Cloud computing, be it public or private, is leveraged across industries, BFSI, Retail, Manufacturing, Media and Entertainment, among others. We are currently witnessing, organisations jumping on to the cloud bandwagon in record speed, although the adoption varies from industry to industry. However, many businesses still commit mistakes, which costs them dearly, if not done right, while adopting cloud technology.
What are the main cloud mistakes to avoid for a successful migration?
1. Inaccurate estimation of cloud infrastructure needs
IT teams have always believed in provisioning for around 20% additional infrastructure capacity on-premise. They use the similar estimation methodology to predict future cloud consumption based on the existing infrastructure and resources. However, this does not provide accurate information of the current usage and the nature of workloads. For a cloud infrastructure to run at its full capacity, only right-sizing of workloads will bear the expected Return on Investment. Resources usage should be kept in check to avoid over-spending.
2. Role-based and restricted access is overlooked
Organisations, many a time fail to limit access to classified and sensitive information to authorized employees only. This may cause unnecessary loss of data that could be misused by employees unintentionally or on purpose leading to negative impact on the brand too. Moreover, cloud storage can be accessed from anywhere remotely, putting sensitive data at risk. Therefore, businesses have to put in strict access control measures in place to avoid data leakage.
3. Moving all applications to cloud without assessing the need
Some organisations shift the entire existing infrastructure and services to cloud in one go, which is a common mistake committed. It is important to note that all business applications are not suitable for migration to cloud. All data do not meet the criteria for ‘lift and shift’ strategy. Some applications may be working on legacy technology stacks and others could be very complex and not suitable for cloud.
The cloud migration strategy should include performing a detailed analysis of data and applications that can be shifted and considering moving of low impact applications to the cloud initially is recommended.
4. Security issues in cloud computing cannot be left unaddressed
As more data and applications are stored on cloud, this also increases the attack surface of cloud clusters. Although, there is growing awareness about cloud security aspects, more often several security issues are not anticipated.
While designing a cloud security strategy, critical aspects, such as data breaches, account hijacking, unauthorized access, data loss, vulnerabilities of applications and systems, besides security compliance must be taken into consideration. The implications caused due to security failure is enormous and organisations cannot afford to overlook cloud security aspects at all.
5. Neglecting cleaning of data before migration
Organisations have data accumulated and stored over a considerably long period of time that may not be relevant or of use anymore. Such irrelevant files, if not carefully looked into before migration will occupy extra space on the cloud incurring costs. By tidying up the data before migration, organisations can avoid paying to maintain the ‘electronic garbage’ on cloud.
6. Due diligence aspect cannot be ignored
Businesses, many a time fail to conduct a thorough research on the cloud technology and the cloud services provider before partnering them. The IT team within the organization must study the requirement for migration and usage and thereafter determine which cloud provider is best suitable for the task. Several discussions between the team and potential providers can set right expectations at the outset. New possibilities of the cloud infrastructure can also be explored for better Return on Investment and competitiveness.
These are among the many costly mistakes we witness organisations committing while opting for cloud migration. By avoiding them before cloud adoption, businesses can enjoy the benefits and the journey to cloud can be an exciting one!
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