The increasing trend of businesses moving workloads to the cloud is nothing new – but planning the migration is complex and connectivity should be a key consideration if the migration is to be successful.

By migrating to the cloud, enterprises can take advantage of the flexibility, scalability, productivity and advanced features that it offers, while reducing the need for expensive on-premises equipment. Migration to the cloud should not be taken lightly, and busineses are understandably wary of moving core business systems to the cloud. Rather than over-buying network capacity or trying to make the migration fit within existing network parameters, secure, low-latency On Demand connectivity can help smooth the migration process and should be a crucial component of any cloud migration. With so many things to consider, it’s easy to put connectivity to the back of the list or assume that it’ll be easy to sort at the end. However, this approach can put the whole migration at risk. That’s why we’ve put together this connectivity checklist, to help the journey to the cloud go as smoothly as possible.

1. Network Depth

Your network needs to connect key enterprise buildings with the data centres where your cloud applications reside – for something so critical it’s no use relying on third parties or a mish-mash of last mile connectivity options to get from A to B. It’s not just the obvious connection, what about branch offices or remote workers, how will they connect to the cloud and how can you guarantee the connection for business-critical applications. Or what about new offices in the future, or new countries?

Keeping traffic over a simple, end-to-end network means you can guarantee reliability, performance and uptime, as well as keeping data much more secure.

To do so, you’ll need to find a network supplier that can guarantee dense, on-net urban connectivity to all key enterprise locations, and any countries or cities that might be marked for future expansion.

2. Network Breadth

It’s not just enterprise buildings that need to be connected. Migrating to the cloud means finding a connectivity partner with fibre into the key data centres around the world where your chosen cloud environment resides, along with any other Cloud Service Providers that you might be using. The network should also link up all the technology providers, platform as a service and technology vendors that your business relies on.

Moving to the cloud gives you access to a massive digital ecosystem, but poorly architected connectivity can slow progress or result in applications that don’t meet performance requirements. Many applications rely on very specific latency requirements and these need to be guaranteed by your network provider.

To do this, you’ll need a network that connects you to all of the major Cloud Service Providers and locations in the digital ecosystem. Meeting your needs today and into the future, and one that guarantees performance for your newly, cloud-hosted applications and services.

3. Flexibility

Moving to the cloud brings with it the ability to react quickly and add new services, bring new locations online or expand services without requiring expensive on-premise upgrades. You no longer need to plan on-premises servers and storage infrastructure for the next three to five years, based on the expected maximum use and workload, overpaying for the times when utilisation is low.

The problem is that connectivity is traditionally purchased and provisioned based on static, out- dated models where bandwidth climbs gradually each year in slow, predictable steps. Whether it’s taking advantage of new technologies, adding new locations or enabling business functions to roll out new initiatives or programmes quickly, all require the ability to provision fast and flex connectivity. When it comes to the migration of your applications or services that are currently hosted on-premise, the average bandwidth needs are not going to be sufficient, but at the same time you don’t want to overpay for a year or more of massive capacity that you only need during the migration process.

Inflexible connectivity means either overpaying for bandwidth or underpaying and then slowing up the migration and restricting the future potential of the cloud. Migrating the massive volumes of data and workloads to the cloud needs to be done as quickly as possible, giving time back to test and ensure the migration was a success – but relying on business as usual levels of bandwidth will dramatically slow the process. The alternative is paying for bandwidth that you might only need for a few days in the migration process, then being stuck at that level for much longer.

To achive this, you need to find a network connectivity partner that offers self- provisioning and flexibility. The ability to scale bandwidth up and down as needed so that you only ever pay for what you need, and that the network will never hold up the migration or future projects. This should be easy for you to do on demand, not requiring lengthy negotiations or engineers to make changes.

4. Security and resilience

Any move to the cloud needs to ensure security and resiliency. Both during the migration and in business as usual operations, traffic between your business and the cloud needs to be protected – particularly given that regulations such as GDPR have increased the burden of responsibility on all companies that process personal data.

Effective security relies on multiple layers of defence at both the edge and core of the network, and along the network path. The challenge is that, as data travels over disparate systems and networks, the network perimeter no longer exists and security measures must adapt.

Moving to the cloud also means that your connectivity has now become critical to the running of your business, so the network needs to guarantee up-time and that the teams are in place to help if something does go wrong. The user experience also needs to be the same regardless of location – it’s no use having a great experience at head office if branch locations don’t experience the same.

With the average cost of a data breach reaching $3.92 million, and DDoS attacks increasing by 967% this year alone, there’s never been a more critical time to secure your network. For resiliency, moving to the cloud means putting faith into your cloud connection and so suppliers need to meet strict SLAs to keep the business online.

A key aspect of keeping data secure is knowing where it’s going and who’s responsible – so find a network supplier with control over the end-to-end network, not one that pieces together your connections from multiple partners. For resiliency, make sure that they can meet strict SLAs and find out how they can support you if something does go wrong. Finally, ensure that they can meet the same requirements for every location.

5. Neutrality and planning for the ‘stay state’

There’s no one size fits all approach to cloud migration. So being locked into an ecosystem with preferred partners can make the initial migration more complicated, as well as proving difficult in the long run. The best data centre for your business needs to be the best one for you to connect to – not the best one for your partners. Once the migration is complete and things are back to business as usual, it’s a good time to evaluate your other cloud providers and connections, but again these need to be the best for you and not for the partner. Getting locked into a preferred ecosystem can slow down progress, add cost and restrict your ability in the future to consolidate suppliers.

To get to this stage, find a partner that is supplier, data centre and vendor neutral. Then work closely with them to put together a network solution that is the best for your business, choosing the right cloud or data centre partners for every region, application or business need.

Migrating to the cloud offers a wide range of benefits and potential savings, but like any large-scale project, it needs to be carefully managed and every aspect considered. By finding the right connectivity partner, the migration can be made quicker and easier and several risks minimised.

Network Depth

  • Does your network connect all of your key locations & buildings?
  • Does a singular network connect across all of your key countries?
  • Does your network cover cities or regions where expansion is planned?

Network Breadth

  • Does your network connect to the key DCs you need?
  • What about to your selected cloud providers?
  • What about technology partners or platform/SaaS partners?
  • Does your network link you into the digital ecosystems that you need both today, and in the future?

Flexibility

  • Can you flex your bandwidth to meet the changing needs of your organisation?
  • Can you then set bandwidth at the right level for business as usual?
  • Can you change capacity on demand to meet business needs?
  • Is it easy for you to take advantage of new technologies?

Security and resilience

  • Will you be connected over a single-owned network?
  • Do you know where your traffic is going at every step of the way?
  • Can your partner meet strict SLAs for uptime and to meet application requirements?
  • Can you guarantee that service will be the same in every country?

Neutrality

  • Is your network partner data centre and cloud service carrier neutral?
  • What about platform as a service providers and vendors?