Cloud strategy

Choosing the right cloud strategy

Choosing the right cloud strategy for your business might seem like a challenging undertaking. Should you move everything out to the public cloud, or do you require the added security and control of a private cloud? What are the disadvantages of moving to a private cloud, and would a hybrid cloud approach address any of them? Will you move all your applications at once, or use a staggered approach? What are the technical implications, the cost for moving? What about the cost for moving to another cloud provider?

Identifying the drivers and constraints

Before making a decision, you should identify the relevant drivers and constraint for moving into the cloud. What are the long-term strategic goals you want to achieve, what operational goals do you want to achieve, and in what time frame? What are your resource constraints in terms of budget, personell and know-how? Most likely, there are also legal constraints like GDPR or similar laws and regulations for your business that need to be factored into the decision.

Answering a lot of these questions already requires a profound understanding on how the cloud "works". For example, when moving a solutions that handles personal data - and most solutions do handle personal data at some level - you need to understand how the cloud stores and processes data, how encryption is implemented or what guarantuees the different cloud platforms give on handling and transfering personal data.

Cost control

Cost control is another relevant question when deciding to move into the cloud. There is no doubt about the possible savings that can be achieved when moving to the cloud, and cloud pricing models are readily available. The challenge lies in choosing the right service mix and migration strategy, that also matches your strategic and operational goals. Moving all your existing infrastructure as-is into the cloud, often called lift&shift, might seem like a quick and low-risk solution. If your only goal is to reduce capital expenditure, this will also be the right strategy to choose. Needless to say, you won't achieve long-term cost savings or increase of service quality without implementing other, additional improvements.

How Redpill Linpro can help

Redpill Linpro consultants have the necessary knowledge and understanding to help you with your decision, and often have the experience from similar situations. Our architects will be able to advise you on how to achieve your goals. They have the experience when it comes to choosing the right services, will flag possible constraints or challenges and will help you to establish a migration plan and budget. When it comes to implemention, wherever you have decided to go, our engineers will be able to help you towards a successful migration.