Why you should have a cloud strategy in place
What challenges do Swedish companies face before and during the move to the public cloud, and how can a cloud strategy help? We caught up with two of Nordlo's cloud experts to talk more about strategy, responsibilities and the importance of expertise when adopting cloud solutions.
Challenges when moving to the cloud
In Sweden, 13.7% of the total IT budget consists of cloud services. The largest part of the cloud budget, 63.2%, is spent on the public cloud. We can see a clear shift towards public cloud. But for the companies that have not yet started the move, the complexity of integrating their current environments with a public cloud environment is perceived as a major challenge.
"Of course, the complexity varies depending on the company. Some experience both the migration and the integration as smooth. Often because their environments are well adapted from the start. Others experience greater challenges with complex connections to old systems that are difficult to move." says Gustav Larsmark, Consulting Manager at Nordlo in Jönköping.
"The complexity of integrating their current environments with a public cloud environment is seen as a major challenge."
Linked to this, the lack of internal expertise around transition projects is a major challenge for SMEs. "The lack of expertise is definitely a challenge. In large companies, strategic expertise is more common. Smaller companies, on the other hand, are generally strong on the operational side. But they need support with strategy and training."
How can a cloud strategy help with the challenges?
"It's important to plan a cloud move well in advance. Even though you as a company aren't quite ready for the move yet, it's important to have a plan for what happens when your current environment becomes dated, and your servers need to be replaced. Dare to connect with a partner who can help you with the preparatory work, organise workshops and provide support until it's time to migrate," continues Gustav Larsmark.
An important step, according to Gustav, is to develop a cloud strategy. "Find out your current situation, your starting point, what you want to achieve and document this in your cloud strategy. Don't be sloppy with your information security, you should know which resources are to be moved and what protection they should have. Quite simply, there should be a clear why. We get a lot of questions from our customers about this, especially now that the security situation has become more turbulent, and the security demands grows."
"Even if you're not quite ready for the move yet, it's important to have a plan for what happens when your current environment becomes dated, and your servers need to be replaced."
Does a cloud strategy contribute to cost efficiency?
"To some extent," says Jesper Neumann, IT consultant at Nordlo. The cost of the transition to the public cloud is seen as a major challenge among companies. Despite this, Jesper finds that the concerns don't last very long when he talks to his customers.
"Those who are worried about the cost are quickly reassured in discussions with us. If you have a well-thought-out strategy and a customised solution that is used correctly from the start, it shouldn't be a problem to keep costs at a reasonable level. But if you set up infrastructure or systems that don't fit, it can get expensive fast. The most important thing is to create a structure that is easy to keep track of. Being aware of what you are running in the cloud and why, and ensuring that you have machines and systems that only run when needed makes a big difference. If you continue to operate in exactly the same way as you did in the server room, however, it will not be a good deal."
"If you have a well-thought-out strategy and a customised solution that is used correctly from the start, it should not be a problem to keep costs at a reasonable level."
Why is it important to have a clear division of responsibilities?
If you buy your cloud solutions directly from a public cloud provider, it's important to review which party is responsible for what.
"The big cloud providers are very strict about what is their responsibility, the rest is up to the customers. No one will identify gaps and shortcomings or help when problems arise. If you don't know what is included and what is your own responsibility, there is a risk that you expect more than what the agreement entails. For example, there is no automatic backup in Azure. If you want to take advantage of the backup functions and other tools that are available - you must understand and activate these on your own" says Jesper Neuman "The same applies to security. There are lots of good security protections and tools that may even be included in your solution - but if they are not set up correctly, they have no effect. However, if you work with an IT partner, you get help with all of this."
Having the right skills in place and a proper cloud strategy are crucial building blocks for a successful move to the cloud. With the right IT partner, it's possible.