Should you move your VMware workload to the Cloud?
Are there cost savings and will security be enhanced? These are the questions your management may ask when the topic surfaces.
Before I jump into conclusion and nod my head and give you a “Yes” answer, I want you to take a step back and do the following :
- Audit your current infrastructure cost. Make sure everything including hidden cost is accounted for (which I will explain later)
- Have a good roadmap of what other applications you will be adding or “sun setting”
- Build a future state of your IT environment including remote access and devices that will need connectivity
- Have a good understanding of your IT resources skill set and what new important skills to acquire
- Understand the advantages of Cloud deployment beyond cost
- Plan out the migration strategy
Auditing your Current Infrastructure Costs
This seems to be a simple task but many IT managers do not spend enough time to uncover all related costs which should include hardware, software, utilities (power and air-conditioning), control equipment, backup site, network charges, maintenance charges and IT staff.
Hidden Costs
There are indirect costs to account for including real estate (since your computer room takes up floor space), recruitment and training, additional IT staff work schedule or overtime pay beyond operational hours, potential capital expenditure set aside to replace old equipment or upgrade requirements, cost of unscheduled downtime due to lack of preparedness (e.g. insufficient backup, redundancy, DR environment, unavailability or untrained IT Staff, etc). It is hard to put a number to them but nonetheless very important considerations when you calculate TCO.
Roadmap of Applications to Keep or Throw Away
Here, we are talking about housekeeping. It is a very good practice to have a roadmap of what are the applications constantly used. Which ones are no longer in use or will be decommissioning in the next 6-12 months. You may also be adding a new application and you will need to know if this is a SaaS (software as a Service) app or an on-prem app. Why is this important? It helps you plan your IT infrastructure requirements. How much compute power, RAM, Disk space and bandwidth are required for the new Infrastructure environment.
The Future IT Infrastructure State
Once you have done the above, you can easily draw a diagrammatic view of your future state including hardware, software, skill set, applications and network requirements. Do not forget to add the users and endpoint devices topology. This should include all your connectivity from inside and outside the company. Access from anywhere will also mean you will need security, backup and redundancy.
IT Skills
Do a checklist of what IT skills to keep and what can be repositioned as “outsourced managed services”. The shortage of IT skills in the market makes it harder and expensive to find staff that meet your requirements. You may also decide what new skills your current IT staff will need to develop in order to support your core business.
Cloud Beyond Cost
Most of the time it is not easy to put a number down and make a quick decision whether to go ahead. Some benefits are hard to measure with dollar and cents. Some plans are needed to mitigate risk or to ease future deployment. Many of our clients whom we helped moved to the cloud derived following benefits :
- Assurance of business continuity
- Allows collaboration beyond co-workers to encompass suppliers and customers
- Availability of patches and automatic updates that free staff hours of sleepless nights
- Assured of latest software
- Enhanced Security
- Environmentally more friendly
Is Migration the “Unknown”
Migration is the biggest mystery when moving to the cloud. It is hard to establish the cost of migration from day 1. This can fluctuate considerably depending on the existing setup as well as the level of preparedness. The sheer number of dependencies and moving parts pose huge challenges at this stage. The volume of data to move, if downtime can be planned, how much downtime, ensuring data integrity, network availability, software licensing, complexity of the applications, number of hypervisors, and many, many more will affect costs.
Do make sure that loads of testing are carried out after the move. The good news is that we provide bespoke migration methodology to help clients move to cloud; and that differs from client to client. The planning process is extremely crucial. Factoring the cost of migration is a key component too.
Final Word
If you are asked again on the cost and benefits of moving to a cloud model, do share with your management to look beyond pure quantifiable benefits. There are other “hidden benefits” which are equally important. If you plan your move carefully and in a structured fashion, the returns can be quick and more capital expenses can be put to better use to drive business growth.
Digital transformation is evolving from the necessity to own a IT data centre infrastructure and equipment to the need for more flexible, scalable and affordable cloud services. Whether you are an SME or an established enterprise, you will discover managed cloud computing services that take your business to the next level.
Begin your digital transformation journey with iWV business cloud services.
