The transformative potential of cloud migration is coming to the forefront as digital transformations continue to shape the future of businesses worldwide. An in-depth study by The Hackett Group named the “Cloud Services Study” provides solid evidence of the multifaceted benefits and values of migrating to AWS.
Four Key Values of AWS Migration
The AWS migration journey yields multiple benefits that are grouped into four main types: cost savings, staff productivity, resiliency, and agility. Each offers unique advantages that cumulatively result in a comprehensive value proposition for businesses.
Cost Savings: Post-migration, businesses experience a considerable reduction in ongoing costs, a fact backed by the top-performers who realized 31% infrastructure cost savings as a percentage of revenue. Furthermore, it isn’t just about infrastructure spend reduction; efficiency in application provisioning and cost avoidance from fewer security incidents and reduced downtime also contribute to the overall financial gains.
Staff Productivity: With the adoption of AWS, organizations are witnessing a positive shift in staff productivity metrics. Reduced time spent on operational activities by infrastructure staff and increased focus on strategic activities like capacity planning, budgeting, and road mapping contribute to this improvement.
Resiliency: Migrating to AWS strengthens a business’s resilience to disruptions. The study pointed out a substantial 27% reduction in security incidents post-migration. Notably, top-performers even saw a phenomenal 62% reduction in critical incidents per billion of annual revenue, attesting to the enhanced security and resilience offered by AWS migration.
Agility: Agility is the cornerstone of digital transformation, and AWS migration substantially improves this aspect. A 56% reduction in the time taken for production releases and a 64% decrease in the time to market for new features among top-performers underscore the agility benefits.
Unlocking the Full Potential: Strategic Recommendations
Beyond just revealing empirical benefits, the study also offers a rich reservoir of strategic recommendations. These insights emphasize the importance of cloud cost optimization post-migration, the integration of cloud hosting into any digital transformation strategy, the critical role of AWS-hosted data and applications in supporting a hybrid or digital workforce, and the necessity of accelerated cloud migration as a part of every business continuity strategy.
Deciphering Cloud Migration Jargon
As an added bonus, the report serves as a glossary, demystifying frequently used terms in the realm of cloud migration. Understanding this jargon is crucial to fully comprehend and exploit the potential of AWS migration.
Some of the notable terms include:
- Agile Methodology: An approach to software development involving continuous iteration of development and testing.
- Cloud-Spend Optimization: The use of tools and strategies to reduce the ongoing cost of cloud hosting.
- Critical Incident: An incident causing significant negative impact on the business and/or end users.
- DevOps: DevOps is a combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that improves an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at a high velocity. It aims to break down silos between software development and IT operations teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared accountability. This continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) model allows companies to innovate faster, adapt to market changes more efficiently, and deliver more reliable products or services to their customers.
- Overprovisioning: The purchasing of excess storage and/or computing capacity to accommodate exceptional circumstances such as seasonal peaks in demand.
The Experts Behind the Study
The combined expertise of Richard Pastore, Michael Fuller, and Justin Gillespie, the key advisors of the study, brings substantial experience and insights to the report, enhancing its credibility and value.
Looking Forward
The “Cloud Services Study” serves as the starting point for a series of reports that will delve deeper into the nuances of migration strategies and cloud financial management practices. It aims to empower organizations with the insights necessary to navigate their digital transformation journey and unlock the full potential of cloud migration.