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ICT CLOUD

Understanding the process of

migration key to success

in the cloud

By Willem Conradie, CTO and technical director at PBT Group

espite a rapid acceleration due to digital transformation and of course spurred
on by the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are still finding their way on the
Djourney to the cloud. What has become apparent is the number of challenges
that have come to light around certain aspects of this transition, especially around
how data is managed. Any business wanting to see long-term success from a move
to the cloud must understand that having a cloud migration framework in place is
imperative.
Not only will the framework help an organisation in defining its migration
strategy, but it will also result in putting in place the means to measure the value of
the cloud and define what will constitute a minimum viable product. This framework
cannot be cast in stone and must reflect the iterative and agile approach essential to
optimise a business environment for the cloud.
Companies will only be able to benefit from such a migration project when
employees can access insights from a cloud-based data platform. To help guide the
process, the organisation should focus on one use-case at a time that will enable
data professionals, business users and the cloud infrastructure teams to have
clarity and focus on the task at hand. Once the first use-case has been completed Willem Conradie
and is delivering on expectations, the organisation can then move on to the next
one, and so on.
This phased approach will help ensure that the data management capabilities Cloud adoption
and cloud data platform of the organisation are built iteratively, while the use-cases When the organisation moves into the
continue to deliver business value as they mature. adoption phase, this is when it can align
the cloud strategy to that of the business
Planning for success and IT ones. A successful adoption
A cloud migration framework provides the guardrails for organisations to reach their requires clearly defined and concise
goals as efficiently as possible, while helping to unlock business value through the objectives to be put in place. This will
iterative process undertaken. help provide an understanding of what
the end goal must be.
The three main components of the framework can be defined as follows: Guiding principles can help link the
1. Define the cloud migration strategy with the end in mind to determine the short-term decision making process
roadmap. with the long-term business objectives.
2. Conduct a cloud proof of value (PoV) or implement a minimum viable Throughout this, the organisation must
product (MVP). This requires the organisation to create an initial plan and involve the stakeholders who will be
cost for the migration. The PoV or pilot MVP implementation can be used impacted by these changes. This will
to assess and validate critical success factors for the migration. In turn, the bring about a collective understanding
organisation can then update the plan and costs based on the outcomes and of why the migration is taking place
lessons learnt. and help deliver a more collaborative
3. Use an iterative and agile approach to implementation and optimisation for the approach throughout the adoption
cloud. This is where the cloud data platform is built, and business use-cases can process.
be implemented in an iterative manner. Pushing applications and services

EngineerIT | August 2022 | 16