The pros and cons of cloud migration

Go to cloud or not to go, that is the question. There is no doubt – we all know cloud is the future, but is cloud for everyone? Do I get the best for my business if I will start using cloud? The answer can be yes or no, for others it will, for some it does not make a difference, and for some definitely not.

In this blog I will shortly discuss few scenarios which can help you to decide if cloud migration could be beneficial for you. If you can agree with most of the topicss, then you should really consider starting a move to the cloud. And even if you only agree with one scenario, cloud could be still an option for you as a hybrid cloud deployment model.

2. Do you want to be fast and innovative?

Cloud services are easy to deploy, and they offer plenty of services you may not have, or which do not make sense to invest in by yourself. Are you using traditional data center services from a 3rd party provider, or do you have your own DC? Volumes on even the largest DC providers are still small compared to the public cloud providers. They have more budget to build new solutions at a large scale. Costs will be easier to handle for them compared to a situation where you would start building your own data center. For a 3rd party vendor, it might also be an unsecure investment, hence it could take time to have the service available for the customer aka you.

For this scenario, cloud will give you an advantage. Using new technologies and methods will help you to stay on top as IT is constantly evolving.

3. Do you trust manual work or automation?

Operating IT services manually is time consuming and costly. Principle of cloud is to do everything with code (Infra as Code). This will allow rapid and repeatable deployments. But this is not all: As Infra does not run without applications, cloud has native support for application deliveries with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD). When combining IaC and CI/CD you can build robust, secure, and fault tolerant IT systems. Surely you may have the same options also in traditional DC, but in cloud they are available by default.

4. Are your needs small-scale?

Cloud provides an excellent platform to run small and medium scale environments at low cost. Cloud providers have many serverless services which are managed by them. You do not need to think about platform management, just focus on managing your own application or purchasing it from elsewhere. It’s easy to build fault tolerant and scalable web services with databases and messaging systems which cost just a few hundred euros or less per month. In some cases, you may not find a suitable 3rd party provider for your DC needs as business vs. service cost is too high. Large DC providers are focusing on big profits with less focus on smaller scale clients, so this may not be the right option for you. Cloud will allow you to have an easy platform where to build needed services without large up-front costs.

4. Would you like to have all-in-one provider?

Some cloud providers will also have end-user solutions. You don’t need to install any software to be able to run office applications or emails, and you don’t need to have your own Active Directory to manage your users accounts and identities. Software can be run on a web browser which is something that can be found on every device. This will provide an easy access to users for the applications and services that are on cloud. Using cloud-based access and device and user management will create you a secure environment (Zero-Trust) event to which users can access anywhere from different devices. Combining end-user services and IT systems to one provider can save costs and bring volume discounts.

4. Starting from scratch?

What if you don’t have anything ready or need to build everything from scratch again? In this case, consider using cloud, as you can have a set-up for cloud environment in minutes and implement common services from a marketplace in just a few clicks. Add or import your data and you are ready to go. Well, in reality it’s a little more than that, but it is a considerably smoother process than the traditional way. Or if your current application is too old to be used on a new platform, then use cloud and modernize your applications to the modern age. You will have a much longer application lifecycle with modern tools, and as a bonus you’ll have the possibility for an easier move between cloud providers with cloud native apps.

4. Finally, you don’t know what to do?

You can study and get familiar with public cloud possibilities and try to find out what could work for your business needs. This can though be overwhelming as the possibilities and market is so vast – in this case you may also ask help from companies like Siili. We can help you to create an overview of your current status and map out a plan for possible future scenarios. Then we can plan together what is the best journey for you to move to the cloud, starting from zero or moving to cloud with different migration paths.

Written by Timo Hulkko