Eilidh Clarkson, ISS sales manager, Absoft
SOUND familiar? You can’t turn around in business today without someone mentioning the ‘cloud’ and how massive savings in IT infrastructure costs are available. But what does that really mean?
On a weekly basis we talk to customers who have adopted a ‘cloud first’ strategy but are unsure how to plan and execute the migration of their systems into the cloud to realise anticipated efficiencies and cost savings. It can be a bit of a minefield to the uninitiated, finding what works for you, provides economies of scale and ensures that you achieve the maximum return on your cloud migration investment is crucial – otherwise, what’s the point in undertaking this process?
Absoft’s experience is that many companies have successfully moved large parts of their IT infrastructure into the cloud but have, so far, left their SAP system on-premise. Typical reasons why the SAP systems lag in the cloud migration stakes include the perceived risk of migrating a business-critical system, the complexity of the SAP portfolio and a ‘where do I start’-based inertia.
Engaging a fresh pair of eyes, from a consultancy with SAP expertise, cloud experience and a track record of successful migration projects is a recommended course of action for any organisation that wants to break out of that inertia.
Such an engagement will typically help you to review your SAP roadmap and provide guidance on whether a ‘lift and shift’ is the right move for you - or whether you should be breaking your move to the cloud down into smaller, more manageable (and affordable) chunks.
Your cloud migration partner will confirm your specific constraints, whether that be a reduced IT budget, current SAP enhancement pack, the current operating system or database versions supporting your SAP systems, internal resource constraints or choice of cloud partner. Understanding that context will be critical in identifying the optimal way forward for your SAP cloud migration project.
Perhaps you just need to move quickly from aging hardware which are now a vulnerability. Alternatively, optimising and rationalising your landscape before you move or considering cloud-based benefits such as only provisioning what you need/when you need it, might be the right option for you to release efficiency and cost savings. Either way, taking a pragmatic approach to what you want to achieve in the future and the short-term benefits available is the best place to start.
Absoft works with its customers to look at their specific situations and landscapes to determine what is possible, what makes sense and what will maximise that return on investment.
Reviewing your SAP system can help you to formulate some next steps when it comes to the cloud. It will often provide clarity as to where attention ought to be spent to optimise your current state whilst shaping your future state. You don’t necessarily have to know what your end-goal is but sometimes you must spend money to save money. Having forward looking plans, where that investment today can be a step towards longer term plans.