Transitioning from legacy on-premise infrastructure to the cloud can be a complex undertaking. However, common pitfalls and challenges can readily be avoided with the right plan and cloud transformation services in place.
First of all, let's make things clear. Cloud transformation and cloud migrations are not the same thing.
Cloud migrations involve moving data from local servers to a public cloud environment, often without making material changes to the solution architecture – you may hear people talk about this as the ‘lift and shift’ approach. It’s an important part of the journey and can be fast, but there’s more to be done if you want to maximise value. Cloud transformation, on the other hand, focuses on modernising an organisation’s entire IT ecosystem including hardware, software, data management, and security, so that it leverages the enhanced functionality and innovative technologies available with the cloud.
All successful cloud transformations take things a step further to consider the people within an organisation. Great transformations can have a huge impact on how teams work together, how businesses structure themselves, how they acquire talent, the user experience, and how quickly they can go to market with innovative products and services.
Florin Preda
Director of Technical Services (Engineering) at Nasstar
"Moving operations to the cloud isn't simply relocating information; it's a complete makeover of a company's digital footprint. By focusing on both the technological and human aspects of transformation, companies can avoid common pitfalls and provide their workforce with a new kind of innovation- enabling agility."
Flexibility
Cloud allows multiple teams to collaborate and work simultaneously across geographies in various time zones. They’ll be able to access company platforms almost anywhere with an internet connection.
Cost Control & Usage-based Billing
Through user-friendly platforms, you’ll be able to track and manage your spending once you’ve moved to the cloud, only paying for services that are consumed.
Operational Efficiency
Consolidation means operations teams can spend less time on procurement and management of services, and more time on core business activities.
Data Security
An optimised cloud environment offers multiple levels of security and control to ensure data is protected and easy to recover.
Landing Zone
This will help you decide what to deploy and where to deploy it while adhering to the guardrails outlined in your organisation’s governance strategy.
Talent Acquisition & Retention
Your commitment to cloud transformation will help to attract the best and brightest innovators around.
Why Nasstar?
Through a consultative approach, our cloud transformation services will help you to reap the benefits of the cloud and transition away from outdated processes and infrastructure.
With expertise that spans all major cloud platforms, including AWS and Azure , we’re here to manage every part of your transformation, from strategic planning to the delivery of a secure and optimised cloud environment.
Cloud Transformation Case Studies
FAQs
Cloud transformation is essential for businesses, unlocking numerous opportunities and allowing organisations to stay responsive and competitive in crowded marketplaces. The public cloud offers access to IT services on a pay-as-you-go basis, fundamentally impacting how a business can operate and adapt to market demands. Infrastructure is owned by the vendor and stored off-site, allowing organisations to acquire IT resources only when needed and pay based on usage, eliminating maintenance and capital expenditure, and drastically reducing operational costs.
Cloud transformation services also open organisations up to discussions about advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and analytics. Through the cloud, businesses can quickly prototype, test, and scale next-generation solutions.
While cloud transformation offers numerous benefits, it also presents several challenges. Migrating applications and data to the cloud can be complex, requiring careful planning and expertise, especially for organisations with legacy systems. The rapid evolution of cloud technologies creates a skills gap, making it hard for organisations to find or develop the necessary expertise. Security and compliance are also concerns, as businesses must ensure proper configuration and adherence to industry regulations and data protection laws.
By leveraging expert guidance, businesses can navigate their cloud transformation journey more effectively and unlock the full potential of cloud technologies.
Cloud transformation is the process of transitioning a business’ data and applications to the cloud. It involves modernising and optimising the entire ecosystem to meet your business objectives. This includes everything from hardware and software to data management and security.
However, cloud transformation is also about changing how teams work. As part of Nasstar’s cloud transformation services, we consider ways you may wish to optimise your organisation structure and design, talent acquisition and enablement, and operating model adaptations required to capitalise on cloud.
Delve deeper into cloud transformation in this blog.
When businesses choose cloud transformation, they open themselves up to a plethora of benefits. Some of the key benefits of cloud transformation are:
- Cost control and efficiencies
- Data security improvements with multiple layers of security
- Operational efficiency and flexibility in resource allocation Improved customer experiences
- Greater talent acquisition and retention
- Greater flexibility
- Opportunity for scalability
The cloud can help a business to focus on digital transformation by removing them from the undifferentiated heavy lifting of operations. This means they can redirect time and resources into differentiating themselves from their competitors and focusing on critical business requirements. Additionally, the rate of innovation helps to drive meaningful change to market at a faster pace. Digital transformation and cloud computing often go hand in hand. The cloud provides organisations with the technology they need to transform operations, improve agility, and speed up innovation without infrastructure limitations.
Cloud transformation can be a lengthy and complex process, and it’s not unusual to encounter some disruption to normal business operations. However, these disruptions can be minimised and mitigated with careful planning. Some steps to consider include:
- Create a well-designed transformation plan or work with a highly experienced cloud managed cloud service provider like Nasstar to prioritise the migration of business-critical applications
- Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms to ensure critical systems and apps are still available even if there is an outage during migration
- Conduct thorough testing and validation to identify potential issues before they cause problems
- Deploy a phased approach to minimise the impact on business operations
- Keep stakeholders informed and ensure their concerns are addressed to keep everybody on board with the transformation and why it is important for the organisation
During cloud transformation, there will inevitably be concerns about cloud security and privacy. Here are some of the key issues you might want to consider and address:
- Data risk – understand where your responsibility is and what lies with your cloud provider when it comes to securing your cloud environment. You should also identify any sensitive data and processes to be migrated and the legal/regulatory requirements applicable to them.
- Data protection – take all possible steps to protect your data from unauthorised access, modification, or loss. This could include encryption, hashing and key management techniques, backup and recovery strategies to prevent data loss or corruption, as well as implementation of advanced AI-powered security technologies
- Identity and access management – strong authentication and authorisation mechanisms are essential. These could include multifactor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO) and role-based access control (RBAC). The principle of least privilege could also be enforced to further protect your sensitive data and apps.
- Network security – firewalls, VPNs, and encryption protocols can be used to protect your network traffic from interception or disruption. Security tools should also be used to detect and prevent network attacks throughout the transformation.
