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C-Suite’s Step-by-Step Guide to Successful AWS Transitioning | Part 1

The cloud is an essential part of modern business, enabling companies to take advantage of flexible, scalable, and cost-effective computing resources. As a leader in your organization, you may have recognized the need to migrate to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the most popular cloud platform, to gain myriad competitive advantages. However, transitioning to the cloud can be a daunting task, and it’s crucial to approach it with the right strategy and knowledge.

AWS offers a scalable, reliable, and secure global computing infrastructure. If you’re planning to leverage AWS as your chosen cloud platform, this guide is for you – we have put together 12 critical steps for a smooth transition.

In this blog, we will cover in depth the first critical steps to complete before migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS)-  Cloud Adoption Readiness Assessment (CARA).

1. Complete a Cloud Adoption Readiness Assessment

Before you start your cloud migration journey, it’s crucial to evaluate your organization’s cloud readiness. A cloud adoption readiness assessment can help you identify gaps in your current infrastructure, skills and processes that may hinder your cloud adoption efforts. The assessment should evaluate your current workloads, applications and infrastructure and recommend the best practices and tools to help you succeed in the cloud.

Migrating to the cloud can be a complex and challenging task requiring careful planning and preparation. One of the essential steps in this process is completing a Cloud Adoption Readiness Assessment (CARA), helping organizations evaluate their readiness for cloud adoption and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

CARA is a comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s technical and business readiness for cloud adoption. It examines the current state of the organization’s IT infrastructure, applications and processes and assesses the organization’s readiness to move these assets to the cloud. CARA provides organizations with a roadmap for cloud adoption, outlining the steps they need to take to achieve their cloud migration goals.

Following are six key steps to complete a CARA:

1.1. Identify Key Business Drivers and Objectives

The first step is identifying your organization’s key business drivers and objectives for cloud adoption. This includes identifying the business goals and objectives your organization hopes to achieve by moving to the cloud. The key drivers may include cost savings, scalability, improved agility, increased innovation, and better customer experience. These drivers should guide your organization’s cloud adoption strategy and help determine the appropriate cloud services and solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

1.2. Evaluate Existing IT Infrastructure

The second step is evaluating your existing IT infrastructure – including hardware, software and networking components. This evaluation should examine the current state of your organization’s infrastructure and identify areas needing improvement or replacement. It should also consider your organization’s current use of virtualization and containerization technologies, and your current data center footprint.

1.3. Assess Your Application Portfolio

The third step is assessing your organization’s application portfolio, including legacy and modern applications. This assessment should examine your applications’ architecture, technology stacks, dependencies, and data requirements. It should also consider your applications’ business criticality and the level of effort required to migrate them to the cloud. This assessment will help your organization determine which applications to move to the cloud, and which ones to replace or finally retire.

1.4. Evaluate Your Security and Compliance Requirements

The fourth step is evaluating your organization’s security and compliance requirements. This includes assessing your organization’s current security and compliance posture, and identifying any gaps or deficiencies needing to be addressed. The evaluation should consider your organization’s regulatory requirements – such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR – and your internal security policies and procedures. It should also consider the security and compliance features of your cloud platform and services.

1.5. Assess Your Organization’s People and Process Capabilities

The fifth step is assessing your organization’s people and process capabilities. This includes evaluating your organization’s IT staffing skills and expertise, and your organization’s IT processes and procedures. The assessment should identify any skill gaps needing to be addressed, and any changes needing to be made to your organization’s IT processes and procedures to support cloud adoption. The assessment should also consider the training and development needs of your IT staff to help them manage and support the cloud environment effectively.

1.6. Develop a Cloud Adoption Roadmap

The final step is developing a cloud adoption roadmap outlining the steps your organization needs to take to achieve your cloud migration goals. The roadmap should consider your organization’s key business drivers and objectives, the current state of your organization’s IT infrastructure and applications portfolio, your security and compliance requirements, and your organization’s people and process capabilities. The roadmap should identify the specific cloud services and solutions your organization will use, and the sequential steps required to move applications and workloads to the cloud.

Completing a CARA is a critical step in your cloud adoption journey. It will give you a comprehensive evaluation of your readiness for cloud adoption, and identify the challenges and opportunities you’ll face. Following the steps outlined in this guide ensures you’re fully prepared for cloud adoption, and can achieve your cloud migration goals.

A CARA should also consider the financial and business impact of cloud adoption. This includes assessing the costs and benefits of cloud adoption, such as the upfront costs of migration, ongoing operational costs, and potential cost savings. It should also consider the impact of cloud adoption on your organization’s business model, such as the ability to scale and the impact on revenue and profitability.

And a CARA should consider your organization’s vendor lock-in risk, referring to the risk of being dependent on a single cloud provider or vendor for critical services. The evaluation should assess your organization’s ability to switch providers or use multiple providers, and ensure your organization has a contingency plan to address vendor lock-in risk.

Finally, a CARA should consider your organization’s cloud governance and management policies. This includes evaluating your organization’s ability to manage and monitor cloud resources effectively, ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, and maintain security and data privacy.

Completing a CARA is a critical step in the cloud adoption journey. It will help your organization assess your readiness for cloud adoption and develop a comprehensive roadmap for cloud migration. Following the steps outlined in this guide and considering the financial, technical and business impacts of cloud adoption, organizations can successfully transition to the cloud and achieve your cloud migration goals.