It is advantageous for companies to migrate their applications to the cloud. Because the cloud makes many digital innovations possible in the first place, however, a lot can go wrong on the way to the cloud: A lack of know-how, unrealistic deadlines or choosing the wrong platform are common stumbling blocks.
If planned correctly, migration to the cloud can become a successful project. The provider of cloud services Rackspace has put together three points that are important when planning:
Get an overview of the application portfolio
The application portfolio of most companies looks something like this:
- 10 percent: Modern apps, including microservices, cloud-native, mobile
- 30 percent: legacy applications, including client-server, mainframe, UNIX/C
- 60 percent: Everything else, including Java, Java Enterprise Edition-based, .NET, web applications
First, companies should assign their applications to these groups and identify dependencies such as server configurations or security requirements within the ecosystem or outside the application. Then it is necessary to select the group with which the migration should start to achieve maximum results.
In addition to the applications that are already in the cloud or can be migrated without much effort and those that should not be moved to the cloud due to the high risk, the third category is the most promising. In our experience, moving these applications to the right public or private cloud can save organizations high costs.
Lift applications to the appropriate cloud
So the goal should be to migrate and modernize the third category without increasing complexity, challenges and costs. The following questions help companies prioritize their migration accordingly: What does the architecture look like? Does it follow cloud-based principles for high availability, or is it dependent on your current infrastructure? What tools do you use to manage and enforce security policies around the application? What tools are used to control access to the systems?
Organizations should also opt for a cloud for each application. For example, cloud-native applications with no external dependencies are well suited to a managed public cloud. With more complex data center dependencies, others can be moved to managed private clouds as a service more quickly and with less risk.
Find a tailor-made cloud solution with expert know-how
Rapid migration with reduced risk is the quickest way to recover and save. More and more companies are finding that a partner with in-depth expertise in public, private and hybrid cloud solutions offers the best path to success. They bring their applications into the right cloud with expert know-how – quickly, economically, and with the lowest risk.
Rackspace customers, for example, have recently been able to select exactly the services they need from service blocks and for which experts provide customized and optimized results. Companies save between 40 and 60 percent of the costs when switching to a managed private or public cloud service. A good part of this comes from hardware utilization, better administration tools, and self-service.
Also Read: Secure The Cloud With Best Practices