Cloud technologies offer powerful benefits—but you have to take the right approach to the cloud, and that looks different for every company.
This is why many organizations choose cloud consulting.
This process offers expert perspective and strategy in the context of your unique operational challenges. It’s a great step forward in matching your technological capabilities to the needs of the business.
But what exactly does cloud consulting provide? Can you get the same perspective with internal resources?
Here’s everything you need to know.
1. What is cloud consulting?
Cloud consulting is the process of working with an expert advisor (or advisors) to develop and implement an effective cloud strategy. It often covers specific projects such as:
- Review of your current technology environment
- Review of your current business challenges and opportunities
- Analysis of alignment or misalignment between your technology and your needs
- A plan for transitioning to the appropriate cloud system(s) to support the business
- A long-term plan for supporting, maintaining, and upgrading your cloud system(s)
2. What value does a cloud consultant provide that we can’t achieve internally?
If you have an experienced cloud leader on staff, you may be equipped to develop and implement an effective cloud strategy. If you don’t have that leader on staff, consulting will help you avoid common pitfalls and get the most out of the cloud.
Here are the most significant benefits that a cloud consultant provides.
- Guidance on whether to retain or retire on-premises systems
- Perspective on public, private, and hybrid cloud models
- Choosing between cloud servers and cloud services (there is a significant cost difference)
- Best strategies for cloud cost optimization
- Intelligent approaches to cloud migration with minimal business disruption
- A strong perspective on cloud security (note that default settings are rarely adequate)
- Consulting on how to integrate cloud systems
- Implementation of your new cloud system(s)
- Integration of your new cloud system(s)
- Ongoing maintenance, support, and upgrades for your new cloud system(s)
3. How do we prepare for a cloud migration?
A cloud migration is a significant project. It affects multiple business processes in profound ways. Consequently, it’s important to take the time to cover all your bases.
Here’s what it takes to prepare for a cloud migration.
A) Audit operational processes in current systems
How does your organization function today as it relates to the systems in question? What essential processes are supported by this outdated technology?
B) Determine whether current systems provide strategic value that can’t be replicated in the cloud
Is there a compelling strategic reason to keep current systems as they are? Or are these systems becoming a liability?
C) Determine which of the 7 R’s best applies to this cloud migration
There are many ways to approach cloud migration. The 7 R’s are a helpful framework to understand what’s appropriate in any given situation.
- Retire
- Retain
- Rehost
- Relocate
- Repurchase
- Replatform
- Refactor or re-architect
Learn more here: The 7 R’s of Cloud Migration Strategy.
D) Map operational processes to new systems
Which operational processes will continue, supported by the new systems? Which operational processes will be modified by the new systems? Will any processes be eliminated or replaced? It’s important to catalog all processes affected by your cloud migration. This will facilitate a smoother transition in terms of staff knowledge and operations.
E) Create a project plan for the migration
A detailed project plan is essential to a successful cloud migration. The plan should cover:
- Dates and milestones
- Project roles and responsibilities
- Assumptions and risks
- Contingency scenarios
- Long-term roles and responsibilities after launch
F) Execute the project plan
Your cloud consultancy should provide expert resources to execute the project plan, either in collaboration with your team, or on their own. Ideally, the same team who helped develop the project should be the ones to execute it. This ensures continuity of knowledge and responsibility.
4. Which workloads are easiest or most beneficial to move to the cloud first?
We generally advocate four principles with our clients when deciding which workloads to migrate first.
- Is cybersecurity an issue? If the old workload has security problems that are difficult to address, it’s a good candidate for an early migration.
- Does the workload cost a lot to run on premises? If so, moving the workload to the cloud may offer cost savings.
- Is the workload unable to scale to meet demand? If so, migrating the workload can provide scalability without the hassle of purchasing and managing more on-premises infrastructure.
- Is the workload non-critical? If so, it may provide a great opportunity for the organization to get some experience in cloud migration before attempting to migrate business-critical workloads.
5. Is the cloud secure? What are the risks?
Cloud systems are not necessarily secure out of the box. Most solutions have default security settings, but these settings are rarely adequate. Consequently, cloud systems require specific, thoughtful cybersecurity controls to provide the right balance of security and operational flexibility.
Here are the most common cloud security risks that we see when clients come to us.
- Insecure APIs
- Zero-day vulnerabilities
- Malware
- Data loss
- Account hijacking
- Insider threats
Learn more here: Cloud Security Managed Services.
6. How do we ensure cloud security and compliance?
Cloud systems are rarely secure enough out of the box. It’s important to understand your cloud security requirements as driven by your use cases, systems, customers, and applicable regulation. Here’s what it takes to secure your cloud systems and achieve compliance.
- You need to get stakeholder buy-in (and budget) for cloud security.
- You need access to cloud security experts who understand your industry, your regulatory compliance requirements, your cloud systems, and your integrations.
- You need a plan for implementing cloud security controls and achieving compliance.
- You need processes and resources in place to review security and compliance on a regular basis.
7. Will we need to hire additional IT staff for the transition or ongoing management?
Unless you already have cloud experts on staff, yes, you will need to hire new resources—both for the cloud migration project and for ongoing management.
But the IT labor market is highly competitive, particularly when it comes to cloud capabilities. Most organizations find more value and consistency in outsourcing this function to a cloud managed services provider (like Corsica Technologies).
8. How will we measure the success of our cloud project?
It’s easy for businesses to implement cloud systems because of the hype surrounding new technologies. You don’t want to fall into this trap. You should first identify the business problems that you’re trying to solve. This ensures that you have a real use case—and it helps you determine your measure of success.
Here are some measures of success that our clients typically use for cloud projects.
- Technology cost reduced
- Technical debt eliminated
- Work hours saved
- Data errors reduced
- Cybersecurity attack surface reduced
- System availability improved
9. What are the ongoing support and knowledge transfer expectations of a cloud migration?
The answer depends on several factors:
- The support requirements of your new cloud system
- Your organization’s goals and capabilities
- The capabilities of your cloud consultancy
Typically, an organization will continue to work with their cloud consultancy for ongoing support after launch. Here at Corsica Technologies, we usually take full ownership of a new cloud system in terms of support and knowledge transfer. We can do so either on our own or in collaboration with a client’s team.
10. How do we choose between public, private, or hybrid cloud models?
The right answer looks different for every organization. Here are some questions that we ask our cloud consulting clients to help determine the right approach.
- Do you need direct control over your infrastructure?
- Do you need near-instant scalability for your workloads?
- Do you prefer capex (capital expenditure) or opex (operating expenditure) to support your workloads?
- Do you work with sensitive or classified data like PII (personally identifiable information) or Department of Defense information?
- Do you need multiple integrations with other cloud systems?
- How much control do you need over maintenance (like OS patching)?
Different answers to these questions can point an organization in a specific direction. For example, if you need direct control over your infrastructure, private cloud is a better option, as there are no other tenants besides your organization.
Likewise, if your workloads are highly volatile in their resource consumption, public cloud may be a better option, as providers offer near-instant scalability. Rapid scaling in a private cloud environment is more challenging from the tenant side, as it requires planning for capacity expansion.
11. What is the process for scaling cloud resources and managing costs?
The answer depends on your specific workloads and your cloud model (public, private, or hybrid). In a public cloud scenario, scaling is nearly effortless, although you’ll pay for additional capacity usage. In a private or hybrid scenario, scaling requires intentional planning and implementation of additional resources to meet demand.
Whatever your model, it’s essential to keep an eye on cloud costs and manage them accordingly. This process requires periodic review of cloud resource usage and associated expenditures. As consumption and cost fluctuate, it may become necessary to adjust your cloud strategy to get the most value without overpaying. An expert cloud consultancy can help with this on a regular basis.
The takeaway: Get the solid strategy you need with cloud consulting
Wherever you’re at in your journey, you don’t have to do it alone. Cloud consulting provides the deep expertise and broad perspective that you need to understand current trends, technologies, and opportunities for your organization. The right cloud consultancy provides all this—plus implementation and managed services. Here at Corsica Technologies, we’ve helped 1,000+ companies solve their technology problems. Get in touch with us today to take your next step.
Need expert guidance on your cloud strategy?
Reach out to schedule a consultation with our cloud system specialists.
