"If you have not developed Cloud Strategy yet, you are likely falling behind with your business" - Gartner.
Do you plan to move to Cloud? When and how do you want to move to the cloud? What is your Cloud Transformation strategy? Do you know the role of Integration in Cloud?
What is your Multi-cloud SaaS (Cloud is de-centralized) Integration approach?
Are you starting your cloud transformation? Look at the phased approach below. This would help to clear the obstacles for your cloud transformation.
Figure 1: Cloud Transformation - Phased Approach
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Assessment
It is always a good practice to understand the current landscape before starting any new digitalization program. Some may call this as “As-Is Assessment”.
"Understand your existing applications, systems, Integrations - Reshape in a right way"
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Business Cases
What are the Business Cases that can be subjected to Cloud Transformation? Choose your candidates carefully for the transformation. Stability and Innovation are mutually exclusive. Choose your business cases that have low and manageable risks as a first step. Cloud brings agility and innovation. So, there might be constant growth and changes.
“Create your Cloud Decision framework”
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Applications/Systems
What are the systems involved in your business functions? Do these applications needs to be modernized – Cloud-Native/Break down the Monolithic to Microservices/Cloudified?
“Apply the 6 R’s – Retain (Encapsulate), Rehost (lift & Shift), Re-platform (Lift-think-shift), Refactor, Re-Architect (Lift & Reshape) and Rebuild / Replace”
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To Be Architecture
Consider your future requirements and scope and define the future Architecture for business cases. Some systems/applications might need to be retained in their current state without any modifications. Make sure you have taken measures to connect your existing on-premise, legacy systems to Cloud (Hybrid Integration).
"Replacement isn’t the only option"
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Multi-Cloud Hosting
Adopt Multi/Hybrid Cloud Strategies to bring to value to your cloud Transformation. Some of them might stay on your on-prem as is, some of them might be public SaaS applications, some of them might reside on your private cloud and some of them might spread across different cloud hosting providers.
“Access, secure, manage, Integrate & govern across Hybrid environments”
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Multifunction-iPaaS
Choose the right Integration Platform that can integrate the key systems that are scattered across cloud and on-prem. Don’t build everything on your own, make sure the integration platform can offer certified connectors and pre-built recipes. Each system might have its own security, APIs, standards. webMethods.io is the next generation of Software AG’s Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). webMethods.io combines low-code usability with high control of complex integrations and APIs. With an industry-leading set of 300+ supported connectors to SaaS applications and pre-built integrations (recipes), this multi-function iPaaS integrates apps, data, APIs, B2B, and IoT devices.
“The more you innovate, the more you need to integrate”
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Design Patterns
There are plenty of Cloud Patterns to look out when you are on cloud transformation. There are multiple dimensions of integration you need to Consider – Application Integration, Data Integration, Network Integration, Identity Integration. The success of the transformation depends on a number of patterns and types of patterns you choose (and limit) to implement. Though you have more patterns available, identify and stick with the Design and Integration Patterns that would return the right benefits. For example, non-blocking asynchronous invocation is more scalable than synchronous invocation. Hence one might choose to implement the application integration with even driven webhooks and workflows, Implement batch processing with scheduled tasks. Protect and Monetize your APIs with first-class API Management capabilities.
“Principles are better than Process”
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Timelines
Agree and estimate a timeline to achieve your thoughtful roadmap. Please note that the cloud would continuously evolve and hence you need to keep some buffer your timelines and budget to incorporate the innovations and surprises.
“Maximize the value delivered by each Integration”
The journey of your cloud transformation is not over yet. If you have executed the above steps already, then you might have cleared some of your road blockers for the next phases with a new set of Business Cases. You are now in a better position to see and improvise the steps that need to be executed for the next phase.
“There is always a room for improvement…!”