Embarking on the journey to the cloud can pose challenges for organizations of all sizes. However, small businesses face unique obstacles due to limited budgets and a shortage of skilled IT personnel. From starting the cloud transformation process to optimizing operations with DevOps practices and artificial intelligence integration, small businesses may feel overwhelmed by the complexity of navigating the cloud.
Four Essential Functions of Cloud Partners
Collaborating with a knowledgeable partner, small businesses should concentrate on four critical aspects to ensure they achieve their cloud objectives while maintaining robust security, governance, and cost control measures.
1. Planning and Blueprint
Partner with your chosen expert to assess your current position in the cloud journey and identify your business goals. At this initial stage, you will require advice on the overall cost of different options, whether staying on-premises, adopting a hybrid cloud strategy, or transitioning entirely to the cloud. By modeling costs over varying timeframes, such as three, five, and seven years, you can pinpoint the break-even point for cost savings.
2. Protection and Oversight
Your cloud strategy should outline how you will establish a secure environment that safeguards applications and data, ensuring secure access to the cloud. This involves securing the network perimeter, implementing policy controls, adhering to compliance regulations, and aligning with existing security protocols.
3. Transition and Upgrade
Design your migration strategy based on your business requirements, moving interdependent applications and data together. When initiating application migration, you will need a landing zone—a secure, fully provisioned cloud environment ready to host workloads and linked to your on-premises data center. The application rationalization process, determining which workloads are suitable for rehosting, refactoring, or rearchitecting for cloud-native benefits, can be intricate, requiring guidance from a reliable partner.
4. Financial Management and Operations
Establishing a cloud center of excellence—a team of IT and business leaders overseeing the cloud initiative—can optimize your cloud strategy. This team sets standards, enforces the multiyear cloud roadmap, and ensures centralized oversight. Additionally, developing a FinOps framework with your partner can help manage cloud costs effectively, aiming to maximize cost savings and operational efficiency.
