According to the most recent State of the Cloud report from RightScale, 95 percent of enterprises and SMBs are already using cloud solutions. Despite the high adoption rates, most private cloud projects leave a lot to be desired. As explained by Tom Bittman from Gartner, adopters of private clouds often use the wrong technologies, focus on the wrong benefits, or end up doing too much at the same time while optimizing too little.

Having a bullet-proof cloud migration strategy is essential for leveraging the full benefits of the cloud, such as its scalability, performance, security, affordability, and adaptability. This article features the most essential steps you must take to come up with a clear roadmap that will lead you to your goal.

Involve All Stakeholders

Migration to the cloud is a huge change for any business and its employees, not just C-suite executives. All stakeholders should participate in collective discussions, allowing them to voice their concerns and provide suggestions early on rather than holding them off until later in the process. When employees understand the bigger picture and see how they will benefit from the new technology, they are much more likely to change their work habits, be excited about this new change and provide constructive feedback. 

IT departments, in particular, play a critical role as it’s a part of their job to facilitate the integration of applications with the chosen cloud solution. Their expert knowledge makes them the ideal advisors for executives. Its key to have their participation at every stage of the process. 

Consider Your Current Needs

Migrating to the cloud for the sake of migrating to the cloud is a bad move. “Before you get too far in planning your migration to the cloud, remember that you are making these changes for business reasons. You are more likely to be successful if you know those reasons and can provide the data supporting your decision,” explains New Relic in their cloud migration guide.

Analyze your existing information technology infrastructure and assess which applications would benefit from living in the cloud and which wouldn’t. Not all applications are good candidates for cloud migration, and it does not make sense to spend time and energy trying to move them away from the local infrastructure when they work perfectly fine as they are.

Choose the Right Cloud Vendor

Once you have all the stakeholders on board and understand your needs, it’s time to choose the right technology partner who can meet your requirements at an affordable price. Your cloud provider should have experience, a proven track record of success, and the ability to flexibly suggest solutions that effectively solve your problems, rather than creating new ones. Ask your potential provider lots of questions to ensure they're the right fit. 

At Athena Cloud, we can help you simplify your information technology infrastructure by providing you with state-of-the-art cloud services at affordable prices. With us, you have everything you need to rise above your competition and dominate your industry.

Prepare a Cloud Migration Plan

A cloud migration plan is like a map that every stakeholder can follow. Having a map keeps everything in order, ensuring that everyone understands the process of the migration. A concrete timeline keeps the migration process moving forward at a steady pace, while budget estimations help gauge how cost-effective the entire endeavour is.

Part of your cloud migration plan should be security policies created to securely transfer sensitive data from your local infrastructure to the cloud. In the current cyber-security climate, it’s not enough to have your data encrypted and secured in the cloud—it’s paramount to protect them even while in transit. Your cloud provider should be able to assist you with this. 

Get Ready for Showtime

To reap as many benefits from your new cloud solution, it’s important to train your employees properly. They should have at least a rough idea of how the technology works and be comfortable using it.

There’s no doubt that the challenges associated with migration to the cloud are worth it. With careful planning and a reliable cloud vendor, you can easily overcome them and enjoy the many benefits that the cloud offers.