Successful implementation of cloud computing is not only an IT issue but it also is a business issue. Cloud computing services must be integrated with the core business transformation strategy in order to ensure overall success in terms of increased revenue, competitive advantage, reduced costs, and improved productivity. The blog discusses the top ten most important factors that businesses should consider becoming implementing cloud computing services for successful cloud migration.
The use of cloud computing services worldwide has skyrocketed in the past few years. Businesses from around the world are spending millions of dollars on cloud computing services in order to expedite the cloud migration process of their business operations.
A Gartner report finds that the adoption of public cloud services across the world accounted for over US$ 145 billion in 2017, and it spiralled up to reach a valuation of more than US$ 206 billion in 2019. The report also projected that the adoption of cloud application services or Software as a Service (SaaS) will account for around 40% revenue share of the global public cloud services market in 2021.
The rise in these cloud computing trends are triggering enterprises to shift their focus from expanding their own IT infrastructure towards investing in cloud computing resources hosted by third parties. Cloud computing offers a model for enterprises to become ubiquitous, agile, and flexible with respect to their business operations and the use of technologies.
However, the rate of failure in digital transformation is significantly high. A study had found that more than one-third businesses in the United States of America fail to realise the benefits of cloud computing mainly because the cloud migration plan was not an integral part of their core transformation strategy. Though the basics of cloud computing vs traditional IT infrastructure are widely known, multi-cloud computing migration is still at a nascent stage.
In order to ensure successful implementation of cloud computing services, businesses must carefully devise business transformation strategies. Here are top ten factors that modern businesses must consider before incorporating cloud computing services.
1. Time of the Cloud Computing On-boarding
Since most businesses are realising the potential of cloud computing, many are running the risk of jumping the bandwagon by prematurely migrating to cloud from traditional IT infrastructure. Another factor that triggers premature cloud computing on-boarding is that some cloud computing service providers promise shorter implementation time with their pre-fabricated cloud computing solutions.
Businesses must evaluate first how cloud computing services fit their organizational structure along with the ways in which cloud can meet the objectives of the organization. They must also be aware of the risks associated with cloud computing migration in order to be able to avoid them. Thereby, enterprise must only turn to cloud computing services after understanding the business requirements and methodically evaluating the features of cloud computing.
2. Involvement of Key Stakeholders in the Process
Many businesses make a mistake of not involving the right IT specialists and information technology subject matter experts in the decision making and planning process while implementing cloud computing services. This restricts businesses from thoroughly reviewing and evaluating various implications on the business of migrating to cloud computing. Thereby, it is highly important to involve all the key stakeholders in your cloud migration strategy to better plan the implementation of cloud computing services in various business units.
3. Cloud Computing Services – Choosing the Vendor
Before investing money as well as time in a cloud computing application, businesses must analyse the vendor’s longevity and viability in order to ensure long-term and successful implementation of cloud computing services. Enterprise must also have backup plans in case the vendor becomes unavailable, in order to avoid cloud migration failures. The plan must also include data exit or data recovery strategies which enables organizations to get the data out of the cloud in case the cloud computing service provider becomes unavailable.
4. Cloud Computing Integration Roadblocks
While cloud computing services can help businesses uplift their operational efficiencies as well as profitability in various business units, it also can create new hurdles. In most scenarios, the technology comes with a variety of integration challenges, as businesses fail to synchronize their existing systems and software with the next-generation cloud computing services.
These issues do not only negatively impact the timelines of cloud migration but also add to the overall cost of implementing cloud computing services. This is similar to the common challenges in custom software development that most businesses face. Thereby, it is always important for organizations with multiple systems to anticipate integration challenges before commencing the integration.
5. Pricing Structure of Cloud Services
Most often, there are three broad categories of pricing models in cloud computing services – pay per use, subscription based, and hybrid pricing, which is the combination of the first two. Based on your cloud computing service providers plans, the pricing structures may change, and thereby, it is important to have clarity about your business model in order to choose the right plan and ensure cost efficiency.
6. Total Cost of Ownership and Integration
In most cases, businesses end up paying a fortune for cloud computing services, and this is mainly caused due to poor understanding of the total cost of ownership (TCO) vis-a-vis cloud migration. The TCO as well as cost of integration has to sync with the desired functionality of cloud computing applications, and businesses fail to balance the both. Hence, it is a crucial step in the implementation of cloud computing services to calculate the TCO and cost of integration before on-boarding cloud computing.
7. Deployment Models – SaaS or IaaS or PaaS?
There are three prominent deployment models often offered in cloud computing services – Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). Each of these deployment models provide different levels of convenience, functionality, control, and flexibility.
PaaS is preferred when businesses need to attain a better speed of operations, and SaaS is utilized when businesses require faster deployment of software without using IT resources. Thereby, the specific business needs must be taken into consideration before selecting between these deployment models of cloud computing services.
8. Cloud Security Concerns and Cyber Threats
Despite its immense potential in business transformation, cloud computing often brings with it a drawback of data vulnerabilities, as most of the data is moved to cloud. Thereby, it becomes essential for businesses to implement a system for safeguarding sensitive data and information while implementing cloud computing services. Make sure to ask important questions about data security before commencing cloud migration and note specific data protection policies offered by your cloud service providers.
9. Scalability and Compatibility
The functionality of cloud computing services must be checked in order to make sure that they are in line with the organizational objectives. Furthermore, businesses also should check the compatibility of existing business systems with the features of cloud computing applications.
In addition to this, implementing cloud should also enable scalability of business processes. Deployment models such as IaaS and SaaS usually help businesses scale automatically and provide additional tools to provide reasonable agility. Thereby, the decision to move to cloud computing should be based on the reasonable scalability offered in these services.
10. Cloud Computing Support and Management
This is one of the most important factors that businesses must focus on while implementing cloud computing services. It is extremely crucial to ensure that the cloud computing providers manage cloud deployment and offer services to make your cloud migration smoother.
TechnoGen is a leading IT and software service company that offers cloud infrastructure management and cloud computing services to enterprises around the world. Along with ongoing support to ensure successful cloud migration, TechnoGen also offers tailor-made software solutions that can help you achieve your business transformation with utmost efficiency. Get in touch with us today and check out our cloud computing services that can boost your business productivity at a much reasonable cost.