Challenges in Cloud Migration and the need for Assurance Solutions

The corporate environment is shifting. Many businesses now employ remote workers, have various offices, and use a variety of computing tools and platforms. While these changes present new opportunities for business executives, they also present new obstacles for IT departments that are straining to keep up in order to facilitate effective collaboration and communication.

Many of these business concerns have an intriguing solution in the cloud. As the cloud has grown in popularity and acceptance in the computer industry, an increasing number of enterprises are opting for it. And it’s easy to see why.

For businesses and organizations, there are numerous advantages to using the cloud, including:

• Increased operational and management efficiency
• Enhanced access and support for the remote workforce
• Integration with the IT infrastructure
• Cost savings

According to Gartner, “To help maximize the benefits of the multi-cloud strategy, cloud migration decisions can be tied to higher-level business goals. Migrating large amounts of workload from an on-premises data center to the public cloud requires careful planning, and many IT leaders don’t know where to begin.”

Even though many companies race to implement cloud computing procedures, it is not a simple undertaking. Cloud migration comes with its own set of challenges.

Challenges in Cloud Migration

Several significant business disruptions have occurred as a result of inadequate cloud migration or maintenance. A cloud migration journey might come with a slew of implementation issues, including:

• Significant cost overruns because of the project’s high complexity and underestimation of performance issues and expenses.
• Misconfigured systems, provider difficulties, external threats, and other factors compromise security and compliance.
• Risk of unplanned downtime owing to dependability concerns would negatively impact the overall experience and image.
• Traditional programs may not be built to take advantage of the cloud, and performance may suffer due to the transfer.
• Data loss during relocation is a possibility and can lead to significant business disruption in the absence of adequate backup.

These risks may limit an organization’s capacity to fulfill key business objectives such as flexibility, speed, and agility (in terms of workload amount and frequency), cost optimization, and customer experience, among others.

To ensure success, thorough and diligent assurance is required throughout the whole value chain of the cloud migration journey.

The need for Cloud Migration Strategy and Assurance Solutions

Without a doubt, the most disruptive phenomenon in recent years has been the evolution of digital technologies. Globally, organizations are migrating from old on-premise systems (platforms, technologies, and procedures) to sophisticated and modern IT stacks, resulting in digital transformation (DX). Cloud adoption (using IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS techniques) through public, private, and hybrid adoption models is one of the most important milestones in IT stack modernization.

The success of cloud migration is dependent on two key factors: designing a well-defined migration strategy that includes numerous phases and methodologies and assuring the program’s overall quality.

A solid cloud migration strategy starts with a thorough examination of the IT application stack in terms of numerous factors, including:

• Cloud migration goals and how they connect with business objectives
• Concerns about data security and integrations when going to the cloud
• Types of cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) to use for selected apps, as well as deployment models (private, public, hybrid, and multi-Cloud)
• Choosing between a one-time vs. a staged cloud migration strategy

Following the identification of cloud migration tactics and approaches, it’s crucial to look at the quality assurance (QA) components of such vital programs. Several firms are utilizing digital technologies to facilitate agile and DevOps software delivery strategies. DevOps extends agile principles to more regular and automated deployments, resulting in shorter time-to-market and a favorable influence on an organization’s growth.

Continuous assurance powered by DevOps is critical for ensuring the quality of the cloud migration effort. Continuous assurance embraces the agile test maturity (i.e. fail quickly, fail early, learn and recover fast) by incorporating extensive test automation into the end-to-end software delivery pipeline and employing DevOps methodologies to take it to the next level. This ensures that failures and recoveries do not disrupt the end-to-end delivery cycle.

Regardless of the method used to migrate to the cloud, key considerations such as customer experience, application performance, scalability, and security must be addressed.

Cloud Migration Assurance services and solutions help enterprises with:

• Cost Optimization: Right sizing of computing resources and IT infrastructure costs & conversion of CapEx into Opex.
• Security: Modernization of IT infrastructure according to best practices and greater application security.
• Accessibility and Convenience: Central location of applications and services with easy and uninterrupted access & improved collaboration among teams.
• Leverage New Technologies: Leveraging complex cloud-friendly applications and services across AI/ML, data analytics, data lakes, etc.
• Disaster Recovery: Remote access to systems in a secure virtual environment that leads to a quicker recovery of critical systems in the event of a disaster.

Successful DX requires a well-thought-out cloud adoption strategy, a clear migration strategy across the IT application portfolio, and rigorous DevOps processes (CI/CD and continuous assurance approaches). Moving to the cloud allows businesses to make use of the most cutting-edge disruptive technologies, such as AI/ML algorithms, as well as data analytics and insights. Successful cloud adoption also empowers companies to drive a cloud-first strategy for new IT programs and initiatives, speeding up the DX process.

If you want to know more, watch this insightful webinar that was hosted by Cigniti on October 21st, 2021.

This webinar is for you if you are a QA or an IT leader who is planning for a successful cloud migration journey, and are looking for:

• How to build a cloud migration strategy for an enterprise
• Tips for a successful transformation and the pitfalls to avoid
• Learnings from real-world enterprise migrations involving high-volume products without impacting customers

Hear Raghuram Krovvidy – President & Global Delivery Head at Cigniti Technologies and Sean D. Mack – Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Wiley speak in this webinar as they share insights on the role of digital assurance in developing a successful cloud migration strategy. Drawing from years of experience, they have discussed real-world case studies and how one can overcome the challenges of moving enterprise products and services to the cloud without impacting customers.

About Cigniti

Cigniti Technologies Limited, a global leader in providing AI-driven, IP-led, strategic digital assurance, software quality engineering, testing and consulting services, is headquartered in Hyderabad, India, with offices in USA, U.K., UAE, Australia, Czech Republic and Singapore. Leading global enterprises including Fortune 500 & Global 2000, trust us to accelerate their digital transformation, continuously expand their digital horizons and assure their digital next. We bring the power of AI into Agile and DevOps and offer digital services encompassing intelligent automation, big data analytics, cloud migration assurance, 5G Assurance, Customer experience assurance and much more. Our IP, next-gen quality engineering platform, BlueSwan helps assure digital next by predicting and preventing unanticipated application failures, thereby assisting our clients in accelerating their adoption of digital.