According to the latest surveys, more than 70% of companies have single or multiple public cloud services up and running. Many have plans to migrate further to a preferred cloud platform. Initially for file storage and workplace amenities, the office features. Secondly, also the generic business software. From the operational line of the organization but also from management, the pressure is felt to migrate mission-critical functions to the Cloud. The expected benefits are scalability and cost savings on management. In addition, business propositions in the Cloud can be implemented more quickly.

In the grip of legacy

For many companies, legacy systems with business-critical data are still on-premise. These systems have a specific configuration or are not technically compatible with the large Cloud platforms. Based on the requirement of data management and security, it is necessary to replace these systems. However, this can not always be linear, unbundling requires a functional approach. This could be a project in itself. Many organizations are now also feeling the disadvantage of previous purchases of generic web services. These are often fragmented operational sometimes even on different platforms. The costs can be enormous.

From public to private cloud

There is rightly a lot of resistance to bring the mission-critical data to a public cloud platform. For example, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure or AmazonS3 do not guarantee data and privacy security in practice. It is a matter of time whether data leak should be mandatory to be reported. Partly because of this, the developments with “self-hosted” private Cloud platforms have accelerated. Gartner calls this new generation of Cloud platforms “Content Collaboration Platforms” (CCP). These are characterized by integrating secure storage of version-controlled files with the generic mail, contacts, calendar collaboration features. With an app hub, which is constantly expanding, standard office features can also be added to your own preference. Specific business services can be added and configured with connectors, REST APIs. All data can now be stored securely for the first time under internal or external hosting, in one integral cloud platform. APIs with remote public Cloud services providers can be limited, which also reduce availability and security risks.

The migration approach

The migration to a private Cloud platform requires thorough preparation and customization. What is the initial situation of the information management? Which Cloud platform and hosting provider is chosen? What will be the CloudService model? With a pre-scan, all aspects can be taken into account for determining the migration scenarios, with the highest benefits and where risks are reduced.

One step further

The starting point for cloud migration may not have been to optimize work processes. However, this encore can easily be obtained. With “Single Sign On” (SSO) and a fine-grained file-acces administration, a dashboard can be set up for all employees in the Cloud environment. For them, access to the essential information is never more than a few clicks away. File versioning and a backup regime ensure the protection of mission-critical data.