Dear Prudence: I'm Conflicted About Cloud

Dear Prudence,

My CEO just knocked on my door and told me to look at moving our data center into the cloud. He was playing golf with a few other executives and they started talking about saving truckloads of money by migrating to Microsoft or Amazon. We aren’t a huge shop and with only 10 hosts, 50 virtual machines, and 250 employees under our purview, I wonder if I should softly push back or actually explore this. Our hardware is approaching 4 years old and we are looking to build some interesting customer-facing applications in the near future. What should I do?

Sincerely,
Conflicted in California

Dear Conflicted:

I first want to offer my reassurances that you aren’t alone. Many cloud conversations have begun over a C-level game of golf, the outcome of which can catch you completely off guard. Fret not, Conflicted! I will get you through this.

First, let us dispel a common myth: just because Amazon and Microsoft are cloud titans does not mean they are right for you. Their names carry cachet and they should be evaluated, but your potential move must be approached deliberately. Let’s cover a few iterative methods.

SaaS-ify
First, look to SaaS analogues to offload low-risk and/or high-touch applications that frequently require IT attention. Examples include:

• E-mail > Office 365 or Google Apps for Work
• Backups (especially tape, ew!) > Druva, Acronis or Code42
• NAS > Nasuni
• Enterprise File Sync/Share > Syncplicity or Box
• Secure Web Gateway > ZScaler
• E-mail security > Mimecast or Proofpoint
• PBX > 8x8 or RingCentral

By transitioning these applications to a SaaS or hosted model, you’ll reduce your host, VM and appliance count out of the gate! You’re already on a cloudy path.

Assess
Now that you have found all the SaaS equivalents in your data center, it is time to figure out what elements of the remaining infrastructure are potential cloud candidates.  Because your environment isn’t complex you may be able to conduct this using SaaS-based cloud readiness assessment/costing tools. You can also utilize an experienced cloud services and aggregation company, such as CDW, to conduct an assessment on your behalf and offer informed recommendations. The end goal is the same: determine which applications in your IT Service Catalog are best delivered out of your data center, in the cloud, or a combination of both.

The Right Workloads to the Right Cloud
Conflicted, you’re past the easy parts. Now it is time to find the right cloud partner to house your precious workloads!

From your assessment, you’ve likely seen some cost estimates for the hyperscale public clouds: Azure and AWS. The good news is that these are not your only two options, and if anything this pricing can serve as an initial gut check for cloud costs. It is a common myth that the cloud OpEx model universally presents a lower upfront price when compared to traditional CapEx costs. Instead, your potential return is in recovered person-hours of productivity normally dedicated to the care and feeding of infrastructure, thus freeing these fine IT folks to do better things (e.g. working on those customer-facing applications you referenced).

I want to be abundantly clear: Azure and AWS will present you with powerful capabilities, however you are mostly on your own to architect this environment securely and optimally. Both Amazon and Microsoft’s platforms present an immense amount of flexibility and customization, and as such you will need to evaluate the skillsets of IT against what is required for such an endeavor. You may also opt for migration and managed services to help you navigate this process.

If this prospect scares you, rest assured that there are top-tier providers offering end-to-end white glove infrastructure services, some even providing 24x7 management and support into the application layer. While you’re welcome to contact and vet all of these providers individually, you could instead make a call to CDW and let them make recommendations suited for your unique needs.

One final thought: not every workload is a cloud candidate and it is ok to keep those on premises. Just make sure you have them protected with a sound continuity strategy.

Hopefully I’ve put your mind at ease, conflicted!