A Guide to Cloud Strategy and Transformation 

Cloud transformation is no longer the NEXT BIG DREAM, it has become the PRESENT. Various global brands have shifted to CLOUD such as Apple, Netflix, eBay, etc. 

These companies understand that digital transformation has become a need and hour for them, especially when they want to scale their business. Businesses get various benefits such as collaborating seamlessly, cost-effectiveness, and improved data security when they shift from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud.  

In this guide, you will learn about what the cloud transformation journey looks like, its underlying benefits, and the exact steps you can take to create a perfect cloud transformation strategy in 2024.  

An Overview of Cloud Transformation  

Cloud transformation is an important part of digital transformation. Studies indicate that 50% of executives feel that digital transformation is the major driver for enhancing customer experiences and driving business outcomes. 

And Cloud transformation is not an EXCEPTION. It reshapes the entire IT landscape and strives to focus on how IT should be done in an organization. 

But it is not just confined to modernizing traditional IT systems and applications, rather it is about creating a cloud-native IT environment by developing applications that are optimized for cloud.  

Often, cloud transformation is closely related to cloud migration. But these are 2 different approaches used for meeting your organization’s goals, cutting down costs and redesigning organizational business processes.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various organizations created a cloud migration strategy to serve customers and help staff work remotely. 

Implementing a cloud computing environment comes up with exciting benefits such as seamless data storage and sharing, responding to market demands, and marketing your products faster together with enhanced security.  

Let’s see what Mark Schwartz (Enterprise strategist at Amazon web services) says on cloud transformation –  

According to him, he dealt with an organization that faced various challenges. Some of these include –  

• The IT department took 18 months to release new updates in software or application  
• Spend expenses on a $1 billion software project that brought no results  
• Development teams were bogged with reaps of documentation  

He suggested that cloud technology should be implemented and those with laborious processes can be transformed from blockers to enablers of agility. 

The findings of the research report by HFS (global research and analysis firm) stated that cloud transformation is not solely an IT initiative, rather it constitutes a significant part of enterprise strategy. 

Furthermore, 25% of organizations saw a massive increase in ROI through the implementation of cloud transformation. 

Ravi Khokar who is a global head for financial services at Capgemini reflects that cloud migration is an indispensable element to stay competitive and drive innovation.  

In a nutshell, the only way to bring transformation in an organization is to change your approach, especially for businesses that are running with traditional infrastructure.  

Thus, this lighter, smarter, and cooler technology enables organizations to meet their strategic objectives and modernize their old legacy systems. 

Why do Organizations Need Cloud Transformation Strategies in 2024? 

Cloud strategy and transformation has become a UNIVERSALLY accepted technology, it’s now new. 

To know how it turns out to be a game changer for your business, here are the exciting benefits it comes with-  

1. Increases operational efficiency  

With the cloud transformation strategy, accessing information at any place and anytime has now become easier.  

In traditional IT infrastructure, employees face difficulties in accessing information, especially when out of company premises.  

In the era of the virtual world, accessing important information has become a NORM, and bringing everything on the cloud facilitates real-time collaboration and allows people to work together on projects.  

Moreover, IT professionals do not have to overwhelm themselves in managing servers and hardware, rather they can devote more time to innovation.  

2. Scalable infrastructure  

Organizations with on-premises infrastructure require investment in hardware and other network equipment because it comes with fixed storage capacity.  

Even if businesses make investments in scaling IT resources, it might even take long weeks or months to do an on-premises setup. Thus, they fail to adapt to changing business needs. 

With cloud computing, scalability is no longer an issue.  

You can access on-demand resources as and when you need them.  

More importantly, you need not worry about incurring additional upfront costs in purchasing and maintaining hardware. 

In this digital world, you can stay competitive by scaling up or down resources based on current demand. 

For Instance – Amazon Web Services (AWS), a third–party cloud provider, helps organizations manage their workloads by adding nodes and servers with just a few clicks.  

3. Cost-effectiveness  

A cloud transformation strategy allows businesses to go with an operational expenses model.   

The operational expense model is related to the pay-as-you-go model meaning businesses pay for the resources they use.  

Cloud storage plans often come with flexibility meaning you can update the cloud storage based on your business needs.  

Thus, businesses can achieve economies of scale as they can reach a wider audience without making an upfront investment in building and maintaining data centers. 

Choosing a cloud service provider is truly a cost-effective option because it does not require upfront investment in hardware and software. Moreover, it reduces the responsibilities of IT staff.  

A study by an international data corporation state that organizations that rely on cloud-based services can achieve cost savings of up to 30% than a traditional IT infrastructure. 

Thus, startups with limited resources can go for a pay-as-you-go model or a subscription model.  

4. Faster time to market products  

Gone are the times when businesses need to invest in on-premises architecture and get their teams to work. 

Unlike traditional physical infrastructure, you can set up a cloud server in a few minutes. A cloud transformation strategy is what businesses need to bring their products faster to market. This way, they can achieve a competitive advantage.  

As infrastructure is already set up, businesses can set up computing resources and launch applications. 

5. More data security 

There is a common misconception that organizations that have switched to the cloud face data breach challenges. While cyber criminals and hackers gain access to your computer through phishing e-mails or malware.  

Those who think that storing data through on-premises infrastructure is safer are wrong because traditional IT setups are prone to vulnerabilities. 

But when everything is on the cloud, your applications and data are protected because the cloud server has additional layers of security that prevent unauthorized access to data or systems. 

How to Create a Successful Cloud Transformation Strategy?  

1. Know your existing IT infrastructure  

The first step in the cloud transformation journey starts with knowing your existing infrastructure which includes documenting hardware components, software applications, IT policies, and procedures.  

This is where you will keep track of your IT portfolio and evaluate the performance of existing applications. 

Here, you will ask yourself what are the major gaps or challenges that create a need for cloud migration. It could be because your app gives sluggish performance or lack of scalability can be another concern. 

Assess the financial cost of adopting the pay-as-you-go model. Then, comparing the total cost of ownership of on-premises infrastructure with cloud expenditure gives you insights into optimizing resources.  

2. Your goals should be specific and realistic  

Make sure your goals should be measurable and align with the organization’s current objectives. It should solve the challenges you found during the assessment phase.   

Some of the common goals could be increasing operational efficiency, reducing costs, facilitating scalability, going for innovation, getting maximum ROI, or reducing infrastructure costs.  

3. Frame a cloud migration strategy  

After assessing existing IT infrastructure and understanding your business objectives, you can go with a cloud-based approach. This step involves choosing a cloud deployment model that meets your organization’s needs.  

Generally, cloud deployment models are of varied types – public, private, and hybrid. You can go with the public cloud when your organization has fluctuating workloads.   

A private cloud should be your go-to option in cases where your organization wants to exercise greater control because it is dealing with sensitive financial data.  

While the hybrid cloud is a combination of both. 

Choosing a cloud strategy depends on your organization’s requirements and workload demands. It helps you achieve your business goals such as time and cost savings, scaling up or down resources, improving the agility of business operations, etc.  

4. Set up a plan for cloud migration  

Before starting the cloud migration process, you need to know a few things-  

• Assess the workload requirements of the organization 

• You need to choose the right data migration strategy that suits your needs whether it’s a time transfer, hybrid method, or gradual synchronization  

• Consider compliance and security requirements before migrating to the cloud. It is super important for protecting your data in clouds, especially if you are dealing in healthcare or the financial sector.  

• Modernizing applications is crucial for ensuring the smoothness of the migration process  

• Just like you check for weather updates before going out for a trip, similarly, conducting a thorough risk assessment and mitigation plan is important for identifying challenges that might arise during the migration process.  

5. Select the cloud service provider  

Next comes the step of choosing a reliable cloud service provider who can meet your organization’s needs. But don’t simply replicate your on-premises architecture as cloud migration is a paradigm shift. 

A lot of cloud hosting platforms are available in the market such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.  

You need to consider various factors before making a choice such as – 

• type of cloud service you need depending on the size of the organization,   
• their pricing structure (cloud product costs, data transfer costs, scaling costs)  
• How will your data be stored and encrypted?  
• Does the cloud service provider comply with specific regulations such as HIPPA, GDPR, ISO, etc?  

6. Setting up the cloud environment  

While you are migrating the data to the cloud, you need to ensure that your data is protected.   

• Conduct regular vulnerability assessments  
• Keep an eye on emerging security threats and adjust your security plans accordingly  
• Implement encryption to protect your data  
• Make use of cloud compliance tools and frameworks  

7. Optimize your cloud environment 

You can set up a cloud environment by using Kubernetes and containers. With serverless computing (AWS LaMDA, Google Cloud function), developers need not worry about managing infrastructure. They just need to write code and deploy applications. 

A cloud-based infrastructure costs less than traditional server hosting methods.  

Though cloud transformation does not require physical infrastructure, when you migrate to the cloud, cloud optimization matters the most.   

A research study indicates that organizations spend nearly 30-35% on public cloud. So, a cloud cost optimization strategy is required to improve the performance of applications and optimal utilization of cloud resources.  

Various monitoring tools provide key insights into improving the performance of apps, identifying bottlenecks, and optimal utilization of cloud resources.   

Auto scaling is an effective tool for organizations to scale up or down virtual machines.  

For Instance – You can get autoscaling features from third-party cloud service providers such as Amazon Web services, and Google cloud services.  

Tips for Creating a Successful Cloud Transformation Strategy in 2024  

Here are some tips businesses should follow to create an effective cloud transformation strategy-  

1. Finding skilled cloud leaders  

With an increasing demand for cloud migration, organizations struggle to find skilled professionals who have expertise in working with the cloud.  

An organization gets a massive return on technology investment when experienced professionals have access to such technology.  

Companies should invest in the learning and growth of individuals which is not only about migrating applications to the cloud, but they should get the workforce ready to use the cloud.  

Therefore, cloud leaders are hired to formulate cloud strategies, solve cloud-related challenges, and craft risk mitigation strategies.  

2. Leveraging the use of cloud architecture and design patterns 

During the cloud transformation process, consider making use of cloud architecture and design patterns. A cloud center of excellence team is responsible for managing and adopting cloud strategy across the organization.  

3. Adopting a cloud-smart approach  

Follow the “lift and shift” approach meaning instead of blindly copying everything, migrate those tasks to the cloud that your business needs.  

Instead, you can use containerization and orchestration to achieve flexibility.  

4. Workload optimization  

In setting up a cloud environment, you can optimize workloads on the go.  

One of the benefits that cloud architecture provides is auto-scaling features. You can increase or decrease the resources depending on changes in workload demand.   

Conclusion

Businesses can unlock various opportunities when they shift to the cloud. Cloud migration transforms the way businesses operate by encouraging them to build digital solutions faster and achieve a competitive edge.  

Thanks to CLOUD, businesses can transform their IT infrastructure and meet their cloud transformation goals.  

A report from Forrester states that nearly 52% of business leaders considered cloud migration as a top priority.  

In this ever-changing world, businesses need to adapt themselves to technological changes. This is possible when they create a cloud migration strategy. Thus, they can react to market demand, scale their IT resources, and keep pace with their competitors.  

So, if your business does not have a cloud strategy yet, consider thinking of partnering with a DevOps consulting company that creates opportunities for tomorrow.   

By collaborating with BigOhTech, you can get expert guidance from experienced docDevOps consultants who will assess your existing IT infrastructure and deliver high-quality results for your business.  

We have a dedicated team of DevOps consultants who have hands-on experience in various technologies such as Docker, Cloud SQL, SQS/SNS, etc. 

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