Among the many benefits of the cloud one of the most appreciated at least on paper initially was the ability to gain greater autonomy in choosing a vendor and changing it over time. It was an opportunity that could overcome one of the big problems for more complex companies with an IT infrastructure that has grown over several years: ivendor lock-in, that situation where a company becomes dependent on a specific vendor for its products or services, making it difficult or expensive to switch to another vendor.
That dependence on a vendor where it was more convenient to pander to rising expenses when upgrading or servicing a piece of hardware seemed to be outdated. Instead, lock-in has remained changed in appearance but the risks and consequences are virtually the same.. Finding oneself unable to change the provider of a cloud service unless one faces major expenses, for example in transferring data, converting it or redesigning modules because of incompatibilities are just some of the risks often hidden behind seemingly affordable entry fees and fees.
Again, however, a solution exists and its effectiveness is all the greater when the lock-in issue is addressed early. Even better if it starts as early as the evaluation stages of a quote when purchasing or transferring a service to the cloud.
With increasing offerings, evolving businesses and abrupt changes in scenario the issue is particularly sensitive today even though the problem has been around for some time. In fact, back in 2020, a Bain & Company survey of CIOs found that 65 percent of companies considered a strategy essential. . Statements, however, in stark contrast to a reality where 71 percent of organizations relied on a single provider and another 21 percent still largely addressed the same vendor. Escaping lock-in is possible, however, and to succeed it can be helpful to follow five simple guidelines.
Five steps to a lock-in-proof cloud
- First of all, it is essential to know exactly your infrastructure, organization with all its users and strategies, as well as future goals. In practice, it is important to start with an assessment In particular, understand which components can be moved to the cloud and which would generate more cost than benefit. For example, the presence of legacy technologies is unlikely to get along well with the cloud, unless there is substantial investment in software redesign. More generally, a discourse that should be extended to any service that is a candidate for outsourcing including assessing the provider’s ability to ensure compatibility, with usage patterns and performance at least at the level of those in place.
- Once the ideas are clear it will be easier to move on to the next stage, the actual selection of the provider. Fees are certainly a relevant aspect but only the first. Often, the biggest problems for lock-in lie precisely behind seemingly affordable entry costs. Where one is forced to comply with provider directives instead of the other way around the first clues arise. Above all, the freedom to continue to manage one’s data independently and in particular the ability to transfer it unhindered- must be clear.
- This is probably the trickiest point behind the apparent ease of access to the cloud there are in fact problems ready to emerge only at the stage of eventual withdrawal. A remote storage format not sufficiently considered at the time of transfer may in fact prove to be an obstacle that can be overcome only at great cost. In addition to security and reliability of the service, accessibility and standard in the format are elements to be carefully considered. Exiting a cloud must be as easy as entering it.
- This gives rise to another crucial point. Where possible it is advisable to develop or adapt, applications following open source standards. Most widely used technologies such asPython or Kubernetes are not only untethered from a particular vendor. They also allow for broad availability in training services and support with the desired freedom of action even when migrating. It also means having greater autonomy in choosing partners. A provider reluctant to guarantee support for these kinds of tools is already to be evaluated with some reservations.
- To achieve these goals it is equally important to have trained and competent resources. An activity from which few can call themselves out. Indeed, if it is up to the CIO and the IT department to identify the technologies and the vendor that can guarantee flexibility and availability over time, even at the cost of greater investments of time and money during the migration phase management, on the other hand, has the task of not limiting itself to evaluating the operation only from an economic point of view. The more informed and shared the decision, the more effective the investment will be in every respect.
If all these steps are carefully followed, the last one will eventually prove almost natural. A best-conducted analysis and study phase will, in the end, almost certainly lead toward a multicloud solution. Although more onerous and complex on the surface, especially in the early stages, focusing on open source standards and finding the best solution for each service will easily result in efficiency and savings in the long run.