intelligent

Plan ahead

Work with your MSP to create a three to five year strategic IT plan . This should be informed by your current and anticipated future IT needs , in line with your business expansion plans , and include an overall timeline for strategy and investments . Remember that your migration doesn ’ t have to happen all at once but can be done step by step . Look carefully at your business goals and determine which parts of your business could be run more effectively in the cloud , then consider each application one by one and decide on the right time to modernise it . Most organisations opt for a hybrid approach of hosting some applications in the cloud and keeping some on-premises , so with the help of your MSP , decide what is right for you .

Don ’ t try to change everything at once

The cloud by its very nature can be optimised and adjusted over time . Take advantage of this flexibility to keep your migration simple . For example , move your servers to the cloud first , then make sure you are happy with the outcome before you consider adding more applications or migrating users to Azure Virtual Desktop .

Be ready with change management

Moving your infrastructure to the cloud will change how end-users access and use applications . From the very beginning of your migration project , bring your staff on side by keeping them well informed and managing expectations . Plan your communication carefully , understand how the user experience will differ and consider what training your staff will need to work efficiently within your new infrastructure . Your MSP should be able to help you navigate this process by providing user training and documentation . This is also a good time to revisit security basics and update your employee security awareness training .

Implement strong data protection measures

Work with your MSP to implement a strong security strategy . Data protection and recovery needs to be carefully considered , because IaaS providers don ’ t have it covered out of the

box . While Azure provides a built-in backup component , this may not meet your objectives in terms of data recovery times and recovery points . For example , Azure Data Redundancy , which is provided free of charge , doesn ’ t store historical data , and doesn ’ t provide automated recovery , while Azure Site Recovery does not provide the ability to recover from a historical backup point beyond 72 hours .

Instead , to ensure true Business Continuity , spread your risk by performing cloud backups both within Azure and to a separate private cloud so you can keep operations up and running – or restore them quickly – at any time , even in the case of an Azure outage . Leading third-party Business Continuity and data recovery ( BCDR ) solutions developed specifically for the public cloud offer extra security measures such as ransomware detection and data deletion defences , and your MSP should be able to implement these . Work with them to put in place a BCDR strategy that covers all your workloads , regardless of whether they live on-premises or in the cloud , to ensure all your data is recoverable in the event of deletion , corruption or a ransomware attack .

If done correctly , migrating to the cloud will optimise your infrastructure and open up new opportunities . Plan carefully , find a trusted partner to see the project through with you – and set yourself up for success . �

LOOK CAREFULLY AT YOUR BUSINESS GOALS AND DETERMINE WHICH PARTS OF YOUR BUSINESS COULD BE RUN MORE EFFECTIVELY IN THE CLOUD , THEN CONSIDER EACH APPLICATION ONE BY ONE AND DECIDE ON THE RIGHT TIME TO MODERNISE IT .