Digital transformation with AWS

How to mitigate the risks associated with AWS migration and management?

According to one recent study, a full 83% of all enterprise workloads will be entirely cloud-based by as soon as 2020. Furthermore, 41% of those workloads will run on public cloud platforms including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and, of course, Amazon’s own AWS.

AWS products management, in particular, has grown incredibly popular over the last few years, with the platform acting as the home for giants like Netflix, AOL, and even Pinterest. AWS saw $18 billion in revenue in 2017 alone and was poised to grow at a rate of 50% year-over-year.

All of this is to say that if you haven’t already begun your digital transformation, the chances are high that you will soon – and AWS will likely act as your destination of choice. But when that day comes, there are some critical challenges you’ll need to consider -particularly as they relate to the migration itself and the ongoing management of that infrastructure.

The Complexity of AWS: Breaking Things Down

The most immediate business challenge represented by AWS is the migration itself. Not only will you need to identify the critical business objectives (including features and functionalities that must remain in tight focus throughout this process), but you also have to work hard to guarantee maximum adoption for your users as well.

Shifting from an on-premise server into the cloud can represent a significant perspective change for an entire organization. Every member of every team needs to understand what this migration represents, why it’s important and what benefits it will bring to them for the best results. Without this, the chances of a smooth migration are slim and without the most efficient migration process possible, guaranteeing the right quality and performance in terms of AWS products management and other factors becomes not just tricky, but virtually impossible.

Then, you get into the topic of the actual workforce required to execute a move this large, to begin with. Experts agree that some of the significant challenges that companies must solve while migrating to AWS include a general lack of details regarding the scope of the project concerning factors like security and compliance. They also address a lack of tools necessary for discovery, a lack of application contexts and information, and an inaccurate idea of what the on-premises side of things will cost.
When left unchecked, these issues don’t just lead to a project that costs longer than it should – but also one that spawns inaction, which leads to a longer time to value as well. All of this eats into your company’s projected return on investment, which was the thing that AWS was supposed to help, not harm, in the first place.

On the long-term AWS support side of things, you’ll also need to focus on training employees in the right way to properly align the platform with your larger strategic objectives as a business. Even when you’re still limiting things exclusively to the migration process, all necessary parts – including planning and assessments, the procurement and migration tools, and also optimizing or replacing the Internet will require far more resources than are available internally. This often leads to businesses turning to various avenues for additional support – although they too bring with them things that one must consider.

Finding the Right AWS Support Partner

For most organizations, employing people who work in the United States isn’t an option simply because there aren’t enough potential candidates available to meet demands. Outsourcing those tasks to remote workers from abroad is also a non-starter, as there’s no effective way to do so via a method that also satisfies the human resources process for large enterprises in this country.
At that point, the solution becomes clear: organizations need to work with a vendor that knows the AWS environment inside and out, in a way that allows them to not only find and source quality candidates to help maintain the unique infrastructure you need but that also guarantees quality, transparency, and expertise at the same time.

This isn’t a situation that requires a “services provider.” What most organizations need is a partner in the most literal sense of the term.
Regardless of what your objectives are, you’ll need a partner with existing technical expertise and solid previous experience in migrating and managing AWS within the context of a business of your type. These should be experts in not only the right project management framework but also agile methodology as well. Finally, any viable AWS support partner should be able to help facilitate the specific type of operational model you plan on adopting.

When you find a company that meets all of these qualities, you won’t just guarantee a smoother and more successful migration. You’ll have everything you need to reduce the total time to value significantly, thus allowing you to fully enjoy the benefits of AWS with as few of the potential downsides as possible.

If you’d like to find out more information about mitigating the risks associated with AWS migration and management, or if you’d like to discuss your own AWS support needs, reach out, we would be happy to discuss any AWS challenge you want to overcome.