7 Things To Consider After Your Cloud Migration (3/3)
1. Have you cleaned up your old services?
Now that you’ve got your new, cloud-based system up and running, you need to make sure the old system is taken out of operation. Here, you will want to make sure you perform all the necessary backups, including associated access mechanisms, and at the same time shut down unnecessary services. Again, make sure that the service is up and running and that it is only being provided by the new, cloud-based system.
2. Have you updated your procedures for the Operations Team?
While you may have likely updated your procedures for the Operations Team in advance of deploying your new cloud service, it is likely you won’t be able to finalize them until you’ve gained sufficient experience and knowledge from actual operations. As a result, you should plan to monitor the operations and update the associated documents accordingly, perhaps in batches or waves.
3. Have you trained your customers and users for your new cloud services?
Cloud services are by their nature different from desktop applications; they require live internet connections and their user interfaces are usually constrained to a browser. As a result, your users and customers need to be trained on the new system, which will require you to:
· Develop training materials, including self-study guides;
· Conduct training sessions;
· Establish support lines and communicate their availability; and lastly,
· Collect feedback and improve the training material and the system itself.
4. Have you established your monitoring and evaluation system?
You should not expect your new system to operate optimally at the outset for a variety of reasons (e.g., misunderstandings, errors, etc.). As such, you should aim to establish a systematic approach to monitor the system continuously, identify issues and their root causes when discovered and remedy them in a thoughtful manner. Collecting as much performance/usage pattern data as possible will serve you well toward fine-tuning the system.
As part of the evaluation of the new system, you should plan to conduct surveys to evaluate the functionality, performance and usability. Surveys should include all your stakeholders, including users/ customers as well as your Operation and Support Team members. Plan to share the survey data with your stakeholders, and aim to be as transparent as possible. Your team members will benefit from the negative feedback just as much, if not more than the positive.
5. Have you performed retrospectives on your migration effort?
If you haven’t done so already, performing retrospectives (i.e., a Lessons Learned exercise) with your development and operation teams will be time well spent. Carefully analyze the feedback and suggestions of team members with the aim to crystallize and categorize the information. Be sure that it is clear even to those not participating in the effort. Related to this, reviewing Lessons Learned from one project at the kickoff meeting for the next project will serve you well, too.
During retrospectives it’s important to ensure all stakeholders’ voices are sought and heard, including those of the sponsor(s). It’s invariable that you will find communication to be a recurring and perhaps central them, and this may relate to channels, mechanisms, styles, etc. Some other common issues and complaints seen with teams include their insufficient access to needed resources, unclear or changing requirements, and a lack of clarity or speed in decision making.
6. Have you planned for improving/enhancing your operations, including security?
As you go through your cloud journey and collect greater insight to your customer’s needs and come to appreciate the cloud’s ever-increasing capabilities, you’ll want to take full advantage of the platform to better serve your customers. At the same time, you will want to monitor and review the performance of your system while paying close attention to security. Any pre-existing security flaws will significantly increase the risk and/or impact associated with the new system given the cloud’s open nature. To increase the confidence in your security measures, consider conducting a review, including an ethical hacking by a reputable third party.
In addition, you can consider features that may have been dropped from the prior release(s) due to resource and/ or schedule constraints. Carefully review customer/user feedback to determine the impact of the missing features, and schedule their releases accordingly.
Lastly, carefully review the system’s performance and its dependency on other components/services, and in the event a service or component you are dependent on is hindering the operation, begin looking for alternatives.
7. Have you started promoting your new cloud services?
Given your service offering is now available via the web, you will want to promote its inherent benefits to your customers and partners alike. This comprises factors associated with an array of benefits, including accessibility (regardless of time or place) and capacity, just to name a few. Your cloud-based services can now be promoted simply through a hyperlink.
Ronald B. Niland, President, JANA Life Sciences
Cell: (805) 405-4115; eMail: rniland@janacorp.com
