How to figure out your business’ cloud migration strategy

For business leaders who keep a close eye on their plans for data center transformation, cloud technology has been a focus for many years already. But right now, that’s only becoming more true. The paradigm of work is changing dramatically – people are becoming more interested in remote and hybrid lifestyles, which means they place a premium on flexibility. So for IT, that means they need their data management to be flexible as well – and that’s where the cloud comes in.

According to BizTech Magazine, this is one of the main emerging cloud trends to watch for in 2022. Businesses worldwide will be looking for ways they can accelerate their cloud migration, and they’ll try to do it in a smart, strategic way. Josh Hilliker, cloud solutions engineer at Intel, explained that IT leaders will aim to migrate to the cloud this year without having to suffer sticker shock. As they go about that process, they’ll need to ask themselves a number of tactical questions.

“How do I scale things faster?” Hilliker asked. “How do I optimize cloud architectures? How do I eke out the last bit of performance? Businesses need to get the most out of an instance or service without getting shocked by the bill.”

So what can be done?

If you’re running a business and you’re looking to manage your cloud transition wisely, how should you handle it? What pitfalls should you look out for?

According to Hilliker, one common mistake is making big, sweeping statements about moving to the cloud entirely instead of taking a closer look at specific components. Not everything needs to be in the cloud, necessarily – the smarter approach is to examine your employees’ data, determine your most critical cloud needs, and allocate resources in a way that helps your business achieve strategic goals.

Another key aspect to think about is financial planning. When moving to the cloud, you want your organization to have clear accountability. Who’s in charge of managing your cloud budget, ensuring smart spending and minimal waste? Ideally, you’d have an approach to this that combines your finance and operations teams, so that the people managing your technology are working in lockstep with those managing the money. Everyone in the same team, working toward the same goals.

And if you’re looking for a little help achieving your business’ cloud goals, Zones is more than happy to play a role. For years, Zones Cloud Solutions have been a difference-maker for our clients – driving growth, fostering innovation, and bringing about real improvement in our clients’ IT architectures. To learn more about how Zones Cloud can make an impact for you, don’t wait – get in touch with us today.

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