Introduction
It’s no secret that cloud computing has fast become the new norm across countless industries aiming to reduce their operational expenditure and carbon footprint. Simultaneously, capitalising on the wealth of benefits in regards to globalisation and fast, secure connection adds to the appeal of transitioning to this technology.
So, we’re not here to explain why cloud computing deserves a spot within your next board meeting discussion, we have other blogs for that. Instead, we’re exploring how to not only fast-track your success with cloud migration but also optimise and streamline the entirety of the process. So, let’s get into it.
Adopting a Sustainable Approach to Cloud Migration
Organisations often utilise a ‘lift and shift’ approach to their cloud migration – which has an array of benefits, but alas, also downfalls. It involves migrating software deployments with little, or no, modification and is reserved for organisations within the transitional stage to an eventual cloud-native solution. This is often the choice for organisations with decades worth of data as this approach is less labour intensive and involves less administration for the organisation. Although, the promises of cost-saving are not guaranteed unless correctly managed.
The suitability of lift and shift is selective, with not all data benefitting from rehosting – instead adopting alternate approaches would be more suitable such as rewriting, re-releasing or even entirely replacing it. The mistake of defaulting too quickly to a rehosting approach to defer the cost of modernising critical applications more often than not results in higher cloud operating costs following migration.
Research from Gartner in 2020 tells us that 45% of organizations that perform a lift-and-shift migration will overspend by 70% during the first 18 months of their new architecture as a result of over-provisioning resources, thus missing the core opportunity of streamlining their architecture.
SO, where to from here?
It’s All About Strategy
Understandably, lift and shift is an approach well suited to many organisations, although building a cloud strategy that is best suited to your organisational needs is a necessity for a successful migration. Working with a trusted and experienced migrations partner will involve collaborating to deeply understand your drivers, principles and objectives, to ensure the approach taken honours these. Discussing the financial considerations and pricing models should give you a greater comprehension of which path is the best one to take in your situation.
Key Considerations
Further to the above, there are an array of key considerations before opting to migrate your workloads to the cloud. These are a great starting point before choosing your technology partner and cloud provider and should act in conjunction with further research
- Opt for efficiency when rearchitecting infrastructure – this requires the application of right-sizing instances which reduces the possibility of paying for underutilised resources.Understand your current baselines – this will help you avoid the costly trap of learning as you go. Utilise the power of your data to drive growth forecasting and therefore decision making in regards to your migration.Prioritise and implement security protocols – security in the cloud is the customer’s responsibility meaning that encryption, IAM and data protection is something that should be prioritised within your strategy.Consider both short-term and long-term costs – ensure all pricing models are considered and the most aligned to your requirements is chosen, as choosing a set-cost instance type is not always the most beneficial option.
The Process of Migration
Once you’re adequately equipped with the information you need to confidently migrate, you can follow AWS three-step migration process which involves:
- Assess: Assess the ‘readiness’ of your organisation for cloud operation, considering which approach mentioned above aligns best with your array of workloads. This should build the foundations of a strong business case for migrating.Mobilise: This step focuses on bridging any outstanding gaps in your original business case, by building your baseline environment (known as the ‘landing zone’), understanding application interdependencies and evaluating migration strategies.Migrate & Modernise: Finally, each of your applications is designed, migrated, and validated. There are an array of AWS services available to finetune and streamline this step to iterate on your new foundation, turn off old systems, and constantly evolve toward a new, modern operating model.
Let’s Save You Some $$$
Saving on infrastructure costs is arguably one of the main drivers for cloud migration, with the upfront costs and administration of running data centres something much easier outsourced to a cloud provider.
AWS is one of the leading cloud providers when it comes to cloud migration, offering a comprehensive set of migration tools, services and solutions to cater to your migration workload requirements. One of the best things about AWS is their strong focus on cost optimisation which is reinforced through their range of budgeting tools to ensure their customers are not paying more than they need to. By utilising Migration Evaluator, a projection of the overall total cost of ownership (TCO) for AWS based on your actual resource utilisation is presented and can then be built into your budget.
Employing automation, autoscaling and pay-as-you-go structured pricing models is crucial to saving on cloud costs. Utilising best practices throughout your migration and the entirety of your cloud computing use allows for further control, lower costs and greater security. You can read more on proactive ways to reduce costs by leveraging AWS Well-Architected Framework in our blog here.
We’re Here to Help.
Here at Experience Digital, we pride ourselves on our 10+ years of experience. As an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, we’ve helped an array of customers on their cloud journeys. Our strong focus on collaboration and communication combined with our cost-saving strategies is what increases our customer’s chances at long-term scalability and success.
We have a range of dedicated and personalised cloud migration packages to help you confidently migrate to cloud computing. If you’re interested in learning more, book your free discovery call today.
