The recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes in the work culture and the Cloud is becoming an essential part by offering employees access to the company’s data, wherever they are. But why migrate? How to migrate? And for what benefits? Here is an overview.
Head in the clouds and feet on the ground, that’s the promise of the Cloud which, with the health crisis, has proven to be an essential tool for business continuity.
In a study conducted by Vanson Bourne at the end of 2020, it appears that more than 8 out of 10 business leaders (82%), accelerated their decision to migrate their critical data and business functions to the Cloud, after facing the COVID-19 crisis. 91% of survey participants say they have become more aware of the importance of data in the decision-making process since the crisis began.
Cloud and data. A duo that is now inseparable from business performance.
A reality that is not limited to a specific market. The plebiscite for Cloud data migration is almost worldwide! The Vanson Bourne study highlights a shared awareness on an international scale, with edifying figures:
- United States (97%),
- Germany and Japan (93%),
- United Kingdom (92%).
Finally, 99% of Chinese executives are accelerating their plans to complete their migration to the Cloud. In this context, the question “why migrate to the Cloud” is unequivocally answered: if you don’t, your competitors will do it before you and will definitely beat you to it.
The main benefits of Cloud migration
Ensuring successful Cloud data migration is first and foremost a question of guaranteeing its availability in all circumstances. Once stated, this benefit leads to many others! If data is accessible everywhere and at all times, a company is able to meet the demand for mobility and flexibility expressed by employees.
A requirement that was fulfilled during the successive confinements and that should continue as the return to normalcy seems finally possible. Fully operational employees at home, in the office or in the countryside, not only promise increased productivity but also a considerable improvement in the user experience. HR benefits are not the only consequences of Cloud migration.
From a financial point of view, the Cloud opens the way to a better control of IT costs. By shifting data from a CAPEX dimension to an OPEX dimension, you can improve the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of your information system and your data assets. Better experience, budget control, the Cloud opens the way to optimized data availability.
Indeed, when migrating to the Cloud, your partners make commitments in terms of maintenance or backups that guarantee maximum access to your data. You should therefore pay particular attention to these commitments, which are referred to as SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
Finally, by migrating data to the cloud, you benefit from the expertise and technical resources of specialized partners who deploy resources that are far superior to those that you could have on your own.
How to successfully migrate to the Cloud
Data is, after human resources, the most valuable asset of a company.
This is one of the reasons why companies should migrate to the Cloud. But the operation must be carried out in the best conditions to limit the risk of data degradation, as well as the temporary unavailability that impacts your business.
To do this, preparation is essential and relies on one prerequisite: the project does not only concern IT teams, but the entire company.
Support, reassurance, training: the triptych that is essential to any change management process must be applied. Then make sure you give yourself time. Avoid the Big Bang mode, which could irritate your teams and dampen their enthusiasm. Even if the Cloud migration of your data should go smoothly, put all the chances on your side by making backups of your data.
Rely on redundancy to prepare for any eventuality, including (and especially!) the most unlikely. Once the deployment on the cloud is complete, ensure the quality of the experience for your employees. By conducting rigorous long-term project management, you can easily identify if you need to make adjustments to your initial choices.
