Are you asking your Cloud Service Provider (CSP) the right questions?

Article

Author: Tangent Solutions

Published: 22 November 2021

A well-architected cloud environment requires a host of technologies and integrations. These ecosystems are different to on-premise servers, and as a result, possess diverging complexities which need to be managed effectively. Many businesses take on cloud service providers (CSP) and consultants who should have expert knowledge to ensure successful cloud migration and cloud management. Tangent Solutions has a few pointers to help in your search for a CSP.

Manage Run Away Cloud Costs and Security with the Right CSP

An effective CSP will guide a business’s cloud migration journey. A CSP should recommend cloud platforms, technologies, methodologies, practices and processes that mitigate risks and ensure cost efficiencies.  

  • Ask your CSP to follow the principles of the well architected framework (WAF). Think of it this way, if all the top cloud providers recommend following a WAF, there must be a reason. Essentially, a well-architected environment is cost effective, governed through policies and resilient. This simple request tells you what level of service you can expect from your CSP. It also exposes what sort of costs and problems you will run into after migrating.  
  • Steer clear of cloning an on-premise data centre. The cloud environment is different and, as such, should be treated, set up and managed differently. Businesses should always question a CSP that recommends a simple lift & shift approach to cloud computing.  This approach is usually offered as a way to minimise migration costs. However, this is possibly the costliest approach to cloud computing and often where the incorrect statement that “cloud is more expensive” comes from. As the cost efficiencies and security promises of cloud environments will be lost the moment you switch on your cloud environment. This method simply shifts and perpetuates all your on-premise operating model issues in the cloud.  
  •  Get all the ‘itys’ by design and from the start. The right CSP will ensure an enterprise cloud environment offers stability, security, reliability, velocity, veracity, availability, scalability, and elasticity.  As a standard, businesses and CSP’s should follow a cloud-first approach to digital transformation. Meaning businesses benefit from well-architected environments offering all the ‘itys’ and the most cost efficiencies. 

Legacy Tech & Application Planning for Cloud

Businesses reviewing and implementing application planning need to understand the possibilities and limitations of their current and future applications. A CSP can assist with recommendations and fixes in regards to legacy technology platforms and what options exist for modernisation. 

It is important to question whether applications are internet based, such as Microsoft 365 or Salesforce. Essentially, are they available in software as a service (SaaS) form?  

If your applications aren’t cloud based, it becomes increasingly difficult and manual to secure businesses on-premises data centres. This gap was exposed with the dramatic increase in remote working as businesses that were already on their cloud journey fared better than those still reliant on on-premises infrastructure.

Alongside this, a business must understand and consider the costs of on-premise operating models and legacy architectures, as well as software licensing. Due to sunk costs, in the short term, on-premise may seem cheaper. However, in the long term, the TCO is far greater when factoring in lack of agility, costly integrations, patching, necessary workarounds and the immense manual labour to operate, set up and scale. 

Moving legacy software and data to the cloud is, to a point, more economical and efficient than on-premise data centres. Although it is still less efficient than true cloud native systems, these gains are still considerable and worthwhile. 

Selecting the Right Cloud Model 

Nowadays, it is no longer a question of whether an organisation should adopt the use of cloud services. Instead, the question is which services to move to and when.  

Whether your business should run solely in a cloud environment, a multi-cloud environment or as a hybrid cloud model is dependent on your businesses growth cycle and strategic requirements. 

A CSP should recommend the best business solution based on your business objectives.  

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Tangent Solutions can help adapt your businesses cloud environment to enable efficiencies or initiate and assist with a cloud migration from the start. Tangent follows a well established cloud adoption framework that ensures your business is cloud first, aligned to your business strategy, and optimised for the digital economy.