Given the much-touted benefits of moving to the Cloud such as scalability, reliability, lower costs and security, businesses are under increasing pressure to fully leverage its advantages. With average cost savings reported at 20-30%, any delay in getting to the Cloud could cost your business dearly, both in terms of operational agility and profitability.

In this blog we’ve taken a look at the potential cost implications of delaying a migration to the Cloud and whether it is really necessary to wait until the Portfolio Planning and Discovery phase is complete before embarking on the move.

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Discovery Delays

Often the most challenging and time-consuming part of a Cloud migration project is in the Discovery phase, especially if your infrastructure is spread across multiple data centers or multiple teams. Visualizing your entire IT infrastructure, uncovering potential issues, documenting your findings and turning them into actionable insight takes time. Many organizations rely on manual processes to assess their current environment, leading to further delays and potential roadblocks - and all the while your journey to the cloud is no further ahead.

Beware the ‘Big Bang’ Approach

Waiting for a comprehensive answer to all these questions may not be necessary. In fact, earlier this year the UK-based bank TSB attempted a major IT migration following several years of planning and the result, according to Forbes Magazine was a ‘complete and utter fiasco’. Multiple reasons were cited, but the biggest mistake was tackling the entire effort in a single ‘big bang’ initiative. Not only did the migration fail, but time was wasted in ‘preparing for failure’, costing the bank millions – and now potentially billions – of dollars in the wake of the fiasco.

Start Small

Trying to do everything at once, as per the case with TSB Bank, runs the risk of slowing down the entire migration process. So to avoid this scenario we recommend you start small. Select the best applications for early migration, such as those with the fewest dependencies, while your discovery project runs its course, and start actively migrating them to your chosen Cloud service provider straight away. This means you can ramp up slowly, building expertise and confidence before tackling more complex workloads.

Gain Immediate Cost Savings

To demonstrate the potential cost savings of moving to the Cloud we have put together a high level calculation:

  • Enterprise Estate:  350 VMs
  • Monthly On-Prem TCO:  $500K pm
  • Cloud Services Costs:  $375K pm
  • Immediate Cost Savings:  $125K pm
  • Yearly Cost Savings:  $1,500,000 pa

Delay the Move to the Cloud at Your Peril

As we know, transitioning to the Cloud takes time:

  • Full discovery efforts can take months, and sometimes years
  • Once done, it is rare that a business immediately moves a complete estate
  • Environments are in a constant state of change, so the discovery data easily outdated

So using our previous example, the cost to the business could be calculated as:

  • Yearly Cost Savings:  $1,500,000 pa
  • 6 month delays:  $750,000 pa

Don’t Wait. Migrate.

We recommend that to ensure a successful migration you do not delay any longer. Start with your easiest application sets following these key steps:

  1. Pick an application
    • Small to start
    • Group interdependent systems into migration move groups
  1. Set up infrastructure
    • Confirm landing zone is ready, networks, security groups
  1. Migrate application
  2. Test application
  3. Modify runbook
  4. Cutover
  5. Enjoy Cloud benefits immediately

So when is the Right Time to Migrate to the Cloud?

The answer is yesterday. In almost every case a migration to the Cloud will deliver a reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for your IT infrastructure. In addition to this you instantly realize the inherent benefits that the Cloud delivers including resilience, reduced management overhead, flexibility and scalability, and improved security and compliance.

Migrate in Days & Weeks, Not Months & Years

Don’t wait to get started just because your discovery project is stalling. Talk to one of our Cloud Migration Experts or watch our 8 Minute Migration Demo and find out how RiverMeadow’s powerful SaaS Cloud Migration Platform and Managed Migration Services can get help you to start reaping the rewards of the Cloud today.