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Tag: migration

Four Reasons Why CTO/CIOs Migrate Oracle Applications to Cloud Infrastructure

Posted on by Ces_creative

The decision to move Oracle EBS to the cloud should be a no brainer

IT Infrastructure: The new technology frontier being tamed

The emerging technologies of yester years have made great advances in computing power and digital storage to address the business needs of today.  Data storage, compute power, and fast networks continue to push the envelope of digital innovation.  Storage cost has been shrinking in accordance with Moore’s Law.  New computing technologies and methods continue to rise on the digital horizon with the ever-widening network bandwidth enabling the rise. These advances in technology have enabled IT infrastructure to scale up in capacity and capability, gave more control and flexibility in the hands of the user, and is begging to hurl the on-prem infrastructure to the cloud.

ERP applications – Moving the digital nest from physical data center to the cloud

Software is now ready to ride the new hardware horse. Hereafter, business applications do not have to be married to the computing hardware for certain size and capacity. There have been new waves of innovation in infrastructure capability that highlighted inflexibility of the on-premise IT infrastructure.  Businesses can now take advantage of this new wave of innovation in infrastructure capabilities by adopting lift and shift of application stack to cloud. 

However, most businesses are still catching up with Cloud Migration  even as they realize that it is not optional but a must-do activity.  Oracle has made it easier by offering OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) as an alternative to AWS and Azure clouds with its own ecosystem of Oracle database embedded into the cloud. OCI is a platform tailored-made for Oracle ERP.

” Business software is now ready to ride the new hardware horse. “

Why CES customers consider moving their Oracle applications to Cloud Infrastructure

CES offers expertise in Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and helps customers move Oracle EBS on premise to OCI cloud (or even AWS and Azure).  In our experience, a few instances when customers moved their applications to cloud are:

Time to refresh server hardware

The perfect decision time to consider cloud option is when it’s time to refresh the hardware.  Having an in-house data center comes with its own set of challenges and costs. If you have on-prem applications and the time is up for a refresh of the server and storage stack, going for cloud infrastructure would be a better option.  From TCO (total cost of operations) standpoint the Cloud infrastructure is likely to cost 20 to 30% less than on-prem servers and overheads. 

Move from 3rd party cloud service provider

For those who are already with 3rd party cloud providers like Rackspace and Iron Mountain, it may be important to consider the long-term viability of these providers. More and more businesses have started moving to larger AWS and Azure clouds from the existing 3rd party hosting sites for better scalability.  Hence, the long-term viability and cost-effectiveness of the smaller players is now in question.  Moving Oracle application stack from these vendors to OCI or other popular clouds will reduce long term risks and headaches. 

” Moving to the cloud is a great way to move from CapEx to OpEx model. “

Do more at less budget

Many a time, less is more.  It is true in case of Cloud Infrastructure as well. Lifting and shifting Oracle applications to OCI may reduce upfront outlay of costs and spread it over a period of time, easing up the cashflow.  Moving from CapEx to OpEx model will provide excellent option to the finance department with budgeting and cashflow/tax planning.

Avoid the exit barriers

The journey of the hardware has been from on-premise data centers to IaaS and then to SaaS; the future is – moving to SaaS.  If business takes the journey to OCI now it will not be left behind when every other business is looking to switch to SaaS.  This will remove exit barriers when the business wants to move to Oracle SaaS based application stack in future.  The business would be in a better position to make the switch.

The time to act is now

Migrating Oracle applications to OCI is an easy way to gain experience in Cloud Infrastructure.  Experience in cloud is a must if a business is considering Cloud-native development in future. Without this experience business will have to play catch-up with the competitors later.

CES offers lift-and-shift service for Oracle EBS applications and moves EBS to OCI or AWS or Azure cloud in a fixed cost model.  The entire execution is flawless with minimal interruptions to and support from the business.  Apart from lift-and-shift CES also offers upgrade and post-migration support making the decision to migrate even easier. For more information or a conversation on how CES can help with migration to OCI, please contact us at sales@cesltd.com.

Cloud Migration: Lessons From Cyber Trenches and Foundries

Posted on by Ces_creative

Key considerations for developing a sound cloud migration strategy

The cyber world is witnessing rapid changes in technology and business processes. The millennial or digital-native companies have lived on the cloud from day one.  However, the legacy companies do not have that advantage.  They are required to cloudify without impacting their existing business operations.  Cloudification provides an opportunity to companies of all kinds to reengineer their business processes.  It helps ensure system availability, data protection, and smooth rollback/recovery.  Most importantly, it offers improvement in overall operational efficiency.

System Integrators

The technology market is flooded with System Integrators who claim to have expertise in cloud migration.  Companies need an experienced partner who can devise an appropriate migration strategy and ease their journey to the cloud.  They need a partner who will travel with them through thick and thin with a stake in the success.

Cloud Migration: Key Considerations

CES is a System Integrator that has successfully guided customers in agribusiness, bioscience, ecommerce and other industries to migrate to cloud.  In our experience, the following aspects must be considered in developing a strategy for cloud migration.

  • Planning:  It is important to develop a prioritization framework for determining the order in which the business applications should be moved to the cloud.  A good prioritization framework is risk-weighted and ROI driven.  It takes into consideration all the key parameters that influence the success of an implementation.

A wholistic approach to doing this would be to consider prioritization of technology stacks, technology tiers, business functions, and applications.  In determining whether the migration approach should be a lift-and-shift or cloud-native development, consideration may be given to decoupling the front-end from the backend and migrating them independently. 

A good prioritization framework is risk-weighted and ROI driven.

  • Architecture:  Certain applications or certain parts of the technology stack may need to be retained or re-written or retired.  We should consider pros and cons for options like – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Function as a Service (FaaS), Backend as a Service (BaaS) – in reimagining the future business and technology architecture.

Breaking application architecture into micro apps and micro services via Domain Driven Design (DDD) would be worth considering. Large monolithic applications are hard to maintain and scale. Newer applications follow the micro services-based architecture. The front-end and mobile applications can be broken in micro apps for specific functionality. This eliminates single point of failure, reduces down-time, improves performance, increases scalability, etc.  This also helps bring the cost of infrastructure down as many smaller instances are generally cheaper than one large instance of combined capacity.

  • Platform Vendor Selection:  AWS, Azure and Google are the main Cloud Service Providers.  However, depending on the business need, consideration may be given to niche providers like Rackspace or even a more traditional IBM if it makes compatibility and economic sense. 

Then, there could be a need to migrate thick-client desktops to the cloud and access them via VMware for easy portability and/or security reasons.  An experienced SI should be able to review your compute, storage, and bandwidth needs and recommend the right platform vendor.

  • Methodology:  An iterative or agile methodology is suited for modern application development.  In deciding the right methodology, companies may need to assess their resource skill level as well as the systems documentation quality.  For instance, if the system documentation levels are low, which is normally the case for traditional companies with legacy systems, Test Driven Development (TDD) approach would be a suitable methodology for Cloud Migration.  This would ensure that a verifiable Definition-of-Done (DoD) has been documented and agreed upon upfront.
  • Technology: The technology selection is perhaps the most difficult decision to make because of the existence of a plethora of technologies in the market with every technologist having their own favourite.  There are proprietary software and community-supported open-source software to choose from.  We have technologies like .NET Core, Node JS, Python, Java, RoR, etc. for the backend and have Angular, ReactJS, VueJS, Blazor, etc. for the frontend of applications.  A good SI will provide an unbiased advice on what technology would fit best in an organization.
  • Teams: The technology and domain skills of individuals is an important consideration.  It helps in determining the number of sprints, the size of scrums, the throughput of teams, defining milestones, etc.  This assessment also helps in determining skills gap, training and sourcing requirements.  The IT departments should work closely with the HR department in this assessment.
  • Other Considerations: There are other aspects like company policies, security, operating procedures, regulatory requirements, maintainability, etc. to keep in mind as well.  Data backup and data retention policies, down-time requirement, user base, geographic presence, etc. are also important considerations in developing a good cloud migration strategy.

The TDD approach ensures a verifiable Definition-of-Done (DoD) is documented and agreed upon upfront.

An Ideal Partner for Cloud Migration

An ideal SI partner would have experience and a proven cloud migration framework to assess and develop a tailored strategy for the needs of any IT department.  They would take into consideration the combination of people, processes, and technologies to develop the right tools like, checklists, templates, calculators, reusable assets, etc. to expedite the migration process.

An experienced Cloud Migration Partner will help you evolve into a “Cloud Native” IT department.  Cloud Native computing is helping companies upgrade existing applications, build new applications, and deliver automated services across private, public and hybrid clouds faster.

For more information or a conversation on Cloud migration, please contact rohit.vipinmathews@cesltd.com.  If you are interested to know how CES can help  you in your cloud journey, get in touch with us at sales@cesltd.com.

To Cloudify or Not To Cloudify: The Question is No More Why, But When. So, Why Not Now?

Posted on by Ces_creative

If you have delayed your cloud journey till now to gain second mover advantage, your time is up.

Cloud migration: The need of the hour

The businesses that wanted to have the second mover advantage, for them the inevitable has arrived.  They can no longer put off their plans to cloudify their business systems. There is a constant need to evolve and move to newer, comprehensive solutions and have flexibility in scaling up/down the technology infrastructure resources.  This coupled with the need to meet the expanding needs of enterprises and dynamic demands of customers, businesses have no choice but to take the journey to the cloud.  Migration to cloud offers cost effective storage and flexible access to data in addition to several other benefits.

The reasons for the delay

There are a few reasons — some of them justifiable – why some businesses and their IT departments have waited till now to cloudify their IT.

  • Cloud technology was not mature
  • Lack of a business case (cost vs benefits)
  • Did not know where to start
  • Lack of in-house capability or good outsourcing option

One of the major reasons companies had put off their cloud adoption was a lack of mature System Integrators (SI) they could rely on. 

Selecting the right system integrator

If a business thought that the entire process of cloudification is cumbersome, they should worry no more. The market is now filled with experienced Cloud Service providers and SI’s who can help with the migration process.

There are the white-glove SI partners who can assist their customers with insight, strategy, and execution. They can walk you through every step, from planning to implementation to training, so businesses can reap the most out of the cloud-based system – but all at a high premium.  

On the other hand, there are those less experienced System Integrators who can provide cloud migrating services for any budget.  They could be very good executioners of your cloud migration strategy if you have one. However, they may not have the expertise to sail you in the right direction or navigate through unforeseen turbulence. 

Then there is CES that partners with a customer to assist with a cloud migration strategy and customizes solutions to accommodate the unique needs of the customer without demanding a hefty premium.

It’s time the second movers got future-ready with Cloud migration plans without any further delay.

What makes CES the right choice

Cloud migration is an imperative that every organization is facing.  However, there are some important aspects to keep in mind to make the journey successful.  It is important to understand which legacy applications should be retained and which to be replaced, which one needs to be re-written and which to be retired.  Then there are considerations of which technology stack should be moved first.  Should it be a migration for IaaS or PaaS; or for FaaS or BaaS?  CES can bring deep insights and help with these decisions.

CES has experience in all three major cloud platforms – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud – to help move a business to the cloud.  We have helped several businesses, from start to finish, in migrating their IT systems to cloud.  We have taken up multi-year migrations and walked businesses through this important and intensive journey.  Our solution is flexible and service cost-effective.

For example, we helped a customer, who is a leading provider of integrated business solutions for the agribusiness industry, migrate to cloud.  The client embarked on a decade-long journey to cloud-enable their software platform to host the software on the cloud and provision it from there in a SaaS model.  They started the journey five years ago and engaged CES as a partner of choice in this migration.  CES helped the business with assessment, methodology, and technical execution of the migration process.  Migrating to the cloud helped the business improve flexibility and maintainability of their SaaS infrastructure and its provisioning.  It led to significant cost savings but more importantly it improved overall Customer Experience (CX) of their software service manifold. 

CES brings insights, helps with key decisions, and offers value at comparatively more practical consideration.

Cloud is not the limit

Cloud environment is scalable, cost-effectiveness, convenient, accessible, and reliable.  To reduce operational costs and mitigate security risks, to meet the rapidly increasing capacity needs and accommodate new geographies, a company needs to shift to the cloud. Cloud migration gives a company the much-needed competitive edge over business rivals.  And the time to act is now! 

Those who have refrained till now in order to gain the second mover advantage may feel tempted to wait even longer.  Though the option of further delaying and waiting for the migration costs to go down even more is tempting, it is not a well thought out decision.  The time to migrate to cloud later will be longer as the legacy applications will have greater technology chasm to bridge.  The competitors who went ahead in this journey will have matured more and will be in a better position to take advantage of newer technologies in future as their systems will be comparatively nimbler and can easily adapt to change. 

In summary, a CIO or CTO can no longer afford to put off their plans to cloudify their business systems.  The era of cloud has already arrived for a while.  A business will gain no incentive by delaying any further their journey to the cloud.

Please stay tuned for our next blog on “3 things a CIO should focus on in creating a Cloud Migration roadmap”.  For more information or a conversation on how CES can help with Cloud Migration, please contact us at sales@cesltd.com.