The cloud offers a lot of advantages for modern businesses. Moving your activities to the cloud allows you to work more efficiently all around. Cloud services are perfectly scalable to your evolving needs, and so are the costs. More and more organizations are taking notice of these possibilities and making the shift to the cloud. As with all innovation and technological evolution, migrating to the cloud comes with its own hurdles and challenges. Let’s take a look at five key challenges you might be faced with when migrating to the cloud, and how you can overcome or even prevent them.
#1 Act first, think later
Once you realize what the cloud can do for you, you might feel inclined to jump right in. Act first, think later. Before you know it, you will feel lost in a haphazardly put together collection of tools. Start by identifying your needs and key objectives. Do your research. Get trustworthy advice. Determine which features and functionalities you want to focus on and stick to them, especially in the beginning. This way you will end up with an efficient, effective and well thought out cloud infrastructure with a guaranteed return on investment.
#2 Too much, too soon
AWS offers a plethora of tools and applications. The possibilities are endless. But not everything that is possible, is also necessary. At least not right now. We would strongly suggest you focus on building a manageable cloud environment that meets your current needs first. Over the long term you can expand and finetune your infrastructure with more advanced applications. If you need any help with selecting the right tools for you, Cloudar is happy to lend a hand.
#3 Compliancy anxiety
Getting started with the cloud might be very daunting at first. You want to build a scalable workspace in the cloud, but how are you going to keep it secure and stay compliant? Data safety in the cloud is one of the biggest concerns when you are considering making the jump. Don’t let this overwhelm you into staying away from the cloud altogether. Security is always job zero. So make sure you have a clear overview of which data needs to be stored in the cloud exactly. Consider the best location for each type of data. Then you can work out your strategy on how to ensure the security of your data. You can absolutely stay compliant without any loss of efficiency or speed. With AWS, you have access to compliant and secure cloud infrastructure. So don’t let compliance anxiety stop you from migrating to the cloud.
#4 Lack of legacy
Many business processes are embedded in legacy systems. They are by far the most important systems, and the backbone of an organization. Migrating these systems to the cloud might be the biggest challenge. Processes can’t stop or be interrupted for too long without significant loss of productivity. Map out your essential processes and define the possible cloud solutions for the immediate and the more distant future. While transitioning, or maybe even in the long term, a hybrid cloud structure might be the solution. That way you can start your cloud migration immediately while combining the legacy system and cloud applications. In time, you can gradually move your entire operation to the cloud.
#5 Resistance to change
Implementing new tools is one thing. But if you do this without paying attention to user adoption, it will fall flat. Change is difficult. People are creatures of habit. Accepting new technology is no exception. To maximize your users’ cooperation and acceptance, it’s important for them to contribute and weigh in during the design process. If you involve your colleagues from the very start, they will feel much more invested in the new way of working. Not only that, they will look at each development phase from the specific point of view of their tasks. That way you make sure that no person or task gets overlooked and they will embrace the new way of working.
Have you encountered some of these challenges in your company’s cloud migration? Do you want to get ahead of them? Or do you just want to spar with an official Next Generation AWS Managed Service Provider Partner? Contact us at Cloudar, no strings attached. Let’s talk!
