Migrating To The Cloud – Expect the Unexpected – Part 1

“22% of over 6,100 cloud-using organizations have no offsite cloud strategy.”

(IDC Report: “Cloud Going Mainstream: All Are Trying, Some Are Benefiting, Few Are Maximizing”)

 From the conversations I’ve had with CxOs surrounding their cloud initiatives, they all begin from a familiar project initiation point of view with the normal bases covered:

 ·        Technology stack leaders are experts in their disciplines (AppDev, Database, Network, Storage, Servers, Security, etc.)

 ·        Business objectives are well defined (reduce time to market, conversion of Cap-Ex to Op-Ex, pay as you go, ease of deployment, etc.)

 ·        Skilled project managers are coordinating the effort.

 ·        A thorough migration plan has been developed.

 ·        Adequate personnel and budget resources have been assigned.

 Yet, according to Vision Solutions' 8th Annual State of Resilience Report:

 - 44% of those surveyed experienced a migration project failure and 75% of the projects undertaken in 2015 were offline for 48 hours or more.

 So what is contributing to the problems encountered with cloud migration projects?

 The factors fall into a dozen or more categories, so I’ll start with the top 4 and next week I’ll address them in detail and add a few more…

 ·        Experience Gaps

·        Lack of standard cloud services application frameworks

·        Application interdependence

·        Horizontal Scaling Architecture

 *** NEXT WEEK – PART 2 ***

 We’d love to hear your perspective on the challenges you’ve encountered and the opportunities to lead in this rapidly changing world.

 The Power of the Problem (sm)