Embark on cloud transformation

Choosing the right cloud service provider is a critical decision for any business. The right provider can help your business achieve its goals, while the wrong provider can lead to security breaches, downtime and other issues. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a cloud service provider:

• Security: Ensure that the provider has robust security measures in place, such as encryption, access controls and threat detection.
• Reliability: Any cloud service provider you choose to work with should have a track record of reliability and uptime. This is critical, because downtime can have a significant impact on your business operations.
• Scalability: Your cloud service provider should be able to scale its services to meet your business needs. This is important because your business requirements may change over time, and you need a provider that help you adjust accordingly.
• Cost: The provider’s pricing must be transparent, with no hidden fees.
• Support: Does the cloud service provider offer reliable, responsive support?
• Compliance: If your business operates in a regulated industry, you need to ensure that the cloud service provider is compliant with the relevant regulations.
• Vendor lock-in: Make sure the cloud service provider doesn’t lock you into their platform or technology. This is important because you may want to switch providers in the future, and you don’t want to be locked into a particular vendor.

The main costs associated with moving to or operating within the cloud can be broken down into four main categories:

1. Migration: The cost of moving your applications, workloads and data to the cloud. This includes the cost of re-architecting your applications and testing them in the cloud environment.
2. Training: The cost of training your IT staff and end users in the new cloud environment.
3. Integration: The cost of integrating your cloud environment with your existing on-premises systems and applications.
4. Support: The ongoing cost of maintaining and supporting your cloud environment, including monitoring, troubleshooting and security.

• Start small: Start with a pilot project or a smaller workload to test the waters and assess the costs and benefits of cloud transformation. 
• Plan carefully: Develop a detailed plan for cloud transformation, including timelines, budgets and resource requirements. This can help you avoid unexpected costs and delays. 
• Choose the right cloud service provider: Choose a cloud service provider that offers transparent pricing and cost management tools to help you optimise your costs. 
• Reuse existing resources: Reuse existing resources, such as licenses, hardware and software, if you can. This helps you avoid unnecessary costs and reduce waste. 
• Automate where possible: Use automation tools to streamline your cloud operations and reduce the need for manual intervention. This can help you save on IT staff costs. 
• Monitor and optimise: Use cost management tools to monitor your usage and identify cost optimisation opportunities. Regularly review and optimise your cloud environment to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your investment. 

Migrating existing applications and data to the cloud can be a complex process, which must be done with careful planning and execution. This is why we recommend working with a partner from the very start, as they will have performed many migrations before and know through experience which best practices to follow. Contact us for migration support if you think your organisation might not be able to manage all the below steps on your own:

• Assess your current environment before starting the migration process to determine which applications and data should be migrated to the cloud. Consider the current usage, security, performance and compliance requirements.
• Design your cloud architecture to meet your business requirements and take advantage of your cloud service provider’s capabilities. This includes determining which cloud services to use, how to configure your virtual machines and how to secure your environment.
• Prepare your applications and data to make sure they are ready for the cloud environment. This includes ensuring that they are compatible with the cloud platform, optimising their performance and addressing any security concerns.
• Perform the migration. Depending on your requirements and the cloud service provider, this can be done through several methods, such as lift and shift, re-platforming or refactoring.
• Test and validate your applications and data after the migration is complete to ensure they are working as expected in the cloud environment. This includes load testing, security testing and user acceptance testing.
• Optimise and refine your cloud environment to ensure that it meets your ongoing requirements. This includes configuring auto-scaling, monitoring your usage and performance and optimising your costs.

This is best left to an expert, as they will have the insights and experience to set up the necessary steps outlined below.

• Design for high availability: This can include using load balancing, redundant servers and automatic failover mechanisms.
• Optimise for performance by using best practices such as caching, compression and content delivery networks (CDNs). Use cloud provider-specific services, such as Amazon CloudFront, Azure CDN or Google Cloud CDN, to improve performance and latency.
• Monitor performance with cloud provider-specific monitoring tools, such as Amazon CloudWatch, Azure Monitor or Google Cloud Monitoring, to track the performance of your applications and data. Set up alerts for specific thresholds to be notified of potential performance issues.
• Manage your cloud resources efficiently to ensure optimal performance. This includes managing CPU, memory and disk utilisation and scaling resources up or down based on usage patterns.
• Test and optimise your applications and data regularly. Use tools like Apache JMeter, LoadRunneror Gatling to simulate high-traffic scenarios and test the scalability of your applications and data.
• Use distributed architectures, such as microservices, to reduce the impact of a single point of failure and improve availability and performance. This allows you to isolate components and scale them independently.
• Implement security best practices to ensure that your applications and data are protected from cyber threats. Use tools like AWS WAF, Azure Security Center or Google Cloud Armor to monitor and prevent security breaches.

The most common attacks associated with cloud computing are: 

• Data breaches can occur when unauthorised users gain access to sensitive information stored in the cloud. This can happen due to weak passwords, unpatched software vulnerabilities or insider threats. 

• Malware attacks can infect cloud infrastructure and compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Malware can spread through phishing emails, unpatched software vulnerabilities or infected software. 

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks overload cloud servers with traffic, making them inaccessible to legitimate users. This can happen due to vulnerabilities in the cloud infrastructure, unsecured APIs or compromised credentials. 

The risk of these threats can vary depending on the type of cloud model. Still, there are some common best practices for mitigating the damage they are able to cause: 

• Encrypting sensitive data before storing it in the cloud can help protect it from unauthorised access. 

• Implementing strict access controls, such as multi-factor authentication, can help prevent unauthorised access to the cloud. 

• Regularly patching software vulnerabilities and keeping software up to date can help prevent malware attacks. 

• Monitoring cloud infrastructure for suspicious activity can help detect and prevent insider threats. 

• Implementing DDoS protection measures, such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems, can help prevent DDoS attacks. 

• Regularly conducting security assessments can help identify vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure and ensure that security measures are effective. 

Implementing all of the elements above can be a lot to handle for a company whose core business isn’t IT security. Learn more about outsourcing your security to ensure you’re optimally defending against threats. 

This is highly dependent on the industry and/or location of your business. Nevertheless, here are some useful guidelines to help your organisation remain compliant:

• Choose a cloud service provider that is compliant with the relevant regulations and standards for your industry.
• Understand the regulations that apply to your business and how they apply to cloud computing. Work with legal and compliance experts to ensure that you are meeting all of the requirements.
• Perform a risk assessment to identify potential compliance risks related to cloud computing. This includes identifying data protection, privacy and security risks.
• Develop a compliance plan that outlines the steps you will take to meet regulatory requirements. This should include security controls, data management policies and data breach notification procedures.
• Implement security controls to protect your data and ensure regulatory compliance. This includes encryption, access controls and monitoring/ logging user activity.
• Monitor compliance with regulatory requirements and audit your cloud service provider’s compliance regularly. Use tools like AWS Config, Azure Policy or Google Cloud Security Command Center to monitor compliance and identify potential compliance issues.
• Train your staff on compliance policies and procedures related to cloud computing. This includes training on data protection, privacy and security policies.

This depends on the service level agreement (SLA) your organisation has with your provider and which cloud services you are using. Here’s a general overview of the types of support available:

• Technical support: Cloud service providers offer technical support to help you troubleshoot and resolve technical issues related to their services. This may include online chat, phone support, email support or ticketing systems.
• Training materials: Many cloud service providers offer training materials, such as online courses, videos, documentation and tutorials, to help you learn how to use their services effectively. Some providers also offer certification programs for their cloud services.
• Professional Services: Cloud service providers may offer professional services to help you migrate to the cloud, optimise your cloud resources or provide customised solutions for your business needs.
• Community support: Some cloud service providers have active user communities where users can share best practices, ask questions and get support from other users and experts.
• Consulting services: Some cloud service providers offer consulting services to help you with specific cloud projects, such as migrating to the cloud, building a cloud-native application or managing cloud security.
• Account management: Cloud service providers typically offer account management services to help you manage your account and billing, as well as to provide guidance and advice on your cloud usage.