Are you still questioning ‘why cloud’?
Do you doubt the cloud’s requirement for yourself because the cloud system is for big data projects and large organizations? If your answer is affirmative, you need a revamp in perspective. Because let's not forget that the cloud system is for all—big and small organizations, and anyone in between.
While 90% of the companies are using the cloud in some or the other way and you are still pondering, then read a few facts here:
- The cloud computing market is estimated to grow by $190.32 Billion globally during 2019-2023, according to Technavio’s report.
- The same investigation estimated that the US would share a significant chunk—which is 38%—of the growth in this field.
- Forbes quoted the LogicMonitor report stating that 83% of the enterprise workloads by 2020 will shift to the cloud, with 41% primarily on the public domain.
Now, if the facts are substantial enough to have changed your mind but the "how to test and when to move" are troubling you, then this post is for you. Don’t worry, lean back, read, and imbibe the details because we are sharing some recommendations for you to migrate the IT part of your business to the cloud.
Some Perfect Opportunities to Migrate
If you ask when is the right time to move to the cloud, then these situations are the right levers to kick off your cloud journey:
- If your hardware needs an overhaul being a few years old (say 5 years or even pretty older), then it is the right time to move to the cloud instead of investing a massive amount in the hardware revival. Thus, you only invest in the operational cost and get going with a completely new infrastructure.
- The software you have been using is nearing the end of its life span, is outdated, or is not up to the mark although you have been accommodating its miseries, then grab the chance to try out the cloud network.
- With the cloud, you get software assurance with your subscription package and receive freedom from upgrading the software stack with all the latest releases, which are automatic. Would you like to upgrade the software manually (or whatever intervention it demands) every few months? We guess, NO. Then, you should opt for the cloud version of the applications.
- You want to try a new software to feel the functioning or getting acquainted with the tool to explore its compatibility in the prototype you are developing for your product. In that case, just flick to a VM in the cloud network and without any hardware investment, you can test your needs. Once you complete your trial, you can come out of the VM or even if the testing fails, switch off the VM.
Such cases mentioned above are the right opportunity to try the cloud. With a cloud network, you pay what you want today and not in the future. Thus, you save a lot of money for any unforeseen requirement with security, storage, or application.
Test Your Cloud Readiness: How?
There is one sure way to test your readiness for Cloud movement. Get it done.
If you want to try the cloud, you can start with baby steps and then adopt on a larger scale once satisfied or notice the benefits. Also, your responsibility is halved as a lot is taken care of by the cloud vendor.
So, if you want to gauge your cloud preparedness, trust your cloud vendor and start putting small steps ahead.
Here are some of the options you can test the cloud-waters with:
Move SQL Servers to the Cloud
This is the easiest way is to take your data to the cloud platform.
You are playing a safe bet by ensuring that all data servers are usually backed up because losing data is like disrupting the life and blood of a product or application. How about you try moving SQL Server online?
The advantage - if there is anything that can go haywire with SQL servers, it is the discrepancy in the content or a crash at the maximum. This loss can be recovered from the backup and other archival systems.
Shift Noncritical Applications to the Cloud
Well, this trial is a no-brainer.
You might not migrate your critical applications to the cloud for the simple reason that the resources you have invested would all go down the drain in case of a major upheaval. And of course, the resources—time, money, workforce, and efforts—in migrating a critical application have higher stakes.
Hence, it is wise to decide a few applications that are non-critical to your business, and an outage of a few days would not impact your business and users until the recovery. A few non-critical applications could be some internal applications for the employee self-service, a travel-related functionality, or a biometric scanning system with alternatives.
Once you are satiated with your moved applications functioning correctly, you can gradually move critical applications.
Prepare a Backup on the Cloud
Backup is one critical aspect your business always needs. If not done right, you would lose data, applications, or that perfect piece of code, which served your users till now.
Despite being essential, moving backup and archives to the cloud is an excellent trial you can go for. Backup should be done regularly, and there is no better way to do it other than the cloud. Since you backup these fragments every day, every week, every month, or sometimes yearly based on the criticality and need, the process demands ever-growing storage secured from leakage and theft. Also, this backup storage requires vigilance and maintenance every hour.
If you are on a cloud system, your vendor is responsible for taking care of the back end, storage, and network. You save your workforce and efforts, and needless to say, the cost-saving with the cloud is higher than an in-house archival system.
Furnish a Disaster Recovery System on the Cloud
Whether you have a disaster recovery (DR) system implemented already or not, you can always try out building or migrating the DR on the cloud network.
DR is an extravagant part of an IT infrastructure that rarely comes into the forefront—only in case of a natural disaster. But keep functioning as a mirror image of the real applications in the background, as it leads to doubling up the infrastructure cost. It also needs timely maintenance and upgradation along with the servers and storage space.
Moving a DR system to the cloud is a great way to test the waters on the cloud being less expensive than to replicate your IT at a physical site located afar.
In the case of a DR system on the cloud, Microsoft Azure offers DR as a service, which means you only pay a small amount of usage during normal times. Amidst a real emergency, you are charged for the actual environment expenses and that too, only for those hours your DR is working as a clone. Once your main site is up and running, Azure would again charge the operational cost.
Conclusion
Once you try any of these mutually exclusive steps, you are not only convinced of your cloud vendor’s services and the cloud functionality, but you can also chalk out your budget and accordingly choose your cloud relocation strategy.
Whether you are a small business trying to set up your feet in the market or a mid-segment company climbing the ladder among your peers, moving your business to the cloud is always beneficial. Read this post to know why you, as an SMB, should invest in Cloud infrastructure. You might consider a public or a private cloud based on the sensitivity of your IT system. Or you can go a midway using Hybrid Cloud.
Logesys thrives on serving its client with the best of cloud solutions. And if you are an SBM looking to move your applications and IT to the cloud, you are in the right place. Contact us today to get a quick, comprehensive discussion and a quote.