Beyond the clouds: Your ultimate guide to migrate, modernise and manage your cloud environment

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses across all sectors are embracing the cloud as a fundamental pillar of their operations. The cloud offers the promise of agility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, enabling organisations to drive innovation and stay ahead of the competition. However, harnessing the full potential of the cloud requires a strategic approach that goes beyond mere adoption.?

In this newsletter, we’ll dive deeper into each step – migrate, modernise, and manage – exploring key considerations, best practices, and industry insights related to each phase of your cloud journey.

Migrate 101: Seamlessly transition to the cloud

Cloud migration is a crucial step in unleashing the full potential of the cloud for your business. It involves transferring your existing applications, data, and infrastructure from on-premises or traditional IT environments to the cloud. This process not only offers scalability and cost-efficiency but also unlocks a host of innovative capabilities and services that can accelerate your digital transformation.

Take a look at the below cloud migration roadmap diagram. This diagram provides a step-by-step overview of the migration journey while highlighting key milestones. It serves as a visual guide, ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to achieve a successful migration.

If you’re looking for a more nuanced and in-depth look at cloud migration, check out our first newsletter for an in-depth analysis with tips, tricks, and more.

Modernise 101: Embrace the power of innovation

The rapid advancements in technology and shifting customer demands mean organisations are under pressure to continuously innovate and adapt. One of the key aspects of maintaining a competitive edge is modernising your systems and applications.

According to IBM, true modernisation involves much more than just moving to the cloud. It requires a comprehensive approach to update and transform IT infrastructure, software, and processes, taking advantage of the latest industry trends and technological advancements. This holistic approach enables organisations to leverage cutting-edge technologies, enhance agility, improve scalability, and deliver exceptional user experiences.

By modernising your systems and applications, you can unlock numerous benefits. You gain the ability to harness the power of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT), enabling you to make data-driven decisions, automate processes, and create personalised experiences for your customers.

“What is sometimes undervalued is that migration and modernisation in the cloud are two separate things. On the one hand, migration is more typically a lift and shift project, and as David Xavier mentioned here, doesn’t automatically equate to cost savings.?Modernisation on the other hand can involve rewriting applications as cloud native or rearchitecting infrastructures to better take advantage of the cost and efficacy benefits you can reap”. – Werner de Jager

Modernisation also improves operational efficiency, streamlines workflows, and reduces costs by eliminating legacy systems and optimising resource utilisation.

Furthermore, modernising your systems and applications enables you to keep pace with evolving customer expectations. Ensuring your customers remain engaged and satisfied, you can deliver enhanced:

• Performance
• Responsiveness
• Accessibility

When discussing modernisation, a useful visualisation tool is the application modernisation architecture diagram. This diagram shows how different components, such as microservices, containers, and serverless architectures, interact within your application ecosystem. It showcases how modernising individual components can enhance scalability, improve performance, and enable rapid deployment, ultimately leading to a more agile and resilient system. Take a look below ??

The modernisation process:

Phase 1: Assess and identify modernisation opportunities

The first phase of cloud modernisation involves assessing your existing applications and systems to identify areas that can benefit from modernisation. Consider the following:

• Application analysis: Conduct a comprehensive analysis of your applications to identify bottlenecks, performance issues, and opportunities for improvement. Evaluate factors such as scalability, agility, and user experience to prioritise modernisation efforts
• Technology stack evaluation: Evaluate your current technology stack and assess whether it aligns with modern architectural principles. Consider the adoption of cloud-native technologies such as microservices, containers, and serverless architectures to enhance scalability, performance, and deployment agility

• Business impact assessment: Assess the impact of modernisation on your business processes, user experience, and overall competitiveness. Identify areas where modernisation can bring the most significant value and align with your long-term business goals

Phase 2: Implement modernisation strategies

Once you have identified the areas for modernisation, it's time to implement the necessary strategies and technologies. Depending on your environment, here are some of the current best practices:

• Application refactoring: Refactor your applications to leverage cloud-native technologies and architectures. Break down monolithic applications into smaller, decoupled microservices that can be independently developed, deployed, and scaled
• Containerisation: Containerise your applications using technologies like Docker and Kubernetes. Containerisation enables portability, scalability, and easier management of applications, allowing you to take full advantage of cloud infrastructure
• Serverless adoption: Explore serverless computing models to offload infrastructure management and focus on developing business logic. Serverless architectures provide auto-scaling, pay-per-use pricing, and reduced operational overhead

Phase 3: Monitor, optimise, and iterate

Modernisation is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, optimisation, and iteration. Consider the following practices:

• Performance monitoring: Implement robust monitoring and observability mechanisms to track the performance of modernised applications. Leverage cloud-native monitoring tools and services to identify performance bottlenecks and optimise resource utilisation
• Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD): Implement CI/CD pipelines to automate the build, test, and deployment processes. This allows for frequent and reliable releases, ensuring rapid iterations and quick feedback loops
• Cultivate a culture of innovation: Foster a culture of innovation within your organisation. Encourage experimentation, continuous learning, and the exploration of emerging technologies to drive ongoing modernisation efforts

According to a survey by Deloitte, 69% of enterprises view modernisation as a critical or high priority, indicating the growing recognition of the importance of modernisation for business success.

At BBD, we are committed to helping our clients stay ahead in today's digital landscape. By embracing modernisation, you can revitalise your systems and applications, aligning them with the latest industry trends and technological advancements. When you partner with BBD, a leading cloud transformation specialist, you open the door to a world of possibilities. Our team of experts are dedicated to helping you navigate the complex landscape of cloud modernisation. By joining forces with us, you gain a trusted ally who will work closely with you to identify areas for improvement and implement tailored modernisation strategies.

Manage 101: Leave the heavy lifting to us

Managing your cloud infrastructure requires meticulous attention to detail and constant optimisation of your cloud environment. It involves monitoring, securing and optimising resources to ensure smooth operations and maximise the value of your cloud investment. With the complexities involved, it can be challenging to handle it all on your own.

At BBD, we understand the intricacies of cloud management and have extensive experience in helping businesses across various industries optimise their cloud operations. Our team of experts can guide you through the complexities of managing your cloud infrastructure, providing insights, best practices, and support along the way.

Our goal is to empower businesses like yours to effectively manage their cloud operations, so you can focus on your core competencies and strategic initiatives.

Cloud management involves a range of activities that contribute to the overall performance, security and cost-effectiveness of your cloud environment.

Our team of certified experts can assist you in:

Monitoring and optimisation:

1. Proactively monitoring your cloud infrastructure to ensure optimal performance, availability and scalability
2. Identifying and addressing performance bottlenecks, resource inefficiencies and capacity constraints
3. Implementing auto-scaling and load-balancing strategies to dynamically adjust resources based on demand

Security and compliance:

1. Establishing robust security measures to safeguard your data and applications from potential threats
2. Implementing access controls, encryption and network security configurations
3. Conducting regular audits and assessments to ensure compliance with industry regulations and best practices

Cost optimisation:

1. Analysing your cloud usage and expenditure to identify cost-saving opportunities
2. Implementing strategies to optimise resource allocation, such as rightsizing instances and leveraging reserved instances
3. Continuously monitoring and adjusting your cloud resources to minimise unnecessary costs and maximise ROI

By effectively managing your cloud infrastructure, you can achieve greater operational efficiency, scalability and cost savings. It allows you to align your cloud environment with your business objectives and adapt to changing market dynamics.

Whether you choose to manage your cloud operations in-house or partner with a trusted cloud management provider like BBD, the key is to have a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects of cloud management. From performance monitoring and security to cost optimisation and compliance, a well-rounded cloud management strategy ensures that your cloud environment is secure, efficient, and aligned with your business goals.

So, let us handle the complexities of cloud management while you concentrate on what matters most – growing your business and staying ahead of the competition. With BBD as your trusted partner, you can confidently navigate the world of cloud management and leverage its full potential to drive your success.

In addition to cloud management, we also have expert teams who can manage platforms. Click here to check out our managed platform services brochure, which gives an in-depth explanation of how our expert Managed Platform Services team (MPS) designs, builds and operates platforms and services in the cloud and on-premises, relieving the burden of finding and managing Site Reliability Engineers (SREs).

Client testimonials: Why choose BBD?

Don't just take our word for it. Here's what some of our valued clients have to say about their experience working with BBD:

• BDD is highly skilled in the tricky and integrated landscape of software development, infrastructure cloud architecture, pipeline definition, CICD optimisation (between on-prem and cloud-native), and has an extensive implementation footprint. BBD provides excellent personnel and advice to their clients.
• BBD has consistently performed in our move to cloud, providing key development and architecture resources.
• Industry leading skills and a culture that drives excellent delivery for us as the end client.

Unlock the power of cloud: Book your FREE 30-minute consultation today!

Are you ready to take your business to new heights with the transformative potential of cloud technology? Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity to speak directly with our team of experienced cloud experts. Whether you're looking to migrate your infrastructure, modernise your applications, or enhance your cloud management strategy, we're here to guide you every step of the way.

Click here to book your slot!

Real-life success stories

Take a look at a few real-life success stories that showcase BBD's expertise in action.

Revolutionising banking operations

BBD developed a state-of-the-art online 24/7 premium collection and disbursement software platform within the Microsoft Azure cloud technology stack for a leading South African bank.

The solution implements a microservices, cloud-native architecture that offers autonomous service capabilities across business domains as well as cost benefits and a reduced need for maintenance and upgrades.

Click here to continue reading this case study.

Revitalising the betting industry

After 20 years supporting the sport betting industry with a function-rich and capable platform, our client was losing market share due to an aging system and their inability to respond to change. BBD stepped in to assist with a highly scalable, fault-tolerant, cloud agnostic cloud native solution.

The result was a lower total cost of ownership and subsequent reduced costs for end users, the ability to scale, and a platform that doesn’t lock the client into proprietary languages, technologies or tools to ensure business sustainability.

Click here to continue reading this case study.

Conclusion

As you dive deeper into the world of cloud computing, here's a fun fact to ponder: According to Gartner, the global public cloud services market is projected to reach $591.8 billion by 2023, growing at an annual rate of 20.7%. It's evident that businesses worldwide are recognising the benefits of embracing cloud technologies.

At BBD, our mission is to empower businesses like yours to leverage the full potential of the cloud, no matter which platform. Whether you're looking to migrate, modernise, or manage your cloud infrastructure, our team of certified experts is ready to guide you every step of the way.

To learn more about our services and how we can help you "colour your cloud, your way" to suit your unique business needs, reach out to us today.