Operators all around the world are fast transitioning to become digital service providers. If you’re one of them, now is the moment to start your digital transformation so you can assist your consumers in achieving their goals. To become agile and accelerate innovation, you’ll need to update your services, network, infrastructure, and operations. With all of its fuzziness, the cloud is a critical component of achieving digital transformation. A successful Cloud Transformation will lay the groundwork for the next generation of digital service providers.

According to a recent survey, 41% of enterprise workloads will operate on public cloud platforms in 2020, with another 22% on hybrid cloud. According to Gartner, End-user expenditure on public cloud services reached $396 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand 21.7 percent to $482 billion in 2022. However, even with this degree of size and over a decade of experience, many firms run into roadblocks that make cloud adoption difficult.

Here are three expert ideas to assist you to avoid stumbling blocks on your path to cloud adoption:

1.Take Into Account The IT Legacy

In general, the size and history of an organization are important factors in cloud adoption. With a cloud-first IT approach, start-ups have the advantage of starting from scratch. Large organizations with legacy systems have it more difficult. This pre-existing and frequently obsolete computing software, hardware, and applications are used to execute business operations and retain organizational knowledge. Still, they are difficult to upgrade or link to newer systems. They may become difficult to “archive” and replace as technological objects. Some businesses have a long history of customizing their IT infrastructure. Their IT systems have become extremely sophisticated, necessitating a careful migration to the cloud.

Companies in heavily regulated industries with high compliance standards, such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, and utilities, will find it even more challenging. They’ve also added to the pressure. According to McKinsey, cloud computing can transform the environment in industries traditionally less competitive or harder for new competitors to enter by democratizing access to processing power and infrastructure. Smaller enterprises may scale their company more cost-effectively on the latest cloud technology, stealing market share from slower-moving incumbents.

2. Distinguish Between Applications And Data

Large organizations can minimize the complexity of their legacy IT systems by shifting to the cloud. This, however, necessitates a thorough examination of a company’s complex web of software application interdependencies. The most commonly reported stumbling blocks on the cloud transformation journey are application and data entanglement. The user interface, business logic, data, and database levels are common layers in software systems.

Various components can be distributed over different servers at each of these stages. Detaching the application from the data required to migrate apps and data to the selected cloud architecture is a vital step on the cloud transformation road. Companies must pack up their data and services to relocate them to a new location, similar to how they pack up their stuff when moving house.

Some businesses are concerned about operations being disrupted. Others cannot begin the lift and shift to the cloud due to industry and company limitations. These criteria may include the need for data to be stored in the organization’s own data center. Since last year, new cloud solutions have made it possible for enterprises that had previously been unable to begin their cloud migration. Companies may now manage the required infrastructure in their IT environment with this new private cloud option. In addition, they can benefit from the advantages of a contemporary cloud infrastructure that is billed on an OPEX basis.

3. Create A Winning Environment For Your Team

Every technological achievement is the result of a collaborative effort. It’s easy to underestimate the effort required to prepare a team for a lift and transfer to the cloud. First, the team must have the necessary cloud skills. According to the PwC report, 52 percent of US executives cited a lack of IT expertise as a hurdle, citing skills in cloud architecture, cybersecurity, and DevOps as examples.

The presence of in-house cloud capabilities, according to Gartner, is a critical indicator of corporate agility. Migration schedules can be pushed back if certain abilities are lacking. Insufficient cloud IaaS skills will cause half of enterprise IT organizations to delay their cloud migration by two years or more by 2022. Experts offer a rather straightforward solution for this issue: form tightly linked teams with partners and set aside time for upskilling.

There isn’t a single ideal way to access the cloud. The optimum path is determined by a company’s unique IT environment, requirements, and in-house cloud expertise. As technology advances, a company’s approach to cloud computing will become increasingly distinct.