flexibility of cloud computing. This is because unlike hybrid or private cloud, public cloud has users sharing resources.

Check for Hidden Expenses

One of the main factors why businesses are making a beeline for the cloud is its cost efficiency. The hardware expense is minimal and it frees up your IT staff to take care of more urgent matters at hand.

Moving apps that use legacy enterprise hardware, however, can be more expensive as the bandwidth cost might be higher. You need to calculate additional expenses such as those for network and bandwidth while calculating the total cost so that there’s no chance of any hidden expenses springing a nasty surprise on you!

Choose Your Type

Using public clouds like the ones from Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google App Engine is cost-efficient. However, since it’s a shared environment, where multiple tenant apps use the same resources, maintaining high data compliance standards is not always feasible.

Private clouds are more secure than public or hybrid clouds and more expensive. These are generally deployed by large-scale organizations, which seek the scalability and flexibility of a cloud infrastructure without giving up their control of the data.

A hybrid cloud connects a public and private cloud such that both retain their individuality with some overlapping touchpoints. Many organizations opt for hybrid as it offers best of both worlds. However, with hybrid clouds, compatibility across the 2 levels of infrastructure can be an issue. Also, there’s a chance of data loss during transfer between the clouds.

Realign Your Strategy

When an organization stores data locally, it’s governance strategy focuses mainly on internal security and control. When it shifts the data into the cloud, the responsibility for data security also gets shifted largely to the service provider. An organization should change its governance strategy to focus lesson internal security and more on what the provider has to offer.

This is critical for ensuring the data is in safe hands. Also, before taking any service provider on board, make sure their certifications are updated.

Be Ready for Cloud-to-Cloud Migration

Cloud migration might also refer to migration between public and private clouds. Cloud-to-cloud migrations are complex and time-consuming. There are some third-party tools that can help in the transfer but no single tool.

Migration from one provider to another would mean testing all your apps and configuring networks, operating systems and virtual machines accordingly. Keep in mind cloud-to-cloud migration would need considerable time, when you initiate it.

Migration Game Plan

Some organizations choose to move their IT cloud at one go and this can be risky, since it’s unchartered territory and some of the apps might not work in the new environment.

What many organizations do is to migrate bit by bit, starting with data and apps that are not critical. Once the shift is complete, the next factor to consider is disposing of the leftover hardware. Repurposing is often the best way to go about it.

Once you’ve wrapped your head around all the factors, it’s time to get on board are liable and competent service provider. This is where we come in. Cloud++ from WS is a complete package that manages all your pain points. With expert consulting, experienced engineers and certifications from the leading cloud platforms, Cloud++ is the one-stop solution for all your cloud computing needs.

Did we manage to pique your curiosity? If yes, just give us a call at +65 65349746. We always love a good chat!

‍