The Enterprise Journey to Cloud Adoption

"Migrate" comes from the Latin "migratio," meaning to move from one place to another. In information technology, migration entails understanding new systems' benefits, identifying current system shortfalls, planning, and transferring selected applications. Not all IT assets must be moved; migration can mean moving a part of them. This article will delve into the details of transferring IT assets to public clouds like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Many factors can influence the decision to switch to the cloud, such as expiring data center leases, the high costs of data center management, outdated hardware, software license renewals, geographical compliance needs, market growth, and the need to adjust resources to match demand quickly. Executive backing is crucial for a company to begin its cloud migration journey. This support is the cornerstone for any large-scale migration success. Leadership must unify their teams for the journey, as collaboration is essential. Attempts by isolated teams can lead to problems. Regular leadership meetings, whether weekly or bi-weekly, can overcome hurdles and keep the migration process on track.

A pivotal step in achieving successful cloud migration is the formation of a Cloud Steering Committee. This team unites technical experts to forge the initial cloud adoption patterns. The optimal team structure includes infrastructure, security, application, and operations engineers alongside a lead architect, all steered by a Cloud Steering Committee leader. Together, they establish objectives for security, availability, reliability, scalability, data cleansing, and compliance.

Embarking on the cloud migration journey can seem daunting when confronted with the vast array of applications and servers awaiting transition. There's no universal solution for migration; each enterprise faces unique challenges and opportunities. However, many organizations have successfully navigated their way to the cloud by exploring established frameworks and diverse migration strategies.

Framework

Evaluate and Discover

Enterprises must establish a strong business case by aligning their objectives with an understanding of their current applications' age, architecture, and limitations. Leadership engagement, clear communication, and a defined purpose are essential to unify the organization and set feasible goals and timelines for the migration. In addition, a comprehensive portfolio analysis is critical, including discovering the applications, mapping interdependencies, and formulating migration strategies and priorities. This stage determines the complexity and business impact of applications, guiding the migration sequence. Starting with non-critical, simpler applications helps the team to understand the new platform and understand the gaps.

Design and Migrate

After classifying the applications identified in the discovery phase—whether they are web, mobile, or database systems—a standard blueprint must be created for each type. Each application requires careful design, migration, and validation following one of six migration strategies, which will be discussed later in this paper. An ethos of continuous improvement is advised, involving regular assessments of the blueprint to identify and rectify gaps.

Modernize

Migration isn't just about moving applications; it's about optimizing them. This means decommissioning outdated systems and steadily refining the operational model. Consider this as an evolving synergy among people, processes, and technology that improves incrementally throughout the migration journey.

Migration Strategies

Retain

Some applications or segments of IT assets remain on-premises because they aren't suited for the cloud, don't deliver business value, or are not prepared for cloud migration. This could be due to dependencies on on-premises systems or data sovereignty issues.

Retire

Applications that no longer yield value to the business can be phased out. By retiring these systems, resources can be reallocated to more impactful business areas. 

Rehost

Commonly known as "lift and shift," this strategy is popular among enterprises for its ability to facilitate a swift migration to the cloud. It requires minimal alterations to the code, database, or architecture, allowing for a more straightforward transition.

Replatform

Often termed "lift-tinker-and-shift," this process involves minor optimizations to applications for cloud efficiency, such as software updates, configuration tweaks, or the use of cloud-native services like Kubernetes-as-a-Service or Database-as-a-Service. An example includes transitioning from traditional database services to a cloud-based option like Amazon RDS. 

Repurchase

This strategy comes into play when an application isn't suitable for cloud deployment or existing licensing agreements don't support a Bring-Your-Own-License (BYOL) model in the cloud. It involves switching to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform or working with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). For example, replacing an on-premises customer relationship management (CRM) system with Salesforce.

Refactor/Re-Architect

This more intensive approach requires redesigning and rebuilding the application from scratch to fully exploit cloud-native features, significantly enhancing agility, scalability, and performance. Though it's the most costly and time-intensive strategy, it positions businesses to seamlessly integrate future cloud innovations with minimal effort. A typical scenario is transforming an application from a monolithic architecture to microservices.

Conclusion

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for cloud migration, enterprises can benefit from analyzing successful migration journeys. Organizations can optimize their approach by emulating effective strategies and adapting them to their unique requirements. Taking the time to understand the new platform, learning from past missteps thoroughly, and refining processes are key steps toward meaningful outcomes. Moreover, it's strategic to prioritize migration projects based on business needs, considering factors such as complexity, revenue impact, operational criticality, and the timing of hardware upgrades. Additionally, investing in training for staff to master new tools and technologies is essential for a smooth transition to the cloud.