Are legacy systems holding you back? Unlock your business’ potential with our pathway to smooth cloud modernisation.

Moving your organisation into the cloud can be like setting sail across the ocean to a distant destination. You know it will be wonderful when you get there but there’s a lot to navigate before that happens. Just like you wouldn’t head off across unchartered seas without a map, compass and provisions, it’s important to have a plan before you embark on your cloud modernisation journey. 
A clear, step-by-step process gives you a smooth path to cloud migration, so you can avoid the murky waters of business disruption, cost blowouts, security misconfigurations and incorrectly set up tools and applications. 
When plotting your route, consider the three Ps of successful cloud migration – platform, partner and plan.
 

Simplify your cloud journey with the right platform and partner

It would be incredibly risky to sail into the unknown without expert guidance and the right equipment. A leading platform like Google Cloud with the support of an experienced partner can make your journey to the cloud safer and faster. 
If you’re tied to legacy software, you might experience challenges around scalability and responding to market needs, expensive on-premise infrastructure and concerns about security and compliance. A Google Cloud partner like NCS can help you use Google Cloud’s VMware Engine to get your applications into the cloud quickly, while preserving their existing functionality to avoid disruption.  
Once in the cloud, you can benefit from reduced hardware, maintenance and operational overheads. Your partner can also help you harness Google Cloud’s advanced security infrastructure to keep your data safe and compliant, and unlock innovative AI tools to optimise your business processes.

Every successful cloud journey has a plan

Without a clear plan, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of complexity when migrating to the cloud. Business critical services can go down, data can go astray or you can face challenges integrating services across your business. 
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five simple steps that can get – and keep – your business on the right track for a successful migration.

1. Assess

Before starting the migration process, do a full assessment of your business and your goals. Think about what your pain points are and what you want to achieve before you start looking at systems. This way you can make sure your new cloud environment is set up to meet your needs from the start. 
Reviewing all your applications and identifying the business-critical ones allows you to pin-point potential business risks and put strategies in place to mitigate them. Also consider how you will communicate the changes to stakeholders and make sure everyone is on board.

2. Plan

Plan and design your migration. Think about what your new environment will look like and create a step-by-step plan to move into the cloud. 
One way to do this is to break it down per application – consider the functionality of each application to the business or your customers and make sure everything you build has value. Prioritise your business-critical applications and look at how you can preserve them as much as possible to avoid disruption. If there are other less critical applications, consider whether you can find a more efficient or cost-effective alternative from your cloud provider.

3. Build

Now, create your cloud environment. Transparency is important – make sure you understand what your cloud migration provider is doing at each stage of the build. It’s also important to have clear documentation for any coding customisation or changes to your business applications, so you can easily modify or add features later as your business needs change.

4. Migrate

Next, it’s time to move your systems into your new cloud environment. Instead of going full steam ahead from the start, consider a staged approach to migration, starting with the most business critical or higher cost applications. But make sure there’s room to adapt to unexpected events – like suddenly shifting business priorities or a disaster.

5. Optimise

The journey doesn’t end once migration is complete. Cloud platforms are constantly releasing new features. Regularly reviewing and updating your applications means you can constantly improve efficiencies and use the most up to date technology for your business. You can start to build new applications and use tools like Google Cloud’s AI and machine learning products to keep your business moving forward.