Once you’ve decided to transition a particular system or an area of infrastructure to the cloud, there are certain steps you should take to ensure that you don’t create unnecessary challenges for the process. While there are bound to be a few obstacles, these steps remove them wherever planning ahead can make a difference.
Step one: Get buy-in from your board, key line-of-business managers, vendors, and users by explaining the overall goals of the transition to the cloud. Sharing what you intend to accomplish keeps your team focused for decisions as you move forward in the process.
Step two: Review your existing contract on the systems you’re currently using and considering replacing. If you are forced to pay termination fees, you’ll want to include that in your analysis for the total cost of ownership. It may work out for you to time a transition to contract renewal and avoid paying penalties.
Step three: Define the requirements of your business for the new system. There are two sub-steps to this process:
- Take the opportunity to determine which business processes could be redefined, improved, or replaced by new processes in the cloud. This is the step that offers an organization the ability to realize significant cost savings or deliver improved services.
- Examine your proposed new system to ensure that you won’t lose any critical business functionality. Your new cloud solution may not have the depth of features that you’re accustomed to, so it’s important to carefully document the processes that each department uses and outline requirements for the new system.
Step four: Examine your connectivity and how you’ll create back-up solutions for a system that relies on the ability to reroute connections in case of a connectivity problem.
Step five: Consider your plan for the transition. Will you move all areas of your system at once, or will it be an incremental move? As you move forward, do you have a way to make adjustments if testing reveals that a total, single migration is a mistake?
Step six: Consider the level of support you’ll need, and what types of items you would like covered in your service level agreement. You need to know the level of control you’ll have over your configuration and users, and when you’ll have to call the provider to make a change. In your service level agreement, be sure to determine penalties for a failure, and how a failure will be defined.
Step seven: Consider your approach for training. If your staff has been using a desktop system, the transition to cloud can be a big change. Think about whether some components can be offered through a webinar or if on-site training is preferable in some situations.
Moving to the cloud is a big change, but there are steps you can take to ease the transition. At AMD Technology we make your migration to the cloud easier by matching you with the provider that best fits your needs. Contact us for more information about a switch to the cloud.