The Real Migration to the Cloud: Moving Past Lift and Shift

The adoption of cloud services has swept the business world. A recent Harvard Business Review Analytics Services study found that 83% of companies see the cloud as very or extremely important to their future. But up to now, for most of these companies, cloud adoption has simply been “lift and shift” rehosting operations, using cloud infrastructure as a substitute for on-premises options. The cloud was seen as a way to reduce capital expenditures while making it possible to stand up infrastructure far more quickly.

The business value of this is real, which explains the wide adoption, but lift-and-shift’s value is limited and does not repeat after initial adoption. Some organizations have found that the cloud is in reality a more expensive option if its only real value is moving computing to where work is done.

More importantly, simple rehosting does nothing to improve the agility of IT or to support the delivery of innovative new digital services or apps. Companies must move beyond lift and shift to obtain the real value of cloud: moving from legacy application designs to modern, cloud-native approaches that utilize new technology foundations that are designed from the outset to enable a next-generation digital business.

Numerous technologies and design principles support cloud-native application modernization and development. Some of the most promising include:

• Containers and microservices—The use of containers as a means of deploying and managing microservices is often the starting point for next-generation, cloud-native applications. Supporting reuse of code and having the ability to deliver superior workload mobility are just two reasons why 48% of businesses already have deployed container technology.
• DevSecOps—Adopting this practice of integrating development, security, and operations enables new releases to be used immediately because the code delivered is secure and able to run without issues. This integrated approach also sets the table for operational integration with comprehensive monitoring to ensure better application management.
• Continuous improvement/continuous delivery (CI/CD)—In the cloud, development is less about completing a project than it is about managing a product that is continuously enhanced. CI/CD aligns the team to the idea that there is no finish line, and that innovation and feature enhancement are the key drivers. This alignment drives innovation and improvement.
• Emphasis on APIs and API management—The ability to support greater integration and eliminate silos has driven the use of APIs as the means of connecting data and applications. Consistent and documented APIs provide a great deal of leverage for dev teams and enables seamless integration.
• Commitment to automation—As cloud-native apps become common, legacy manual processes for QA, ticket management, and other tasks can’t happen fast enough to keep up with cloud-native apps. Automation across dev, sec, and ops functions is essential to support the speed of modern digital infrastructure.

This is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. The payback from simply moving workloads to cloud services is waning. Moving to cloud-native application design is mandatory. Getting there can be difficult, however, because it is hard to find staff with the necessary unique skills. To solve this problem, many organizations are leveraging partners such as Maverick that have a team of professionals with expertise and competency in these new and emerging technologies and processes. For more information, check out our services page!