A December 2018 article in CloudTech, “If You’re Planning A Major Move To The Cloud – Ask These 13 Questions First” (https://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2018/dec/13/if-youre-planning-major-move-cloud-ask-these-13-questions-first/), posed a number of thoughtful questions, ones that we here at Apolis have been posing to our managed services clients for quite some time now. Of the list of 13, we’ve pulled out our Top Five, and added a few additional thoughts here for those considering cloud migration.
Top Five Questions
1. What is driving your cloud strategy? In other words, what are your reasons for moving to the cloud and what benefits do you expect to realize from the move?
At Apolis, we see companies creating a cloud strategy for several key reasons. What’s yours?
- Agility, Flexibility and Scalability – Agility has become a “must-achieve” advantage in business. It’s the ability to react to market opportunities faster, without having to invest in new IT infrastructure and increases in IT staff.
- Cost Savings – One of the most appealing reasons to switch to the cloud is the cost savings and the potential to move from CapEx to OpEx
- Increased Storage Capacity and Automation – using and paying for only when needed on a subscription basis
- Freeing up Your IT Staff – the cloud handles bug fixes and upgrades, so there’s no break in service, no need to spend money on new versions of software
2. What’s your vision for how the process of transitioning to the cloud will unfold?
Our experience indicates that transition from an on premise IT environment and/or transition to cloud SaaS applications is not an area of expertise that most IT organizations have on staff. Apolis provides assessment and implementation services for a cloud transformation, as well as implementation, transformation and ongoing management.
3. Has IT conducted a needs assessment/business case around a potential move to the cloud to determine which customer-facing and back-office workloads to move to the cloud and why?
One size does not fit all, even in cloud computing. It may be that your company will be better served with a Hybrid Cloud initiative. Companies need a way of bridging current infrastructure and future investments to help connect, innovate and grow. When it comes to the cloud, a hybrid approach may provide the most reasonable foundation for the future. Simply defined, Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment that uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud and third-party, public cloud services with orchestration between the platforms.
4. What does your organization’s application roadmap look like?
Here’s an example:
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Human Capital Management (HCM)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
- Business Intelligence (BI)
- Supply Chain Management (SCM)
- Finance (FIN)
Has your organization made a significant investment in the customization, modification, language specific or integrations into multiple applications? Do these apps provide specific efficiencies and possibly determine your unique advantage in your market? How will your cloud strategy impact specific applications you rely on today? Is the desired path to do a “rip and replace” with the newest SaaS offerings? Apolis can provide you with an assessment of your current state and proposed roadmap to take advantage of the best cloud providers and hybrid cloud solutions available.
5. Which internal stakeholders and departments should be engaged in the cloud initiative?
Cloud computing has put divisional and corporate stakeholders on the same page as the IT team. Many SaaS offerings have their sales teams going direct to the business user, bypassing the traditional IT decision makers. Apolis assists management in creating a compelling road map for the full spectrum of stakeholders, from the C-suite to the various ERP divisional stakeholders.
Whether you are just beginning to think about cloud migration, or ready to select a managed services partner, it’s critical to think of all the possible challenges you may encounter along the way and dodge the pitfalls gracefully. Careful planning and an experienced partner by your side will pave the way for a smooth transition and lots of success once you reach the cloud.
