Forbes Technology Council members shared their insights on migration strategies to the Cloud to help businesses maximize their opportunities.
1. Savings plan and long-term liabilities
According to Bob Fabien Zinga, organizations considering relocating their infrastructure to the cloud should for 3-6 months vigorously monitor their expenses, record the parameters of speed and resource utilization. Where it is possible and logical – sign a long-term collaboration agreement (Reserved Instances) with the Cloud provider and include those resources whose usage scope can be predicted. This will help to save the necessary resources.
2. Assessment and management of cyber security threats
“The security of the cloud infrastructure needs to be taken care of in advance so that not to have problems or unnecessary headaches later,” says John Shin, a member of the Technology Council. Security threats happen mostly due to rushed migration to the Cloud, lack of planning and preparation. It is necessary to anticipate potential threats and activate the necessary security elements in the Cloud – Security-IN-the-Cloud.
3. Firewalls, virus protection and automated updates
Adam Stern points out that it is not essential to have expensive or complex firewalls. However, having more complex Cloud security solutions than what is intended for the typical user is a must. Firewall solutions, anti-malware solutions, and automated updates are crucial for in-Cloud security.
4. Select a Multi-Cloud or Hybrid Cloud environment
“A strategy of multiple cloud environments enables a more optimised efficiency of the costs. This allows us to diversify risks, innovate flexibly and retain the advantages of product functionality, ”says Nicola Morini Bianzino.
5. Data management strategies that include Backup and Recovery solutions
To keep your most valuable asset – data – secure, you need to have a reliable IT and Cloud infrastructure management strategy. “This strategy should be complemented by solutions that enable efficient backup, data replication, and recovery procedures to maintain full access to information and continuity of business operations from any location at any time,” said Danny Allan, the equipment expert. It is even better to refactor migrated applications into high-availability solutions. which make the most of Cloud-native technologies, to ensure excellent business continuity.
6. Holistic thinking advantages
According to B. Roy, holistic thinking comes in handy when planning Cloud infrastructure. This will result in software or its individual components interacting with each other even more effectively, generating synergies to avoid additional costs and operating efficiently. When choosing software, plan the interoperability and integrity of the software, which will enable the activation of automation solutions and speed up processes.
7. Manage your Cloud resources dynamically
Kris Beevers says that the company should have a Cloud Services team or a reliable partner for managed Cloud services. Based on Cloud workload and resource needs, modern practices should be used to manage Cloud service volumes and costs, optimize performance and so on. According to Kris, it is useful to have a monitoring platform, where you can see all your Cloud services and its operating parameters.
8. More Cloud-native services
“Cloud infrastructure management requires a different mindset from the conventional one,” says Patel. If you do not use Cloud native services, Lift-and-Shift migration alone will certainly not help to optimize the costs due to not being able to activate serverless or automated resource replication solutions or other managed Cloud services. From our experience, the companies that not only migrate to the Cloud but also refactor their applications to use as many Cloud-native services as possible (ranging from DBaaS, Kubernete / AKS, to App Services or even AWS Lambda / Azure Functions serverless services) succeed significantly more in terms of cost savings as well as speed and business satisfaction.
9. Utilization of monitoring and management capabilities
Often companies manage more than one Cloud. “Multi-Cloud monitoring and management solutions can help proactively address challenges before they become a problem and a headache,” said Brian Keith, Microsoft’s representative on the Forbes Technology Council.
10. Cloud Virtual Desktop
Mr. Tyler Rohrer recommends Cloud solutions for remote work when the user has enough screen and access keys to connect to their workstation. Virtual workplace solutions allow managing user access lever and required resources remotely, but for this a user migration strategy and the right software are required..
Our insight:
By the way, this Cloud service is especially useful for companies with high staff turnover, dynamic workforce and limited supply of computer equipment (for example, in recent COVID times, the company with a new employee and the need for a new computer has to wait longer than usual).
11. Are there any unnecessary resources?
Gavin McMurdo urges you to keep a track of ordered resources that you don’t need while it still costs. Most Cloud resources are outsourced, so you need to turn them off when you’re not using them. You can reactivate them if needed. The expert notes that some managed Cloud service providers charge extra for network intermediate costs, others do not, so don’t forget to monitor your accounts.
Our insight:
Typically, up to 20-30% of a regular customer account for AWS / Azure that applies to BTT Cloud as a managed Cloud service provider consists of unused or redundant resources. This is usually in quick-wins, which helps to quickly reduce the customer’s bill. This is followed by more complex work on infrastructure improvement, development, application refactoring and increasing the productivity of programmers.
12. Functional access
One way to optimize Cloud costs is with job-based access or resource protection solutions that allow users to access the Cloud resources they need and reduce the risk of IT shadows.
13. SASE solutions
With the rapid applicability of Cloud solutions, different security solutions tailored for working from the office are not suitable for protecting the workplace at a distance. “To protect Cloud, businesses can take advantage of a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution that incorporates easy use, cost-effectiveness and security,” says A. Kahol from Bitgalass.
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