Cloud migration can be an overwhelming process for companies. But it does not need to be like this! Successful cloud migrations require understanding how cloud strengths and limitations bring your application portfolio in line. Cloud assessment is about understanding an organization’s IT environment and resources that determine its potential for cloud migration. Cloud readiness assessment is the best practice for organizations looking to migrate their IT infrastructure, or even a single application, to the cloud. The process ensures smooth cloud migration and even sets up a cloud environment fit for an organization’s requirements. 

Cloud Assessment Procedure 

Cloud assessment is an all-inclusive procedure that identifies an organization’s readiness for cloud migration through application assessment and discovery. The main objective is to examine data and application infrastructure that can further be used to develop a roadmap for cloud migration. Through cloud assessment procedures you can also identify business cases for migration such as cost projections and cultural readiness in many cases. 

A dedicated cloud assessment structure and framework can help organizations analyze their requirements and match them with suitable cloud applications. Further, it helps companies choose the right cloud service provider per their requirements. All this together contributes to an easy, smooth and successful cloud migration, ensuring the IT potentials of a company can meet its present and future requirements for improved user experience. 

Advantages of Cloud Assessment for Businesses 

Innovative businesses would always like a flexible IT landscape with the potential to accommodate all kinds of changes almost all the time. Different organizations worldwide have already understood the advantages of cloud migration that can revolutionize their future if leveraged correctly. Now, let us know the advantages of cloud assessment before taking up this critical cloud journey: 

• Reduces time to examine the cloud readiness of an application by 80%. 
• Aligns the cloud computing plan of a business with its overall strategy. 
• Reduces time for cloud cost and business case analysis by 60% 
• Provides the suitable roadmap suggestions for the cloud through focused business cases 
• Offers some of the best practices for an organization’s cloud migration procedure 
• Helps with quantitative assessment of cloud migration costs and benefits 
• Provides a complete analysis of frameworks and tools and a detailed map of cloud migration opportunities 
• Ensures operational efficiency while migrating to the cloud. 
• Ensures improved security posture during cloud migration

 Steps of Cloud Assessment for Successful Migration

Cloud assessment is one of the most critical steps for organizations to get a solid standing before moving ahead with their plans for cloud migration. The process helps organizations examine their data and applications to determine if they can be migrated to the cloud without causing a blow to their operational continuity. The most critical steps of perfect cloud assessment for successful migration are as follows: 

Identifying Business Objectives for Cloud Migration 

Organizations must understand the reason behind their cloud migration before devising a cloud migration plan. This is the first step of cloud assessment, where organizations get proper clarification on the reasons behind moving their data and applications to the cloud. 

Assessing the Potential of a Team and Identifying Skill Gaps 

The next important step of a cloud assessment process is to determine the capability of an organization’s in-house team. This further helps businesses fill the resource and skills gaps quickly. 

Scrutinizing an Organization’s Present IT Infrastructure 

This involves understanding the feasibility of an organization’s cloud migration initiatives. It is among the most critical steps of a cloud assessment procedure, where an organization examines the applications it wants to move to the cloud. In this same step, businesses also gather sufficient details on their network, storage, operating environment, on-premise hardware, and data collection. 

Identifying Security Requirements 

Security always remains at the forefront of an organization’s cloud migration goal. Therefore, organizations must assess their present security mechanisms and determine their security and compliance requirements before migrating to the cloud. 

Assessing an Organization’s Operational Readiness 

Cutting-edge tools and technologies have made it easier for businesses and their experts to deal with cloud operations, but specific challenges still require proper analysis and solutions. In this step, organizations determine how prepared they are to manage the operational aspects of the cloud. 

Determining the Right Budget 

Most organizations go for cloud migration for performance, scalability, cost-cutting, and resiliency. But without proper planning, the cloud infrastructure of any organization can surpass the expenses incurred on on-premise infrastructure and even exceed the estimated time. So, this step of determining the right budget for cloud migration is a critical one in the cloud assessment procedure. 

Positive Results of a Successful Cloud Assessment Process 

Irrespective of where an organization stands in its cloud journey or the type of cloud deployments it already has, proper cloud assessment can offer a new course for its IT environment. Organizations should consider their people, business strategy, and technology to tailor a hybrid, private or public cloud environment that best suits their requirements.

When it comes to cloud migration , the two factors that dominate the process decision are the cost and security. Luckily, cloud assessment can help evaluate both these parameters. With assessment projection you may understand the loopholes in the beginning and work towards eradicating the rather sooner than later.

 Some of the most valuable results of a successful cloud assessment procedure are as follows: 

• Availability of cloud-native organization solutions and tools 
• Automatic data discovery and dependency mapping 
• Multiple analysis dimensions help organizations define their target cloud migration environment. 
• The discovery of a suitable cloud migration model further helps organizations get on the right path to cloud migration. 
• The proper cloud assessment process also helps businesses avoid the costs of replacing hardware and maintaining data centers. 
• Cloud assessment offers businesses the scope to scale resources to become faster and simpler. 
• Organizations also fetch the advantages of data resiliency in backup services and disaster recovery.

To Conclude 

Nowadays, businesses have been forced into a completely new paradigm of risk management and innovation, where it has become essential for them to take advantage of cloud services and protection. Proper cloud assessment can help present-day businesses develop the platforms and competencies to accelerate their cloud migration process and over-lay hyper-automated cloud operations. This can help companies traverse systematic disruption successfully and experience future growth with highly flexible cost structures and IT operational models.