Welcome to Episode 48. This week we will cover a critical topic in Digital Acceleration Initiative: Dealing with complex non-cloud-ready application migrations and the importance of the Cloudification Assessment.
As always, this will be simple and concise but accurate. Click on Subscribe if you want to be informed of new episodes.
Let’s start!
Nowadays, everybody comments that it is imperative to accelerate their digital transformation.
Talking with Thought Leaders, they frequently tell me their typical approach is to build their IT platform under a Cloud-first choice. Often, this is good enough to let everybody know the importance of exploiting cloud services as a critical element of their digitalization approach.
Indeed, having critical IT assets hosted in the cloud allows a fast and effective distribution of workload, elasticity, and worldwide market coverage with low latency, among others.
However, there needs to be a link to best practices for migrating critical (at times legacy) applications to the Cloud.
First, let me start by saying that not all applications can be migrated to the Cloud. An application migrated to the cloud often requires additional changes to perform equally or better than its previous performance on-premises. On top of that, sometimes, this legacy application already has performance issues in its native hosting environment.
I got you, Jose, so where do we start?
The accepted approach to use is called Cloudification Assessment.
What is a Cloudification Assessment?
The Cloudification Assessment typically entails the planning and strategizing to successfully migrate IT Applications to the Cloud to accelerate IT modernization.
A Cloudification Assessment typically covers several vital areas, such as:
- Current IT environment: The assessment will typically include an analysis of the current state of the organization’s IT environment, including hardware, software, and network infrastructure.
- Cloud readiness: The assessment will typically evaluate the organization’s readiness for cloud migration, including factors such as security, compliance, and data privacy.
- Workload analysis: The assessment will typically include an analysis of the organization’s workloads and applications to identify which are suitable for migration to the cloud.
- Cost analysis: The assessment will typically include an analysis of the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading the current IT environment and the costs of migrating to the cloud.
- Migration planning: The assessment will typically include developing a migration plan, including timelines, resources, and milestones.
I see, Jose; any risk in using this methodology?
I don’t see a risk, but depending on stakeholder priorities, some additional areas that should be covered are not correctly addressed.
Areas not covered by a Cloudification Assessment?
- Long-term costs: Some assessments may not consider the long-term costs of maintaining and operating cloud-based systems, which could lead to unexpected expenses.
- Compliance: Not all assessments consider the organization’s regulatory compliance requirements, which could lead to compliance issues.
- Security: Not all assessments consider the organization’s security requirements, which could lead to security issues.
- Data governance: Not all assessments consider the organization’s data governance requirements, which could lead to data governance issues.
It’s essential for organizations to be aware of these areas and to ensure that they are considered during the Cloudification Assessment process to ensure a successful migration to the cloud.
Why does an organization want to have a full Cloudification Assessment done?
An organization may want to have a Cloudification Assessment done for several reasons:
- Cost Savings: Migrating to the cloud can help an organization reduce costs associated with maintaining and upgrading on-premises IT infrastructure.
- Scalability: Cloud computing allows organizations to scale resources up or down as needed, which can help them better manage capacity and reduce costs.
- Flexibility: Cloud computing environments offer greater flexibility regarding location, access, and deployment options, which can help organizations respond more quickly to changing business needs.
- Reliability: Cloud providers typically offer a higher uptime and reliability than on-premise systems, which can help organizations ensure their IT services are available when needed most.
- Innovation: Cloud providers constantly introduce new technologies and services that organizations can leverage to drive innovation and growth.
- Security: Cloud providers typically invest heavily in security, providing a level of protection that may be difficult or expensive to replicate on-premises.
By conducting a Cloudification Assessment, an organization can determine which workloads, services, and applications are suitable for the cloud and develop a plan for migrating to the cloud that aligns with their specific business needs and goals.
Is the Application Cloud Migration the end goal of a Digital Transformation Initiative?
Having your IT Application moved to the Cloud (lift and shift) is the first stage in becoming a Cloud-native organization.
The second stage, after a “lift and shift” migration to the cloud, typically involves “re-architecting” or “re-platforming” the application or workload to take full advantage of the cloud computing environment. This stage is known as “cloud optimization” or “cloud-native transformation.”
This stage involves making changes to the application or workload to make it more cloud-friendly, such as:
- Scaling: Re-architecting the application or workload to take advantage of cloud-based auto-scaling and load-balancing capabilities.
- High availability: Re-architecting the application or workload to take advantage of cloud-based high availability and disaster recovery services.
- Security: Re-architecting the application or workload to take advantage of cloud-based security services such as encryption, identity and access management, and security monitoring.
- Microservices: Re-architecting the application or workload as a set of microservices, which can be deployed and scaled independently, allowing for more flexibility, scalability, and high availability.
Many times, introducing new disruptive solutions, such as AI/ML, IoT, Hyper automation, and the introduction of Composable Applications, among others, require your existing application to reach this stage of Cloud-native transformation.
Ok, Jose, any final comment?
Yes, just one: a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can often assist you in many ways to effectively transition your legacy Application footprint to a Cloud-native transformation one.
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