Living a digital world
Most companies, like our society in general, have already undergone significant digital development. Paperwork, mail, and fax machines have been replaced by PCs, emails, and smartphones, while ERP and Business Intelligence software have replaced calculators and spreadsheets.
In recent years, however, there has been a paradigm shift within digital transformation. Now, digital transformation is about “cloud transformation” – transitioning to the cloud. More and more companies are moving their applications, data, and infrastructure away from traditional onsite solutions to cloud-based solutions in the cloud.
If you Google cloud transformation, it quickly becomes clear that it is a shortcut to growth, increased security, agility, and other competitive advantages. But what do we really mean when we talk about cloud transformation? And why is it so important? We provide an answer here.
What Does Cloud Transformation Mean?
Cloud transformation is about moving your processes to the cloud, thereby streamlining the company’s operations, profitability, and robustness. It can involve moving the organization’s applications, data, and software. It can also involve moving, creating, or recreating an entire IT infrastructure.
The complexity depends on your business, whether you want a hybrid between cloud and onsite solutions, and where you are today. Cloud transformation can look many different ways, but common to all is a continuous focus on always leveraging the latest digital technology for scalable growth and efficiency.
And Why Is It Important?
In short, cloud transformation is important because it characterizes modern and successful companies today. Every company should, of course, keep pace with its market. Match changes, and always stay updated on what other significant players are doing.
Since 2020, Forbes has estimated that 83% of companies’ work processes are in the cloud, and research from Cybersecurity Ventures indicates that by 2025, there will be over 100 zettabytes of data stored in the cloud. In other words, companies that do not think cloud will be a step behind.
Here are the 5 most important reasons why
1. A Future-Proof Setup
One of the biggest advantages of cloud technology is that you always have access to the latest possibilities such as AI and Data Analytics. Cloud technology will ensure that you are always on the latest versions both in terms of software and any server upgrades. In other words, cloud technology ensures that you maintain your competitive advantages – and are ready for the future every day.
2. Increased Efficiency
It is our experience that companies that go the cloud route quickly achieve significant benefits through increased speed and much more agility in operations. More processes can be automated and streamlined. A good example is data collection, which in a cloud-based setup is much faster than in a traditional local network where data is often located in several different places. Another good example is the analysis part, where AI and digital analysis tools provide completely different possibilities for real-time overview and insights, thus enabling faster and better decision-making.
3. Lower Costs
Cloud transformation also offers many opportunities to reduce fixed costs. According to Nucleus Research, an organization can expect up to three times better ROI if they choose the cloud route. The cloud allows you to manage all your data and processes online, streamline workflows, and generally optimize most processes. If you use a public cloud platform (such as Azure Cloud), you also do not need to hire additional resources to facilitate a traditional on-premises IT solution.
4. Flexibility and Scalability
Without physical, local servers, you are not limited by traditional infrastructure. A cloud architecture gives your company the flexibility to scale up and down in line with market changes. At the same time, cloud technology offers almost unlimited flexibility in terms of when and how both customers and employees can interact with the company.
5. Improved Security
General digitalization unfortunately also brings a number of new threats. This means that cybersecurity is becoming more and more relevant. With a cloud strategy, you can outsource security to actors who have much greater resources than you do when it comes to protecting your company against data breaches and other threats.
The Typical Stages of Cloud Transformation
Cloud transformation typically has three dimensions: applications, network, and security;
Applications
Transformation of applications involves moving an organization’s existing applications into a cloud environment. This can be done in many different ways, and the strategy depends, among other things, on how much work is required to make the migrated application compatible with its new environment. Sometimes it requires almost nothing to migrate an application, while other times it requires more.
Network
Traditionally, networks were hosted in local data centers, well protected by a firewall, and users could typically connect via a VPN. With a modern cloud-based approach, users instead access the network and the organization’s resources via an internet connection, also known as Software-Defined Networking (SDN).
Using SDN technology, organizations can implement infrastructure components using an internet connection. Additionally, software-defined networks can work with complex, hybrid, and multi-cloud networks, which can work with and handle both local and cloud resources.
Security
Security policies for local IT environments cannot naturally be transferred to cloud environments, and security should also be considered during the migration itself. You should also regularly back up your data and set up data recovery strategies if the company is affected by conditions that can damage or delete them.
Cloud Transformation and Cloud Migration Cloud transformation can be a long-term process. It involves not only moving all your data and applications but also moving, reconfiguring, and optimizing your entire organization from an on-site infrastructure to cloud-based solutions. It is a process that involves many considerations, including:
- How will you connect to your networks?
- How will you secure your data?
- What processes do you need to implement?
- How much of your business is already cloud-compatible?
- What new technology do you need to implement?
Cloud migration, on the other hand, moves a range of data to the cloud while maintaining the infrastructure itself. It is a necessary component of cloud transformation. To transform your organization into a cloud company, you need to migrate your data and applications to cloud servers – but the scope of a cloud transformation is typically larger than just the migration. If a company is very cloud-compatible from the start, a cloud transformation will instead primarily involve moving data to the cloud.
And what about Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is a term we use when talking about general optimization with digital solutions in a company. Digital transformation is about fundamental changes in how a company operates from end to end. A fundamental way to optimize your business by constantly questioning whether the value chain can become more efficient.
This can sometimes mean moving away from well-established workflows to implement a set of relatively new processes that may still be being defined – but it will ultimately make the company more competitive. Cloud transformation will likely constitute a critical part of the broader digital transformation strategy.
Cloud is Now
Cloud transformation is here to stay; the benefits are undeniable. Cloud transformation can be confusing, and many terms are used interchangeably – and incorrectly. But by establishing the difference between migrating to the cloud, transformation, and its role in a broader digital transformation, it becomes easier to fulfill your ambitions in the area.
Cloud is not the future – it is now.
