Figures from Gartner predict that 75% of organisations will adopt a digital transformation model predicated on cloud as the fundamental underlying platform by 2026. Despite this, the Flexera 2023 State of the Cloud report estimated that 32% of all cloud spending is currently being wasted as a result of poorly optimised applications, with organisations paying for unnecessary services for multiple environments.
As more businesses undertake the move to cloud, we have identified the most common mistakes that are being made and how best to solve them.
Moving everything to the cloud
A move to cloud can be a big undertaking, but to make the most of it you need to figure out what actually needs to be moved. It’s not enough to just lift and shift all your on prem data to the cloud, instead, ahead of the move, it’s essential to consider which applications are helping your business and which can be reviewed or improved to be support business growth and efficiency. Being strategic in what you move to the cloud will reduce costs and ultimately allow you more room to flex your capacity for peaks in demand.
Picking the wrong partner
Picking a suitable partner is crucial for a smooth transition to the cloud. Most CIOs and CTOs can identify the challenge, but don’t know the correct cloud-based solution. Pick a cloud partner that understands your objectives and can think creatively to help you find a cloud-first solution that supports your business goals.
Arguably the most important consideration, however, is choosing a partner that you can trust. It’s easy for cloud consultants to overwhelm businesses with technical language and difficult concepts – look for a partner that’s willing to explain their process and actions to you in plain English so you can be confident in what they’re doing.
Not modernising applications
Some businesses can make the mistake of moving everything from on prem to the cloud and then leaving it there – although this may result in some upfront cost saving, in the long term this will have little benefit. Instead modernisation is a must. In order to get the most out of cloud projects, Application Modernisation is necessary – whereby you take existing applications and restructure them to be cloud-native and serverless to help achieve more advanced data insights.
Assuming an immediate cost saving
The main reason businesses move to cloud is to save cost. However, it’s a mistake to think that cloud magically reduces costs. In the long-term, if applications have been modernised and you’ve chosen the right cloud partner, costs will decrease, but initially it’s most likely the cost will switch from CapEx to OpEx.
Upskilling the team to support operational efficiency
Cloud allows developers to work within individual environments, so they can build and test changes in isolation across infrastructure and application code. Changes they make in one application or service won’t affect other developers working in similar areas of the codebase, and they can release and integrate changes seamlessly.
While this can improve efficiency significantly, initially staff may be unfamiliar with developing infrastructure and application code for the cloud and so need to be upskilled.
Understandably, businesses can feel overwhelmed at the prospect of training this level of technical expertise, so try and find a partner that is happy to upskill your team while undertaking the modernisation process.
Final thoughts
Migrating to the cloud offers many benefits, many of which are just starting to be realised, with many businesses beginning to reap the rewards of a successful migration. Although cloud is only increasing in popularity, it’s important to consider the above and make sure your move to cloud is as effective as possible, and being used to its full potential.
