So we have signed a Cloud Contract now what?
This can be a very scary start for an Enterprise IT dept with an existing Enterprise Data Center implementation.
The Problem is that in the product/contract negotiation phase words are thrown around like:
Faster development
Easier to manage
Nimble deployment
The difficulty comes when the existing Enterprise structure, that has been organically grown, has to be mapped into the Cloud Development in a way that allows true migration into the Cloud or even use of Cloud developed functions across the enterprise. For small and medium business this can be difficult for large Enterprise environments it may be all but impossible.
If the luxury of a green-field environment development happens or the cloud is identified as just for Dev-Ops then the Cloud implementation can go very quickly and beginning to work on the cloud happens fast.
If however the cloud is to have the enterprise environment migrated into it, and an end state design for how to use the cloud is necessary before migration can begin, what will often happen is a stalling of progress as the bespoke enterprise solution is shoe-horned into the Cloud Structure.
So what is the best way to move an enterprise environment into a cloud?
The answer is Transformation, but that can be a scary word for some organizations due to the testing and validation cost for everything that moves into the cloud.
I want to change the way Transformation is used here and instead get everyone to think about disruptive Transformation into the cloud. This is not changing a Windows 2000 server to a Windows 2012 R2 server as part of the Migration, but instead ask "What are the real requirements that drove a decision to have a Windows server at all?" Once the real requirements are identified then the Cloud Transformation can happen in a re-structuring of the IT services as they move to the cloud. The windows server may end up being the solution but a Windows server should not be migrated to the cloud because we have a windows server now in the enterprise Data Center.
This model can be used to build a structured Migration Project that results in identifying key requirements/functions early and developing those faster. The Project becomes a requirements migration instead of a "like for like" server migration onto the cloud.
#seangmuller