Cloud Adoption: An Overview to Digitally Transforming

Global investment in cloud computing is booming.

Cloud adoption and migration top every tech leader’s priority list.

Demand is steadily increasing.

And organizations everywhere are rapidly adopting, and adapting, as they transition to the cloud.

Considering how digital business is becoming a necessity for greater efficiency and faster growth, the cloud is exactly where organizations need to be—it’s a "future" operating model and a strategic move to remain competitive and drive a richer customer experience.

According to Forrester, global cloud-based infrastructure spend is projected to increase by 35% in 2021 and will reach $120 billion.

But as forward-thinking companies migrate to the cloud, they need to aim higher and know exactly how to use it: “if you take a disorganized approach, you’re just going to hit a wall — at high velocity.”

Cloud isn’t an endpoint. It’s a journey.

The Need to Move to the Cloud Can Be Scary, But Consider it a Certainty

There’s no doubt that enterprises acknowledge the high stakes of cloud migration and the inherent complexity of these initiatives. At the same time, and to help them successfully migrate business-critical data and workloads to the cloud, they need to understand the necessity for a detailed migration and execution plan to get the most from the cloud.

While companies recognize the need to migrate to the cloud, most acknowledge that they are fearful of doing so. According to a survey from Syntax and America’s SAP Users’ Group (ASUG), “77% of SAP customers have yet to move their applications to the cloud, often from fear of downtime, data loss, wasting time or revenue, and potential disruption of day-to-day operations.”

The lack of a fitting strategy and the inability to execute a successful cloud migration can hinder a transition. In the same survey mentioned above, “30% of SAP customers already operating in the cloud struggle with a lack of detailed cloud strategy.”

With many companies lacking internal expertise, there’s a sense of fear that will inhibit moving workloads to the cloud, they won't know which ones are necessary and which ones can be retired.

The findings of the survey also highlighted the need to align migration and business strategies. Ryan Etinson, CEO of Syntax Americas, stated, “When moving or modernizing mission-critical SAP applications on AWS, many organizations will jump right in without first aligning the migration to their business strategy. At the other end of the spectrum, though, you’ll find customers paralyzed with indecision when faced with so many options to enable their SAP strategy.”

What are the Typical Stages of a Cloud Journey?

Cloud computing may seem like a new term, but it was first introduced twenty-five years ago. As technology has become increasingly more prevalent in every aspect of our daily lives, so too has the cloud. And the business benefits and advantages of cloud computing are coming to light as more enterprises move up to the cloud. Here are just a few:

• Improvements to workflow and workload processes
• Enterprise-wide cost savings
• Easier and better data back-up and recovery
• Greater flexibility and scalability, agility, and automation
• Mobility allows for easy access to cloud services remotely
• Better networking and collaboration
• Simplify IT management
• Enhanced security
• Easier to meet compliance requirements (Cloud computing standards: ISO/IEC)
• A competitive edge

A cloud journey involves the migration of your business operations to an offsite facility that is managed by a third-party provider—all of your data and applications are transitioned to cloud infrastructure and made accessible via the internet. But making changes to your IT framework and all of your business processes requires meticulous planning to be successful up until a full migration is complete and beyond—post-migration maintenance and management.

To prepare your organization’s move and to reap the rewards of the cloud, there are numerous considerations to keep in mind as part of cloud migration and execution strategy. Gartner’s “6 Steps for Planning a Cloud Strategy” is a good start for “building, implementing and maturing cloud strategies.” Additionally, you may consider:

• Recognize how your cloud platform investment can help manage and monitor costs and enable a positive user experience
• Understand the differences between on-premise and cloud options (public, private, and hybrid)
• Choose the type of cloud option best suited for your business
• Assemble your cloud-adoption team
• Map out your desired business outcomes and how to achieve them
• Assess the risks
• Always keep the user experience in mind

According to Gartner, “If you have not developed a cloud-first strategy yet, you are likely falling behind your competitors.” 

Seamlessly Transition to the Cloud with a Cloud Maturity Model

Your business is convinced of the real benefits of cloud computing—agility, scalability, cost savings and reductions, and future potential. You understand how the cloud can keep you competitive, as more companies plan to use cloud services for over half of their infrastructure and applications. And you know that every decision made today will dictate whether your enterprise will lead or fall behind.

The Cloud Maturity Model (CMM), the most widely used model, is maintained by the Open Data Center Alliance which publishes usage models and other tools focused on challenges around cloud deployment, data center operations, and outsourcing. Emphasizing that people and processes are as important as technology in cloud maturity, CMM helps to evaluate an organization’s readiness for cloud services, determine how the cloud meets business objectives and provides best practices for efficiently moving to the cloud. By utilizing the experience of large, global organizations with enterprise-wide digital transformations, your challenges can be better understood, so you can determine your cloud-readiness transition.

Learn more about cloud maturity and how it can better prepare your organization for a move to the cloud.

For any business to be successful and to take advantage of the latest technology and swiftly adapt to market needs, the cloud will empower you to access pioneering and emerging technology—Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning, and so much more. Make your cloud migration business strategy more than just a single step by crafting a clear strategy, be willing to change to be more agile, and rank the user experience at the top of your list. Adopting the cloud as a future operating model will transform your day-to-day … today and tomorrow.