What do you do if you want to optimize your Business Architecture with cloud computing and virtualization?

You need to understand the expected business outcome. If you don’t understand the business need (the why) you’ll miss the mark with your outcome. You can remove bottlenecks and improve operations, but without a measurable outcome how did the change positively affect desired business need(s).

Leading IT optimization program requires a deep understanding of the existing IT building blocks against those to be implemented. To create a clear vision of the goals & milestones to be achieved, must first, to assess needs from current IT resources as well as to consider appropriate training for the IT staff.

Need to move to cloud is essential, but it should never be "because everyone else is" or "because we have been sold the idea". Why, where and when matters. 70% of cloud migrations have been lift and shift over last 10 years, essentially moving the technical debt from one place to another. Advice: Learn the cloud tech, understand how it needs to run, enhance skills and then plan the move!

Think about the end user experience. How do you expect applications to perform? Are there remote sites with limited connectivity.

Knowing the infrastructure we have, we must in the first instance: Identify critical points of the infrastructure, Identify bottlenecks, Take into account optimal functionality of each process involved, Evaluate existing cloud computing and virtualization technological options, Develop a strategic plan to implement changes in infrastructure towards cloud computing and virtualization. It is very important that this strategic plan considers the continuous functionality of the processes, minimizing any stoppage in essential processes.

Once we understand the business needs and requirements, the planning should be in such a way it could be cost effective and also scalable for future. Cost planning could include comparison with multiple providers without compromising the goal. Planning includes the timeline and roadmap of the implementation. Plan a future-state architecture.

Understanding the need is the first important crucial part of the implementation plan. It depends on the size of the infrastructure and budget of companies to implement either of the technologies based on their needs. If budget and security aspects meet the requirements. Cloud could be a better strategy to enhance productivity of the infrastructure or business.

Many will argue you should avoid locking yourself into a particular ecosystem. The situation faced by some VMWare customers in 2024 is an example of the risk of relying on a single vendor! The flip-side to this argument is the more vendors your involve, the more complicated the process of migrating will be. Finding a balance is key, and ideally find a resource: either freelance or a partner that can help you find the right balance for your business.

Be careful to ensure you understand the short and long-term needs of your team. Sometimes training a team to carry out a migration they will never do again can be counter-productive. Buying in freelance skills for the migration, or finding a partner who can guide you through the process and/or complete the migration might be a much better choice!

As a general rule, Cloud Computing exchanges capex for opex. This model often helps new businesses launch services without the traditionally high up-front investment. Depending on how you use your cloud services, this opex pricing can result in a big jump in cost. Working with a partner who can guide you through the decisions at an early stage can be a great choice, rather than learning the painful way later!