In session one of our three-part re:Imagine Series in tandem with AWS re:Invent, Scott Evers, Enterprise Architect, and Michelle Bates, CIO, dive into the world of cloud and where to get started on your journey.
Making the move to the cloud can be nerve-wracking due to several risk and governance factors – but don’t sweat it. We’re here to help you Get There – whether you are just getting started, evaluating new solutions, or recently learned about a new off-prem pet-project that needs to be triaged.
Throughout the Involta town hall session, Scott discusses the four keys to success in cloud. From understanding the “why,” to designing and implementing a solution, we can help you achieve your business outcomes through cloud transformation.
Start with Why
Before you begin, you need to understand why you are starting your cloud journey. If you jump into your cloud journey without business outcomes in mind, you could be playing a dangerous game. There are four main areas you need to think about and prepare for before you move, otherwise they may end up costing you later.
- Innovation: There are 175+ tools in the AWS toolbox. Having that tool kit gives you unlimited flexibility on how you can use your services.
- Finance: Cloud services can save money if implemented properly and help you avoid large CapEx investments.
- Operations: Cloud can increase your resiliency, if implemented properly.
- Security: The right provider will improve compliance and will enable world-class security for your workloads.
You need to understand your business outcomes as they drive, and are essential to every successful cloud adoption.
Prepare and Govern with a Durable Operating Model
As you shift from your IT delivery model to a cloud delivery model, there are risks that require preparation. Effective governance focuses on the four main categories of risk: Financial, Compliance, Security, and Operational and entails a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE). Best practice CCoEs combine Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Technology, and Business to bring success and address risk proactively.
The CCoE also includes a Durable Operating Model with ten cloud necessitates to address new approaches to old problems, including Patching, Image Management, CMDB Integration, Operational Monitoring, Cloud Connectivity, Roles and Responsibilities, Billing Reports/Dashboards, Infrastructure as Code/Automations, Cloud Standards, and Security Operations.
To be successful using your new Durable Operating Model approach, you need to have collaboration across your business. People, process and technology must come together to establish a strong game plan for your organization.
Develop a Migration Approach
Part of the process involves understanding the absent services you have today and which ones will give you the biggest benefit when you move to the cloud, so you need to determine an approach that will best fit your business outcomes. Our workshop, “6 Rs Methodology to Cloud Transformation,” can help you get started.
The 6Rs establish a framework and strategy for moving workloads and applications to the cloud, taking into account the application complexity, the necessary cloud and cybersecurity toolsets, and the current industry best practices.
The 6Rs include:
- Rehost – move as-is to the cloud.
- Replatform – move to the cloud with some improvements.
- Repurchase – buy a cloud-based version of the same application.
- Refactor – re-architect all or some portion of the application.
- Retire – turn off the application.
- Retain – keep the application as-is with no modifications.
Align Architectures to Outcomes
Success doesn’t happen by accident in most cases. A thoughtful approach migrates through levels of design that will help you transition to the cloud. Our Service Design will take you from start to finish with two checkpoints along the way.
- Business objectives – What’s the opportunity?
- Contextual – What am I trying to achieve? Why, how, who, and when?
- Conceptual – Your approach.
- Checkpoint #1 – Business review – does it align to the business?
- Logical – Specific capabilities of existing architecture.
- Physical – Specific locations and how data will move back and forth.
- Checkpoint #2 – Technical review – what everything means from an actionable level.
- Detailed Design – Configuration details in a well-defined box of outcome reassurance.
- Solution – Congratulations, you got there!
IT is changing significantly when you move to the cloud, so it’s essential that you know where you are at in your cloud journey and how you can Get There with Involta.
Watch the full webinar to learn more about getting started on your cloud journey.
Don’t miss the next two re:Imagine events coming your way on December 14th and December 18th at 12:00pm CST. We have lunch covered – and you could win an Amazon shopping spree each day. Sign up for Migration and Management of Workloads and What’s on the Horizon.
