Do you have a cloud EXIT strategy?

Very few things in life will last forever. This more or less universal truth also applies to your relationships with cloud providers.

Regardless of the nature and size of your business, chances are that you are already using at least one cloud service or, infinitely more likely, several.
It is also quite likely that your organization is either in the process of moving more of (or your entire) IT environment to the cloud, is thinking about it, or have done it already.

All for very good reason since there are obvious business benefits to be gained from cloud. Also, the number of cloud vendors is growing, fierce competition lowers the financial bar for getting on board, and new services and technologies are being introduced almost on a daily basis.

In short, it gets easier and more attractive day by day for any business to "go cloud."

You will have to move on
So while I think we can all agree that the cloud is here to stay, your current or future client/cloud vendor relationships are probably not. In fact, I dare say they will definitely come to an end sooner or later.

The reason may be of a commercial, legal/regulatory, technical or any other nature. It may be a combination of several factors. It really doesn't matter which - the point is that, at some point, you and your data will have to move on.

What do you do?
Which begs the question: What do you do when that happens? Can your business or organization continue to operate? Or do you risk losing business, competitive advantage and suffer from negative impact on your image?

Hence the question in the headline: Do you have a cloud EXIT strategy?
In my opinion, you should. It is imperative to be prepared; that you have planned for your exit, laid out contingency plans and taken adequate steps to ensure business continuity. 

Don't get me wrong: There is absolutely nothing wrong with cloud. The cloud offers a multitude of advantages compared to legacy, on-premise IT.

But you need to make sure that your business is not at risk when you need to change cloud vendor(s), decide to re-calibrate your organization's strategic compass or are subjected to some form of legal or regulatory impact that you cannot control.'

Keynote: A deeper dive
This is why I believe we should talk more about exit strategies for the cloud. 
On June 2nd, I will be delivering a keynote on this very topic at the Nordic Cloud Strategy 2021 conference, hosted by Computerworld Events.

I urge you to join if you'd like to dive a little deeper into the subject. You can read more about the conference and get your virtual seat here.

You are of course also more than welcome to reach out to your local CGI office and get in touch with one our cloud experts.