Cloud Computing
WHAT MAKES A GOOD MIGRATION
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The cloud space is raucous, with competing opinions, statistics and data. There’s plenty of information to be found out there—but knowing who and what to trust can be a challenge.
At the end of the day it is all similar technology; what’s different is how the provider makes the technology work for the customer.
While the benefits of cloud adoption are clear, it’s also an incredibly complex undertaking. As Gartner Analyst Richard Watson points out, a cloud migration is not a silver bullet: “All require architects to understand application migration from multiple perspectives and criteria…”
Before starting a migration plan, consider these critical questions:
- What business challenges do you want to address through cloud computing?
- What are your company’s needs for control, security and accountability?
- How will you integrate cloud services with the network?
- What are your users doing and what are their needs?
- How are you going to use your applications?
- What are your performance metrics?
The first step is working with Edge Network Services to develop a plan that gets to the heart of your business.
ONE CLOUD DOES NOT FIT ALL
Many cloud experts recommend hybrid configurations because they offer the best of both private and public clouds, balancing security needs with mission- critical applications that require 24 x 7 uptime. For example, a company might use public cloud for web, search engines and application servers, but use private cloud for their database servers.
Experts agree with this approach. Robert Jenkins at Cloud Sigma predicts 2014 will be the year of the hybrid cloud solution—and he’s not alone.
Gartner predicts, “Nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.”
WHAT MAKES A GREAT MIGRATION?
With the amount of complexity in a cloud deployment, there’s no template to follow. Every project is unique because every business is different.
While it’s tempting to jump in and get started with migration, the smarter approach is to begin with a thorough assessment of current technology, legacy
applications and business needs. A deliberate, thoughtful process makes your migration go more smoothly.
A stair-step approach often works best.
The clear path to the cloud is hybrid.
“While the vast majority of organizations have deployed cloud computing in some form, those that don’t make the move to cloud make that choice because of security.
Every survey conducted over the past two years … reflects that security is the primary cloud adoption concern.”
THE TRUTH ABOUT CLOUD SECURITY
In many cases, the physical security and data protection of a cloud services provider is better than your own on-premises solution. With a hosted cloud solution, you still decide who has control and access, but you can spend less time managing and monitoring the network. That gives you the freedom—and peace of mind—to focus on your core business. No matter what, good security begins with a deeper conversation about your business needs with your provider.
WHY BUSINESS IS MOVING TO THE CLOUD
63% of business leaders agree that the cloud can make their entire organization more business agile and responsive Up to 80 %of IT budgets are tied up in routine maintenance. Cloud frees up IT executives to think and act strategically 68% of IT managers see greater migration to the cloud as bringing equal or better total cost of ownership (TCO) to the organization
AGILITY,SCALABILITY & COMPETITIVE EDGE
CIOs and other IT leaders have good reason to consider the cloud. Many companies choose cloud for the savings it promises. What they find, however, is even more important:
Cloud enables your business to be more agile—and more competitive. Cloud offers businesses a variety of ways to achieve a positive return on investment (ROI):
Shifting capital to operational expenses, paying only for actual consumption and scaling to meet demand enables overall savings and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
However, a 2013 Gartner survey of more than 2,000 CIOs revealed that enterprises realize only 43% of the business potential of technologies, including cloud computing. To get the most out of the cloud, smart organizations consult a provider with the expertise necessary to provide a roadmap for achieving ROI and TCO goals.
Cloud offers businesses a variety of ways to achieve a positive return on investment (ROI): Shifting capital to operational expenses, paying only for actual consumption and scaling to meet demand enables overall savings and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). However, a 2013 Gartner survey of more than 2,000 CIOs revealed that enterprises realize only 43% of the business potential of technologies, including cloud computing. To get the most out of the cloud, smart organizations consult a provider with the expertise necessary to provide a road map for achieving ROI and TCO goals.
Edge Network Services also knows how costly IT hardware and services can be. That’s why Edge Network Services has the expertise in finding the right Web Cloud Services solution for your business that is affordable and scalable