The cloud is completely changing the way companies operate. Organizations across the world, of all sizes and industries, are moving their IT workloads to the cloud for its flexibility, mobility, and cost efficiency. If your company operates on a traditional, on-premise model, you may be considering the move to the cloud—which is exciting!

Moving your IT workloads to the cloud is a big decision with numerous benefits. Before you get started, you’ll need to make sure your team is prepared. Here are the 5 most important questions to consider before beginning your cloud migration.

1. How do you plan on using the cloud?

There are many reasons to implement cloud technology as part of your business and several different ways to do so. Before jumping straight into a cloud migration, it’s important to consider your big picture goals and which advantages of the cloud are most important to you and your company. As you figure out how you plan on using the cloud, consider the following questions:

Do you want your environment to be hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, or distributed cloud?

Hybrid cloud environments involve keeping some applications on-premise while using the cloud as you desire. With this method, you connect your on-premise services to your cloud environment, forming a single, flexible infrastructure for running your company’s IT workloads. This type of environment allows you to select optimal cloud for applications and workloads, as well as move IT workloads freely between the two environments as needed.

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Multicloud environments take hybrid cloud a step further, allowing you to use two or more different cloud providers. This method helps you avoid vendor lock-in and decide which workload is best suited to which cloud based on your unique needs. This method gives you more availability and flexibility, with access to multiple clouds and multiple data centers to meet all of your needs.

Distributed cloud involves using a single control pane for cloud management and consistency. For multicloud environments, you typically have to navigate the individual dashboard of each cloud provider. Distributed cloud solves this problem by allowing you to use multicloud environments all within a single management plane.

2. Do you know what’s in your current environment and have a plan for what you’re going to do with those assets?

In order to move your IT workloads from your on-premise environment to the cloud, you need to understand what your on-premise infrastructure looks like. IT discovery helps you identify and document the current state of your environment, everything from its related components to the relationships and dependencies in your operating system. Running an IT discovery helps you plan your migration based on cost structure, compliance and infrastructure needs, dependencies, and assets in use.

Running a complete IT discovery utilizes both auto-discovery and human intelligence to determine what your environment looks like and which applications should be migrated to the cloud. Auto-discovery tools map relationships within your environment so you know which assets are related to others, as well as which servers provide services to an application. The best discovery tools allow you to map relationships across both your on-premise environment and in the cloud.

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3. How are you going to manage the inflated cost during your move to the cloud?

One of the major benefits of a cloud migration is cost effectiveness. However, when you begin your migration, you will experience a period of inflated cost due to maintaining your on-premise environment while acquiring new costs for the cloud. It’s important to come up with a plan for addressing this inflated cost before your cloud migration, and luckily there are several ways to free up budget resources and accelerate your journey to the cloud.

Some strategies for managing the inflated cost during cloud migration include:

• • Third party maintenance
  • Purchasing refurbished hardware to avoid costly IT refreshes
  • Purchase/Lease-Back programs

4. How are you going to address security concerns?

Security in the cloud is similar to on-premise environments; for both, the main concerns are protecting data from theft, deletion, and leakage. It’s important to understand where data security soft spots may be in the cloud so you can address cloud security issues. As you select a cloud provider, be sure to research the top risks and key safeguarding measures beforehand.

Additionally, as you prepare for your move to the cloud, consider the following security measures:

• • Separate data – Create a data classification policy that helps separate data based on its level of sensitivity. It works well to separate your data by public, private, and sensitive. 
  • Provide secure access to applications – With cloud systems exposed to the Internet, strong authentication can help prevent unauthorized access to your data. Where possible, use two- or three-factor authentication in addition to strong passwords.
  • Data encryption – The foundation of your security efforts should involve comprehensive encryption at a file level.

5. Who will manage your cloud services? Do you have the talent you need?

As you plan to move to the cloud, it’s important to evaluate the skill sets of your existing team. If your team lacks necessary cloud skills, you will either have to train your current employees or hire cloud professionals to fill those skills gaps.

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That’s where NerdRabbit can help! As you plan your migration, NerdRabbit can match you with top cloud talent for hourly, contract, or full-time hire. Our machine-learning software, Nerdly, reduces the friction of the hiring process and quickly delivers top-notch, qualified candidates to your team so you can execute your cloud migration as soon as possible. Whatever your specific needs may be, NerdRabbit can connect you with the right talent to help reach your goals. To sign up for our Nerdly platform to match you with exceptional candidates, visit our website.

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