Unsung heroes exist in every business. Assets and resources that are the movers and shakers of a company can be taken for granted over time, even when they provide many potential growth options or facilitate expansions internally and externally. Every great hero needs a journey. In the same vein, every great asset needs a strategy to reach its greatest potential. Strategy services can help your business reach new heights, but which strategy is the best for you and how can it affect your business? Let’s take a look at how strategy services can be successfully implemented.
Cloud Migration Strategy
The cloud is a great resource of information that spans the globe, and it is waiting for you to take full advantage of its many functions. That being said, cloud adoption can be a tough topic to approach for any business, regardless of size or scope. You need to choose between a public cloud or a more privatized hybrid solution. Anything cloud-based is going to have hurdles you will need to plan for, and this is where a cloud migration strategy comes into play.
Setting up a playbook of moves to make and ranking them by importance is crucial. Setting up a plan beforehand rules out any unnecessary transfers and lightens the load of those doing the heavy lifting. This applies not only to the informational assets, but also to the application and software assets. Each portion of your IT should be observed under a magnifying glass to better determine where it fits into the big picture and how critical it is to your upkeep and maintenance. As for strategies, there are a few you could use as a framework.
Data Migration Strategies
You could simply lift all of your IT assets across the board and move them over to the cloud, which is perfectly viable, but there may be certain assets or information that doesn’t need to move to the cloud or that could get lost in the shuffle. This large-scale move is useful for upgrading outdated storage or database systems, but will require resources and coordination that may be difficult to handle in the long term. If you are confident in your planning abilities and have plenty of resources at hand and assets that need to move, a transition of this caliber would be in your best interest.
If a large-scale move to the cloud isn’t in the cards for you, another viable strategy would be to utilize the cloud as an upgrade for your operating systems. This option allows you to lean on cloud computing and the various assets inherent to the cloud to help you process the information without shifting over everything in your database or storage. This saves time and money while still providing a heavy amount of computing power that doesn’t need to be based in your own building and maintained with your own assets.
As stated earlier, your applications are important to simplifying and running your IT, so shifting them over to the cloud is a great option to streamline the process without devoting too many resources to a full-scale move. You also get access to many different applications that can only be found in the cloud. This provides the opportunity to use an entirely new set of applications instead of the current stack you are using. Proper planning helps you determine which course of action will take priority for you.
Azure Migration Strategy
Microsoft Azure is one such cloud destination your business could be aiming for, offering the assets and tools of a private cloud incorporated with application insights and defined services from the experts at Microsoft. Moving to Azure gives you the peace of mind that the cloud brings, with the added benefits of the Azure platform. Migration planning for Azure is similar to moving your assets to the cloud, with a tried and true system you can work through to determine what type of move would be in your best interest.
The best steps to take would be:
- Create a cloud migration plan with priorities and objectives sorted out before the move happens.
- Involve stakeholders so everyone affected has a say in the move and can provide input on what their goals are for the move.
- Calculate your total cost of ownership to customize your cloud beforehand.
- Evaluate your existing applications and whether moving them to the cloud or utilizing those provided in the cloud would be more beneficial.
Once everything is said and done, you should have a comprehensive strategy that outlines every step of the process from start to finish. Having everything set up will make the move that much smoother and help keep everyone accountable so that when the migration is finished, everything will be where it should be. For unbeatable planning and insights learned straight from the professionals at Microsoft, Tridius can help you plan a seamless transition to the cloud from start to finish. As a Microsoft Gold partner, we know the intricacies behind Azure and can help you create a strategy customized to your specific needs and take advantage of the different services offered such as Azure DevOps. If you are looking for a plan that never fails, contact Tridius today.
