Impact of COVID-19 on companies
COVID-19 brought the world to a near halt. The implications varied across sectors as each sector was uniquely affected by the pandemic induced lockdown and restrictions Workforce in various industries were reduced to a fraction and almost 43% businesses had to temporarily halt operations. The companies that could not assist their workforce to work remotely faced more operational and financial challenges than the ones Due to the change in workspace, there has been a steep surge in the demand for communication and collaboration tools. Businesses are now facing pressure to accelerate digital transformation by movement of business applications and data using cloud infrastructure. Software-as-a-service(SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS) are two of the largest and the fastest growing segments within the cloud services market due to remote working at scale, cost-optimized delivery, and agile teams.
Myths around cloud migration during COVID-19
Businesses were almost blindsided by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Markets are flooded with myths around cloud migration as businesses now prepare to operate across the globe as lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Myth 1: Companies should postpone data migration on cloud due to the risk and uncertainty
Businesses are hesitant about investing in cloud computing services due to the uncertainty brought in by the COVID-19 pandemic and doubt the financial and operational benefits of migrating to cloud. A Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact study proved that by deploying a hybrid cloud infrastructure, return on investment was significantly higher than that for organizations that did not migrate to cloud. Cloud migration of legacy processes enable firms to move away from the traditional on-premises model, to operate in a comprehensive digital landscape, increasing accessibility and enhancing security for data storage and handling.
Myth 2: One size fits all solutions and one-time implementation will ease the organization’s remote work practice
Cloud migration is a process that requires detailed planning before a company can start dismantling monolithic legacy systems and migrate data to cloud to facilitate digital transformation. The IT infrastructure requirement of every organization varies. The IT infrastructure can be scaled up only when the right technologies are in place. The initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic have put an incredible strain on the organization’s current infrastructure. With employees now settling into a remote working environment, the organizations must now more than ever focus on the digital transformation process to ensure that they can withstand future disruptions.
Myth 3: A pause in cloud migration process will save organizational resources
A pause in the on-going cloud migration process cuts off access to the data storage, communication, and collaboration tools that an employee may have access to with on-site IT infrastructure. This slows down the operations and thus, negatively affects performance, costs, and customer experience.
Myth 4: Measurement of impact of cloud migration on transparency and performance becomes difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic
Planned digital transformation strategically puts in place the right tools and matrices to measure cloud transparency and impact of cloud migration on performance, revenue, employee and customer experience, and cost.
Surviving and Thriving through cloud migration during COVID-19 through digital transformation
Like any other disruption, COVID-19 demanded that companies change their practices to not just survive but thrive in this new normal scenario. Cloud service providers not only help in keeping many companies afloat but are helping companies become globally resilient through new customer and employee engagement models, building resilient workforces, and intelligent enterprises. Cloud solutions providers are enabling companies to monitor and allocate financial, operational and IT resources to seize new opportunities
Impact of cloud migration deployment models on companies
The cloud migration deployment has a unique impact on companies of different scales and industries. Following are the highlighted impact
- Companies will gain flexible computing power.
- The cost of data storage, data backup and data recovery will reduce
- Using SaaS or IaaS turns large capital expenditure into periodical operational expenses.
- Implementation of AI and cloud migration positively affected revenue and customer experience
- Companies are now moving towards greater implementation of agile practices withing the company.
- Monitoring of internal and external data through AI and deep analytics provides more accurate forecasts and helps companies become more resilient and sustainable.
- How a company defines its Total Cost of Ownership will change with the change in the modes of communication and collaboration withing the company.
- The visibility of the orchestration of cloud migration process has increased. Monitoring capabilities across cloud and SaaS environments makes it easier for a company to integrate and monitor all systems critical to the business at a granular level.
