Today’s enterprises are always looking for ways to accelerate their business processes and gain an edge over the competition. Technology allows them to do so and one of the most disruptive technologies in recent years has been cloud computing. We’re seeing businesses turning to the cloud at a very rapid rate for its cost-efficiency, scalability, agility and flexibility.
A recent global research report commissioned by Barracuda Networks titled Unlocking the Benefits of Public Cloud confirms the fact that cloud adoption is indeed growing, with 40% of global respondents having some percentage of their infrastructure in the cloud. Moreover, a whopping 99% said that their organizations have seen benefits as a result of moving to the public cloud.
But before a company migrates to the cloud, they must become Cloud Ready. This concept of cloud readiness refers to the careful pre-planning which is absolutely vital. It is a complex endeavour with many variables to be considered. What business outcomes do you wish to achieve by moving to the cloud? Do you go with private, public or hybrid cloud? Do you go all in, leverage the cloud to supplement existing workloads or integrate cloud workloads with existing on-premises systems? Which cloud provider or vendor do you work with? Is vendor lock-in, data sovereignty or security a serious concern?
Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Each business has specific requirements, objectives and use cases for the cloud that are unique to them. Therefore, conducting a detailed cloud readiness assessment and devising a solid migration strategy will not only help them determine whether a move will be beneficial, but will also assist them in making the right cloud decisions and choosing the type of cloud deployment that suits them best.
Only then will companies be able to leverage the full potential of the cloud, take their business to the next level as well as save themselves from future headaches and unnecessary expenses due to poor planning, lack of foresight or simply because they got too carried away by the hype.
