A checklist for stepping into Cloud

Before implementing cloud, it is important for a business to take a close look at its existing IT infrastructure, practices and technologies. Few things to keep in mind while migrating to cloud are:

1.Partnering with the right cloud vendor

While choosing a cloud provider, it is essential for a company to evaluate and choose the right partner with a proven track record in the market. An established cloud provider is well aware of potential pitfalls, has better market insight and the resources necessary to manage demands during peak hours. Moreover, support and training are critical for a new company when moving to cloud which essentially become key differentiating factors and the cloud provider should be equipped with it.

2.Is the cloud adoption really necessary?

Adopting cloud has its own benefits. A business should opt for cloud only if the cost and efficiency, post migration rules over the current services. It is not really required for all projects and may not even be suitable for some in the first place. For instance, keeping the ROI in perspective, if the existing services are meeting the business objectives and are cheaper than cloud then the migration is redundant. Cloud adoption makes more sense when it involves large scale of services that need flexibility or have variable/seasonal demand.

3.Architectural Considerations - Adopting the right cloud model

There are various cloud models available in them - public, private and hybrid . Depending on the requirement of each organization vis-a-vis data management, storage, security and compliance considerations, a right fit will have to be arrived at.

For example, a business operating in a vertical catering to sensitive data such as storing credit card info of millions of customers, should not opt for the public cloud model as the security and compliance codes associated with the business will necessitate much stricter control over data management and recovery.

Though public clouds may offer better price point benefit, private and hybrid clouds are more of a draw among customers as it offers a higher degree of control, efficiency and agility especially for large enterprises. Enterprises often turn to public clouds when they require for burst or peak capacity and/or for selective services.

4.Establish trust for data security

Prior to signing on with a cloud provider, an organization should conduct a thorough vetting of the procedures and processes followed by the provider such as:

• Who manages/monitors the data
• Where exactly will the data reside
• What are the protocols in case of emergency for data retrieval
• In case of multiple tenants, what are the guidelines in place to separate the two accounts

In addition, the cloud provider should also provide details around security testing and audits, IDS, IPS, firewall apart from clearly stating out the responsibilities and guarantees in the SLAs in situations such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that can greatly impair performance.

 

When starting with a cloud model, it is recommended that organizations adopt a cautious approach - start engagement with a version that takes care of non-critical tasks, measure performance and slowly scale up as required.

5.Compliance with SLA

Adopting the cloud does not entail restructuring of the entire existing IT system/structure. SLA contracts (internal or external) for cloud services are key compliance enforcement mechanisms and should be synchronized with an organization's unique requirements. Cloud transforms the economics of IT from capital-intensive to pay-as-you-go.  Service level agreements guarantee the capabilities you need, when you need them. Costs are tiered and metered to accurately reflect your requirements and usage.

6.Interoperability

Most enterprises like to ensure a migration path across multiple clouds to stay clear from the hazards of a vendor lock-in. This leads to the need for interoperability between the clouds through a standardization process. It's important that companies work with Standards bodies and partners to develop systems that let information flow through the ecosystem and deliver flexibility to integrate between applications and services.

7. Scaling

Every business looks at scaling up. Similarly, while opting for cloud, companies should provision for easy scalability and efficient management of resources keeping in view future projects. Scalability is not a default function when you deploy cloud, though PaaS deployments do come with some scalability from the existing environment. In order to scale up there is a need for applications to be placed behind auto-scalers within the cloud. While some service providers include it as a part of the entire package, most provide at additional cost.

8.Upgrade and maintenance schedules

This is one of the fundamental things to look out for when moving to cloud. It is crucial that the vendors are consistent with updating systems with the required security solutions. It is recommended that maintenance/upgrade windows are fixed beforehand so that the necessary testing can be completed in advance ensuring stability in service. Furthermore, downtime for both maintenance cloud services and applications can be combined to cut down the outages for customers using the application.

9.Legacy-to-Cloud Migration Planning

It is worthwhile to plan in detail the migration strategy and not underestimate the effort involved to thoroughly test critical enterprise application prior to embarking on this journey. Poor planning can cause disruptions to normal business operations that may prove very costly to recover from not to mention impact on goodwill with customers, suppliers and partners.

10.Enabler ecosystem

Migrating to cloud entails a complex infrastructure and includes domains such as computing, network, storage, security, software applications, tools and service management. It is critical for enterprises to focus on getting the entire Infra and applications stack aligned with the cloud strategy.