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Considering migrating to the cloud? Planning is everything
Many businesses are preparing to jump on the cloud migration bandwagon, if they haven’t already. But without proper planning and support, the transition can be a bumpy ride—a reality that may only sink in later (sometimes too late), leaving company executives wondering if they made the right move. So how do you make sure your cloud migration goes smoothly?
The pandemic isn’t the only factor leading companies to embrace the cloud. In the private sector, organizations are looking to become more agile and competitive in the face of market pressure. And in the public sector the Quebec government’s Act to facilitate the public administration’s digital transformation has played a big role in spurring change.
It’s understandable. Cloud computing holds great allure and promise. But keep in mind that it’s also a fundamental business decision, not just a series of technical procedures. You will have to get used to new ways of working and your teams will need to master new sets of skills, all of which requires training.
To truly capture the power of the cloud, migration planning is essential.
Also read:
ITI’s approach for successful Cloud migration →
Three pitfalls to avoid
Our experts have gained invaluable insight from the many cloud migration projects they’ve led over the years. Some of the pitfalls they’ve encountered are more common and more costly—not just in terms of money, but also time and effort. Here are three to consider.
Security and compliance
By its very nature, cloud computing requires you to retool your cybersecurity posture. A hasty migration may allow you to continue operating as usual in the short term, but it can also leave your data and users exposed—without anyone even realizing it.
Protecting your IT assets and intellectual property is priority no. 1, especially if you plan to use the cloud to make them accessible to your teams, wherever they may be.
An initial expert assessment of your security posture and Tenant (DEF) will include specific recommendations and help you implement the mechanisms and applications needed to make sure you’re protected. Whether that means adopting Zero Trust, installing a next-generation firewall, filtering content, or developing a custom combination of solutions to meet your specific needs, you’ll avoid having to fix expensive errors down the road.
Performance
Diving headfirst into the cloud, it quickly dawns on you that certain applications no longer work, data is inaccessible, critical systems are sluggish, and the user experience leaves much to be desired.
What happened to all those promises of better performance and agility?
A number of factors could explain performance degradation after a cloud migration. Identifying them takes time and the expertise needed to analyze workloads over a given period.
One solution is to build a landing zone before you transition so you can migrate priority applications first and test them in real-world conditions. This will give you a solid foundation and speed up the rest of the migration. The landing zone is a critical component of the process endorsed by Microsoft and ITI.
Shortage of qualified staff
Instead of having an entire team dedicated to managing your data centre, migrating to the cloud allows you to harness streamlined administration tools and free up your IT resources to focus on delivering value-added solutions.
In theory, anyway…
In practice, it’s not unusual for IT teams to be plagued with headaches as they struggle to manage information security, applications from multiple vendors, data distributed or duplicated across environments, and systems they don’t fully grasp.
A professionally crafted migration strategy can prevent these problems by providing targeted workshops and ongoing support to impart the necessary knowledge to your IT team. Outsourcing management of your entire cloud environment may be another way to address your labour shortage challenges.
Personal, ongoing support
A cloud migration roadmap will help you head these and other problems off at the pass.
ITI’s proven methodology is based on Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework. You get to tap into the benefits of migration from the beginning, knowing we’re with you every step of the way. Our experts have completed more than 250 migration projects, have earned the highest levels of cloud certification, and are known for delivering support that puts people first.
Named Microsoft Partner of the Year for cloud solutions, ITI is the ideal copilot to support your long-term growth as you navigate new horizons in and around the cloud.
