Cloud Computing is redesigning the way industries function across the globe. At least 70% of US companies are making use of this cutting-edge technology, according to IDG’s recent survey. However, few companies are still apprehensive about moving to the cloud and are caught in the clutches of a dilemma given the challenges in cloud migration. Here we present a few challenges, and solutions.
Security Concerns:
Several surveys have revealed that many companies, who are yet to switch to cloud services, are unable to bid-adieu to legacy systems. This is probably due to the questions such as—can the cloud be as secure as the current data center What if there’s an issue, can we trust the technical support?
Solution:
All the mainstream cloud service providers such as AWS, IBM, Azure etc., deal with these issues. They provide top-notch security to your data. The technical support functions 24/7 and they would deal with the problem in real-time. Also, cutting-edge information security and regulatory compliance solutions were rolled into the market that offer uncompromised security to your cloud. Some of them include—Sailpoint, Radiant Logic and Cyber.
Cost:
When it comes to embracing the cloud, the cost is undoubtedly one of the major barriers. According to Clutch’s second annual survey last year, at least 400 IT C rank officers were surveyed, and at least 47% said that increasing costs were one of the major challenges in this landscape, which is preventing certain enterprises from shifting to the cloud.
Solution:
Although cloud computing requires the company to shell out few extra bucks, it is comparatively peanuts if ROI is taken into consideration. Cloud will bolster your employees’ productivity by six times, which in turns results in higher return on investment. Clutch’s survey, while highlighting the cost barrier in switching to cloud, has highlighted the way this can be overcome. The report mentioned that extra expenses from cloud can be easily managed through proper monitoring.
Integration Complexities:
Studies indicated that several companies that invested heavily in updating their legacy IT infrastructure over the years were reluctant to move to the cloud due to integration complexities, which is a major barrier to cloud computing. According to Cloud & DevOps Survey, 41% of respondents from IT workforce have said the companies looked integration complexities as a major barrier to cloud adoption.
Solution:
Most of the leading cloud service providers such as AWS, Azure, Oracle Cloud and IBM Cloud have been providing cutting-edge cloud services that promise the integration of your silos and other crucial traditional infrastructure. Also, many service providers are providing Integration Platform as a Service (IPAAS). This will help customers in point-to-point integrations of the existing infrastructure.
Downtime:
Downtime is still a major concern in cloud computing space. Although it’s comparatively minimal, it can have a toll on the company’s reputation built over the years even as 18% IT workforce believed the same, according to a recent survey by CA Technologies. The survey even said that at least $26.5Bn is lost annually for every IT company due to unexpected downtime.
Solution:
Customers can make stringent SLAs with their service providers to levy hefty penalties to the latter in case the downtime exceeds more than the limit specified by the customer. This was exactly the situation a cloud service provider Telecomputing came across recently wherein they had to move many servers to Hyper-V from VMare. It was undoubtedly challenging for the company. They reportedly used Double-Take move the servers within 15 minutes without any violation to SLAs.
Transition & Adoption of Internal Users:
Embracing the transition of the cloud is often a major concern in cloud migration. In fact, a survey was conducted in 2016 that involved questioning over 1000 IT experts about the biggest challenges in cloud migration. While 32% of them said lack of resources was a major concern, 27% said that the major challenge was the lack of expertise. The existing employees who are used to legacy IT infrastructure apparently showed no or little interest in cloud. This is preventing some companies to completely shift to cloud services.
Solution:
The only possible solution to this challenge is training the existing workforce. In fact, National Australian Bank (NAB) recently announced that 2000 of its staff would undergo cloud training, which would be offered by AWS with funding from NAB. Every company, which is yet to shift to cloud, should understand that cloud would be embraced by internal users only when they get right information as to how to use cloud.
Cloud migration is undoubtedly going to dominate the IT landscape and we are already witnessing the rapid transition. In fact, several surveys predicted that at least 82% companies would be dependent on cloud computing by 2021. Just in case you are in search of the right service provider, Techwave can assist you in deployment. We handle end-to-end cloud service deployments and offer managed services. You can write to us at info@techwave.net.