What are the best strategies for migrating to hybrid cloud?

Make sure you have in place enough to substantiate your plan for a hybrid model. Before making a change, such as migrating to a hybrid setup, it's essential to have a clear understanding of your existing resources and capabilities. Failing to do so can lead to redundant efforts, confusion, and unexpected challenges. To prepare for a migration, assess your current platform, evaluate your team's skills and resources, and carefully project what should be in the cloud and what should remain on-premises. A thoughtful and comprehensive analysis will help you make informed decisions and streamline the migration process, reducing the risk of issues and surprises.

I think one of the biggest as is assessments that is required, is the as is skills. People often overlook their current team and what skills they already possess. You may find that the current skills in your team's may influence which cloud provider you choose to adopt.

When deciding on your hybrid setup, it's wise to retain on-premises services that are critical for your business and leverage the cloud for implementing elastic services. Avoid the "lift and shift" approach, as it merely transfers existing problems to the cloud. The cloud's potential to address these issues depends on how effectively and appropriately you utilize it. By strategically deploying elastic services in the cloud and optimizing your architecture to take full advantage of cloud capabilities, you can enhance your overall system performance and scalability while addressing the specific needs of your business.

1. Opt for a hybrid cloud model that aligns with your specific needs, whether it's a combination of private and public cloud or multiple public cloud providers. 2. Evaluate the advantages of a multi-cloud approach for redundancy and vendor diversification. 3. Consider data sovereignty and compliance regulations when selecting your model. 4. Ensure compatibility and integration with your existing on-premises infrastructure. 5. Balance performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency when choosing between cloud models.

It's a common pitfall for companies to become overly engrossed in the technical aspects of system changes and forget about the end users and how they will interact with the new platform. Keep your user community well-informed, and seek their feedback. Users should feel like they are part of the migration, not passive observers. Listening to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) they possess valuable insights about what will work well in the cloud and what might not. Involving them in the planning process rather than sidelining them can prevent friction and the formation of unfounded assumptions. Moving to the cloud or transitioning to a hybrid setup is a multi-year effort, not something that can be accomplished with the flip of a switch.

Develop a comprehensive migration plan that outlines the scope, timeline, and key milestones. Prioritize critical workloads and applications to migrate first for minimal disruption. Define migration strategies, such as re-hosting, re-platforming, or re-factoring, based on individual applications. Create a rollback plan to handle unforeseen issues during migration. Communicate the migration plan to all stakeholders and teams involved.

BAU, internal projects, and migration efforts can be challenging, as some businesses may overestimate their capacity to handle everything without compromising quality. To address this, consider reducing the load on BAU, temporarily pausing some internal projects, and dividing your team into two or more groups. One group can focus on BAU, and the other can concentrate on the migration efforts. As the migration progresses, gradually bring the teams together to exchange lessons learned. Having the same team responsible for migration, BAU, and internal projects can be a sign of inadequate planning and can lead to more issues than anticipated. Properly allocating resources and expertise is crucial to a smooth and successful transition.

Start with a pilot migration to validate the plan and identify any potential challenges. Monitor the migration progress in real time and address issues promptly. Use automation and orchestration tools to streamline the migration process. Conduct thorough testing after migration to ensure that applications and data work seamlessly in the hybrid environment. Prepare for data transfer, replication, and synchronization to avoid data loss or corruption.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing journey that never truly ends. Adapting to the ever-evolving business challenges and changing landscape is a daily task. In the fast-paced world of business and technology, new services and improvements emerge almost daily. Staying informed and leveraging the best of these advancements should be an integral part of any strategic approach. Remaining agile and open to innovation is essential for staying competitive and relevant in today's dynamic environment. It's crucial to embed this mindset into your strategy to foster long-term success and growth.

Implement cost management practices to monitor and optimize cloud spending. Continuously monitor performance and resource utilization to fine-tune your hybrid setup. Use cloud-native services for scalability and flexibility in resource allocation. Implement security best practices, such as encryption and identity management, to protect sensitive data. Leverage analytics and monitoring tools to gain insights into your hybrid cloud's performance and efficiency.

In my experience, lessons learned in post is underrated. It provides context and insight into the “why” and allows for easier process reengineering. The story of Hansel and Gretel demonstrates that in the world of technical projects and migrations, documentation is like the breadcrumbs that guide you through the forest of complexity. It ensures that you can find your way back, share knowledge with others, and avoid the traps and pitfalls that can lead to cloud migration failure. So, just as Hansel and Gretel understood the importance of their breadcrumbs, every technical professional should appreciate the value of comprehensive technical documentation in their work.

Achieving continuous improvement can indeed be challenging, especially when businesses prioritize profit and demand more features. As a team, it's essential to allocate and advocate for dedicated time for improvement and innovation. This may involve continuous negotiation and a persistent effort to highlight the impact of neglecting improvement, particularly when building on a weak foundation. Data and facts are powerful allies in these discussions. Providing evidence of the benefits of improvement and the risks associated with neglect can help drive a more balanced approach, ensuring that innovation and stability are both addressed effectively. Balancing short-term profit goals with long-term sustainability is key.

A hybrid cloud strategy defines what goes on the public cloud, what goes on the private cloud, and what resides on-premises. Hybrid cloud works but need to consider the policies and conditions of an infrastructure that you cannot control. The below steps can help in a smooth transition. (1) Decide what is the right hybrid cloud strategy - 6Rs (Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Retain, Retire, Refactor) (2) Identify which applications are ready (3) Decide which applications will be moved (4) Consider how data will be stored in the cloud (5) Validate the strategy through a POC (6) Define KPIs to be monitored (7) Monitor and analyze KPIs regularly and identify improvement areas. (8) Define an action plan for improvement areas.