Make way for the future with Cloud Migration

By now, we all know the benefits of a cloud-based ERP system – no in-house hardware, flexible subscriptions, integrated reporting, and so on. Microsoft is heavily investing in the ease and functionality of their cloud-based system, Azure, and many users are already experiencing massive benefits such as:

• Increased speed
• Secure enterprise/global presence
• Integrated development environments
• Disaster recovery assistance
• Flexible expenditure

However, before taking on a major migration to the cloud, you should be able to confidently answer these 3 questions:

1. How will my existing IT infrastructure be impacted by the cloud?
2. How will my key lines of business applications be impacted by the cloud?
3. Is my IT team ready to support the cloud?

Q: How will my existing IT infrastructure be impacted by the cloud?

A: This question may spawn a dozen more, but it’s important to look at how a migration to the cloud will affect your business in regards to:

• Physical and virtual servers
• SQL server(s)
• Monitoring
• Disaster recovery and backup
• Microsoft Licensing – can these be carried over into the cloud environment?
• Existing cloud subscriptions – flexible vs prepaid plans
• Collaboration tools
• Network connectivity

Each of these areas must be investigated to ensure a smooth transition and peak process performance.

Q: How will my key lines of business applications be impacted by the cloud?

A: Your ERP, CRM, Analytics, and other business-specific enterprise applications can all benefit from the cloud, but which to migrate first? Based on specific needs and workload, a timeline should be created to prep your users and IT team for each migration.

Doing this incrementally by Application or Business Unit individually will help you to manage the impact on your IT team.

Q: Is my IT team ready to support the cloud?

A: Based on workload, cloud support may be a blend between your IT team and vendor managed services. Be sure to assess and prepare for support services before launching your migration project. Our experienced Azure Cloud team assists our customers through this process, and most of the activities happen in the background without much or any impact on customer IT Teams.

Have questions? We’re here to help. Contact us at crowe.com/supportservices  to chat more about your upcoming cloud migration project.

Mike Grob

Mike.grob@crowe.com 

Crowe LLP