How to Avoid Cloud Migration Pitfalls

For most businesses, moving services to the cloud has an undeniably strong business case. Companies now want to leverage the lower cost, scalability, and low maintenance of cloud and SaaS services.

So clearly this sounds like a no-brainer from a strategic sense. However, when it comes to moving a whole business away from old on-premise systems and onto the cloud, how easy is it?

Well the answer is, unfortunately, not very. Firstly, there are the many considerations that need to be made, such as what is the state of the network? Can cloud services be supported in your specific geography? Will new hardware be required? What is the new DR plan? How will cloud services interact with systems that have to remain on-premise? How will the change be communicated? What training is required? How will contracts be managed for old systems? And the list goes on. Clearly, big technical changes are not always easy to achieve.

Realistically, a program set out to deliver a cloud transformation can fail anywhere, common examples are:

o Poorly defined project dependencies
o Insufficient backing of budget
o Lack of change management
o Uncontrolled project changes
o Ineffective stakeholder engagement
o Inadequate skill set of project team

…again, the list goes on. In summary, without the right level of project management and project governance embedded into a project, such as a cloud transformation, the list of potential factors leading to the project’s demise can be countless.

From experience, we would go as far to say that unless you have sufficient project governance laid out from the very beginning of a project, then the project is due to fail at some point during its lifetime – realistically very quickly!

So sadly, while the original cloud strategy may seem like a no brainer, implementing the strategy can prove much more difficult.

To ensure success, moving to the cloud requires a high level of planning, often across multiple projects, underpinned by watertight change management, careful monitoring of budget and a constant review of interproject dependencies.

The objectives of the project should be continuously used to benchmark the project. In addition, the level of communication between the project members, exec board and the project stakeholders needs to be exceptionally well structured.

At StableLogic, we have carried out countless cloud deployments successfully and have overseen numerous high-profile cloud transformations. Our successes come through our 25 years’ experience of running IT deployments, through which we have developed a proven methodology fortified by a deep technical understanding. Our focus is on delivery, ensuring projects are completed on time, to budget and with the correct scope.

Do you need help with any of the issues discussed in this piece?
StableLogic is an independent consultancy business – we don’t sell anything. Our consultants offer independent advice to develop the most effective agile working strategy that meets your company’s business objectives.

For a free initial consultation with one of our consultants, please call +44 (0) 20 3861 6444 or email info@stablelogic.com.