The modern cloud computing age has offered numerous benefits to its users worldwide. Ranging from excellent marketing capabilities to increased agility in business solutions, the public cloud is slated on a ladder of growth. That said, the public cloud is riddled with challenges. Ranging from security and privacy to workload migration, the public cloud has its own set of limitations. In the present times, workload migration is influenced by data center consolidation in the public cloud ecosystem. The precursor to carrying out any migration process is groundwork in an algorithmic order. This groundwork rests on the premise of decision intelligence of the IT systems worldwide. This article aims to analyze the main principles which help in successful cloud migration.
Conundrum of reluctance
The computing ecosystem is attracting numerous IT organizations due to its disruptive and Agile Model. To enter the arena of digital transformation, it is important to start the process of migration without any delay. Gartner’s survey highlights that about 84% of the IT companies show resistance before migrating to the cloud ecosystem. A survey called the State of IT modernization 2020 concluded that 86% of the organizations decided to move select workloads to the cloud environment and refrained from a full-fledged migration. As mentioned in this survey, the reasons for reluctance include compliance reasons, data privacy, reliability, efficiency, security concerns, monitoring deficiencies and increasing costs.
Workload alignment
Identification of the most suitable platform which can support the workload requirements of a particular organization is what workload alignment is all about. Workload alignment works in a sequential way the first step is the identification of all functions and functionaries. Soon after, pairing or alignment is done with the most suitable platform: public, private, or hybrid cloud. The next step in the process is the identification of those workloads which are not suitable for migration. It must be noted that there are other suitable options in such cases. First among them is re-platforming, which is changing from one platform to another platform for long-term adaptability. The second option is called lift and shift, which is like re-platforming. The third option is consolidation, in which we work on the consolidation of existing workloads and systems. The last option, which is usually avoided, is retirement or decommissioning.
Principles
Non-ambiguous cloud expectations
It is important to set non ambiguous expectations for the cloud ecosystem. For instance, if an organization decides to make a full-fledged transition of all the workloads to the cloud environment, the process may not be that smooth and easy as one expects it to be. The reason for this is the lack of maturity in the prevailing cloud resources and tools.
Prioritization of workloads
The prioritization of workloads is a strategy in which the most suitable workloads for migration are given preference. This acts as a feedback mechanism for companies to decide on the followup process for workload migration to the cloud.
Most companies prefer those workloads for migration that are already accessed via the web browser or the internet.
Technical dependency
One of the most unnoticed things about workloads is their technical dependencies. The technical dependencies are related to the underlying software and hardware components. Other technical dependencies of workloads are related to the data flow and database systems.
Behind the technology
Migration to a cloud ecosystem involves not only technological feasibility but also systematic changes in various processes. Let us understand it this way. An organization has worked on a specific platform for several years. Transmigration to an all-new setup can involve negotiating with new hardware, software, and system requirements. This can lead to procedural woes.
The security dilemma
Organizations believe that upon the workload migration to cloud, the security shield would be a sole responsibility of the service provider. So, the organizations remain in a dilemma and compromise on the security aspects. The security aspects are part of the shared responsibility clause which means that both parties are equally responsible for cloud security obligations.
The catalog
Before the process of workload migration to the cloud, an organization might have an existing catalog of offerings for the IT services. This catalog can act as a starting point in the new cloud environment. However, if there is no existing catalog, we may conclude that there is a lack of technological readiness for the organization, and it might need to start from scratch.Â
In conclusion
We may conclude that before the migration of various workloads to the cloud, major security principles need to be analyzed and taken care of in the long run.