Many organizations are seeking to reduce their legacy IT spend and re-invest the savings into digital enabling technologies like cloud computing to drive business agility, transformation and overall competiveness. Their aging IT infrastructures have become too expensive and time consuming to maintain, and the key technologies supporting their business are reaching end of life or end of maintenance. In addition, for many organizations, growth through acquisition has introduced technology redundancies, and competitors are exploiting cloud-based flexibility and savings.
Migrating to cloud platforms and technologies has become a business imperative for many organizations. The challenge is taking the right approach to ensure success. In-house IT teams typically don’t manage infrastructure migrations on a regular basis, so finding a partner for whom migration is a core business and area of expertise can help minimize risks and ensure that full business benefits are realized.
In selecting a cloud migration partner, here are key criteria to consider:
1) Cloud migration experience: First and foremost, choose a partner with extensive cloud migration experience that includes best practices and lessons learned based on successful migrations to private clouds, public clouds and hybrid environments.
2) Change management: Any number of companies can handle the technical requirements of a cloud migration, but few possess the know-how to fully address the related cultural changes and the impact on end users. Select a partner with a migration methodology that focuses on adoption, change management, training and real-time end-user communications to effectively manage the shift to the cloud.
3) Project accelerators: Project accelerators provide a significant advantage by shortening project delivery timelines and reducing project costs. Look for a partner that has developed accelerators for managing and performing cloud migrations.
4) Executive dashboard management: Effective and transparent governance is essential to cloud migration success. Management should have complete visibility across the migration life cycle. Choose a partner that offers a real-time executive dashboard to ensure transparent management reporting on the progress of the migration.
5) Strong partnerships: Ensure your migration partner has strong partnerships with industry-leading cloud migration tool vendors to bring the right technologies to your migration project.
6) Remote delivery: A partner that offers flexible options for nearshore and offshore delivery can further reduce your migration costs.
7) Migration proof-of-concept: Find a partner that can provide a proof-of-concept to model the business case for your cloud migration and demonstrate its financial impact. This proof-of-concept should gauge how new technologies align with your current and future business objectives and whether existing assets can be leveraged to maximize your return on investment.
Now is the time for organizations to migrate their dated IT infrastructures to the cloud. While migrations can be handled in house, the lack of in-house expertise and experience can result in delays, higher costs and even project failure. Choosing an experienced cloud migration partner with the key capabilities described above can ensure your migration goes smoothly and generates the expected business value.
CGI partners with organizations across the globe in managing large-scale cloud migrations. Contact us
to learn more about our approach and how we can help your organization.
About this author
Noman Ahmad
Director, Consulting Services
Noman Ahmad is Director of Consulting Services with CGI. He holds a bachelor’s in science from McGill University and an MBA (IT management focus) from Laval University. Noman has more than 27 years of experience in IT, including 23 years with CGI. He has been ...
