For companies today, going to the cloud is not a question of "if", but of "when". Because without cloud services, you are no longer competitive in virtually any industry. And in fact, the race has long since begun, because with many software providers, most notably Microsoft and SAP, you can hardly get around Software as a Service (SaaS).
On the other hand, most cloud migration projects do not necessarily go as planned. In a global survey by McKinsey (2021), 75 percent of the participating IT decision-makers said that their cloud projects had cost more than planned, and 38 percent had gone over schedule. And according to a study commissioned by Fortinet (IHS Markit 2019), almost three quarters (74%) of the companies surveyed have moved already migrated individual applications back to on-premises systems, primarily for performance and security reasons.
This article explains how you can avoid such mistakes and make your move to the cloud successful – and why SoftwareOne makes the difference.
When it comes to cloud migrations, two metaphors vie for the favour of the writing guild: the "cloud journey" and the "move to the cloud" – as if to a new house. Both metaphors are useful in different ways for a better understanding of the issue.
Moving house has a lot in common with a cloud migration: you need to find a new home for your workloads that will meet your needs for as many years as possible. You have to plan the whole thing carefully, also taking into account that you might not want to take your entire inventory with you if the new domicile already contains furniture or offers different conditions. It also becomes clearer that the ad hoc decision of a business department for a certain SaaS solution is not such a move, but rather like the spontaneous renting of a small second home.
The "Cloud Journey", in turn, makes it clear that migration to the cloud is not a one-off project with a limited timeframe like most moves. Once the "move" is successfully completed, the "journey" has only just begun. The cloud is not the destination here either, as is often assumed, but rather the area in which one travels around. The destination of a cloud journey is rather the implementation of strategic corporate goals, continuous further development and ultimately the vision that a company creates of its future.
Both metaphors also have their limitations, of course. For example, they are less suitable for describing the reality of multi-cloud environments. According to the Flexera State of the Cloud Report 2023, almost 90 percent of companies worldwide are pursuing a multi-cloud approach, and most of them (almost three quarters of respondents) are using hybrid deployment models,
Let's stick with the moving metaphor for the moment – even though, depending on the cloud strategy, there may well be several moves coming up. This makes good planning all the more important in order to ensure that things run as quickly and smoothly as possible, that everything important continues to function perfectly after the move, but also that improvements are achieved to make the effort of moving worthwhile.
The great importance of planning and preparation is also shown by the McKinsey study cited above. The analysis of "outperformers" – those 15 percent who were able to implement their cloud migrations successfully and on time – revealed some relevant differences to the majority of respondents: Among other things, they had active CEO support, invested early in special know-how e.g. on DevOps or FinOps, and had more often developed the entire implementation plan, including security and compliance frameworks, in advance instead of relying on a series of individual initiatives.
It is important to approach the cloud migration in a planned, systematic and step-by-step manner and to use proven best practices for each individual step. As a SoftwareOne customer, you can draw on the know-how and experience of over 3,500 cloud experts around the world – and on a range of services that are precisely tailored to the requirements of demanding cloud migrations.
Even before concrete moves can be planned, there are a number of things to consider. The first question is: Where do I actually want to go? Where should my company be in the future, what are the strategic corporate goals? This leads to further questions: What is needed to achieve these goals? What role should the cloud play in this? And are we already ready for these changes? In short: you need a viable cloud strategy.
SoftwareOne helps you to develop this strategy. For example, we examine the customer's cloud and migration readiness over several days as part of a migration readiness assessment: Where are the greatest potential benefits for migration? Where are we on our way to the cloud? What are current strengths and weaknesses in terms of cloud readiness? How can identified gaps be closed and obstacles removed?
SoftwareOne operates vendor-independently and works with different important cloud providers, first and foremost AWS and Microsoft. But the suitability and cost-effectiveness of different cloud options can only be seriously assessed on the basis of a cloud provider's concrete portfolio and conditions. Therefore, in provider-specific assessment workshops, we work with you to determine which options are open to you for implementing your goals, what benefits and costs you should expect (total cost of ownership, TCO) and what specific optimisation potential may exist.
Given the trend towards multi-cloud, the question of which provider to implement a cloud strategy with is secondary. It is more important to ensure that the specific design of cloud usage fits the requirements of the company. To do this, you need to exactly know these requirements. This means: Before the move, you need to get an overview of your inventory, work out what you can put where in the new home and also sort out what is dispensable.
McKinsey reports on a global pharmaceutical company that wanted to move almost all of its workloads to the cloud, but after 12 months had achieved only 40 percent of what it had planned by then – at 50 percent higher costs. The company had to radically reduce the scope of its cloud adoption plans and chose to retire more applications rather than move them.
With services from SoftwareOne, this could have been avoided in advance. One example is our Optimisation and Licensing Assessment (OLA), which supports the development of an optimal migration and licensing strategy for AWS. Using discovery tools, we analyse your current on-premises server landscape and determine the actual resource utilisation to identify optimisation potential for corresponding cloud deployments. We also explore options to continue using your existing Microsoft licences. The result is a business case including TCO estimates for on-premises and cloud.
Application Discovery and Assessment goes one step further. Here we provide you with a comprehensive overview of existing application stacks and their dependencies. On this basis, we evaluate the benefits, complexity and risks of various migration approaches (the "7 Rs") – such as "Rehost", "Refactor", "Replace" or "Retire" – for each application and give you a clear recommendation for the optimal path to the cloud.
You feel comfortable in your new home, even if not everything is in place yet. But not all of your old furniture and appliances still serve their purpose optimally. So step by step, you create a modern environment according to your wishes, which is also sure to meet future requirements.
It is not for nothing that the third phase of the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP), designed by the global market leader in public cloud services AWS, is called "Migrate & Modernize". Without modernisation, a cloud migration generates no added value. At AWS, "Modernize" generally refers to workloads. These are primarily your applications, but also include databases, storage or mainframes, for example. SoftwareOne also supports you here with a range of Professional Services.
Our Application Modernisation Services help you assess, plan, develop and implement application modernisations – always according to your requirements and schedule. Cloud-native applications, preferably with microservice architecture, enable more productivity, agility and cost control: SoftwareOne customers typically save up to 40 percent of cloud costs after restructuring and also gain added value through new cloud features. Specifically, we help you restructure and optimise your existing applications (Refactor), move your existing code to a new application architecture (Rearchitect) or develop applications from scratch (Rebuild). In addition, we offer services e.g. for database modernisation, containerisation or the transition to cloud-native architecture and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in order to exploit all the advantages of the cloud.
If you did everything right when moving, your new domicile is the perfect basis to advance: technically, organisationally, business-wise. But the bigger the new house, the more there is to do. Unlike a house, however, your cloud environment grows with you – a process in which there are many levers for the continuous optimisation of equipment, operation and costs.
With SoftwareOne Cloud Services, you can enjoy all the benefits of the cloud in a sustainable way. This includes Professional Services such as Security Posture Assessment, DevOps Assessment or FinOps Discovery, but also our Managed Cloud Services (which we offer in three packages, Essentials, Advanced and Premium) to ensure secure, reliable and efficient operation of your cloud infrastructure, optimise your cost structure and support your growth.
If you would like to know more, then read our white paper right now: The perfect start to your cloud journey: How SoftwareOne supports your move to the AWS cloud.
If you would like to know more, then read our white paper right now: The perfect start to your cloud journey: How SoftwareOne supports your move to the AWS cloud.
