In Is “Why?” the Most Important Cloud Question?”, I discussed the importance of knowing why you’re moving to the cloud as a critical success factor for your cloud project.
One of the questions I received in response to the post was, “Once I know why we’re moving to the cloud, what’s next?”
Exactly. What is next.
At ServerCentral, the second step in a successful cloud project, after answering why, is what. We formally call this phase Identification, but the goal is the same: figure out what you’re moving to the cloud.
Identification is the process of developing a complete understanding of each of the applications within your organization and whether or not they can migrate. This may sound trivial, but it is time well spent. Not having this complete list of applications that will potentially be moving to the cloud will quickly undermine a successful cloud project as inter-app dependencies (and internal negotiations on prioritization) will inevitably delay your timeframe. These delays are extremely expensive, as other projects await completion of the cloud project before they can proceed.
To ensure your cloud project gets off to a smooth start, always start by documenting a master list of your applications.
