Your company has likely experienced the benefits of cloud, including improved innovation, flexibility, and agility, as well as measurable cost savings. Before you launch into a full cloud migration, there are a few common obstacles that can pop up in a comprehensive digital transformation plan. Here are five to avoid:
Spiraling Costs: One of the great benefits of cloud technology is that it is easy to download and use, but that also tends to be a pitfall for many companies. Shadow IT, or the use of cloud technology without going through the right process to procure it, can cause your invoices to become inflated and unrecognizable compared to where you started in your cloud migration.
The Fix: As part of your digital transformation plan, create clear steps for adopting any new technology and involve business managers in the planning and integration of this policy.
Not Embracing the New: It’s easy to hang on to that Excel spreadsheet that you already know rather than dive into learning a new cloud technology, even when the new solution offers cost savings, efficiency, and a better overall experience.
The Fix: Plan official migration dates to keep teams moving forward with new technology. Make sure they have adequate training before being required to shift, and make sure to take steps to disable the old technology.
Lack of Buy-In: When IT makes decisions in isolation, line-of-business managers and their teams get frustrated.
The Fix: Throughout your cloud migration and your broader digital transformation, recruit business managers, security team members, and employees from various parts of your organization to participate in the process. In addition, plan plenty of time and resources for training so that everyone feels confident when it’s time to go live with your new technology.
Compliance and Security as an Afterthought: Compliance and security can get left behind when IT and business leaders get too focused on the efficiencies, cost savings, and end user experiences possible with a particular solution.
The Fix: Compliance and security must be a part of the cloud migration process, with policies and protections integrated into the design of the infrastructure and data storage and how solutions are onboarded and utilized.
Complexity That Eliminates Benefits: There are myriad benefits that come with cloud tools, but they begin to evaporate when the environment is too complex. Cost savings, for instance, can vanish when companies start tacking on multiple security tools to manage various cloud-based and on-premise solutions, as well as struggling to gain visibility in an outdated network infrastructure that has been patched together to address shortcomings in areas like bandwidth demand. In addition, as more cloud providers are added to the mix, the finance team may lose track of which fees they should expect to see on a particular invoice or whether it may be more cost-effective to utilize a different provider for different services.
The Fix: There are multiple ways to address complexity, such as updating network infrastructure to a virtualized solution to improve visibility and control. But there are also strategies that can help, such as working with your cloud services provider to reduce complexity as an overall goal of your digital transformation.
For assistance in your cloud migration goals and to avoid common missteps in your digital transformation process, contact us at Safari Solutions. We can help you take a holistic approach to your migration, leveraging the right technology to reach your business goals.
