Those embarking on a cloud journey often have several misconceptions around cloud and multi-cloud. The first is that it is hard to get started. Some jump two feet first into a multi-cloud strategy, others jump one foot in, or begin with backup or test data.
“This [backup and test data] is often a route that we would recommend, because there's a lot less risk,” says Trent Odgers, Cloud & Hosting manager at Veeam Software, speaking during a keynote at the ITWeb Cloud Webinar Series this week. “When using backup data, the production environment remains intact, and business continues as normal. And in parallel, we can start using that backup of the production data to deliver certain services.”
Another misconception is that it's complicated, and this is true if you don't have the right vendor or the right partner who has experience and knows how to navigate customers and partners on this journey, he says. “In addition, if you have a vendor that doesn't have cloud mobility and cloud integration built into the software, it also makes the whole process a little more complicated.”
The third misconception is that the cloud is not mature enough, says Odgers. "In South Africa, our first banking app was delivered in 2011, and we had Uber in 2013, and we trust those apps. And if you look at the file integrity monitoring (FIM) cloud provider ecosystem, we have had capabilities for over 10 years, delivering services to customers and ensuring that partners have a solution that is scalable and secure.”
A solid ecosystem
He says in the past few years, Veeam has grown its Veeam Cloud & Service Provider partners – those that use rental licences to deliver services to their end-customers – from around 50 to more than 160.
“We have a very strong reseller side of our business. Ensuring that we have a good partner network, as well as happy customers, is what we strive for. We understand that everything is under pressure. Resources are under pressure, as are people and technology. The world has changed and getting access to additional resources has become challenging, and a different way of thinking needs to come into play.”
For many organisations, all that is needed is a good Internet connection and a device on the other end to carry on with business. Odgers says even before this year, when the world changed fairly dramatically, most CEOs realised that a digital transformation of some sort was going to be the driving force to help them move forward. “Those customers and partners that changed and became digital before they needed to were able to continue working without too much disruption.”
Lack of experience
However, he says, digital transformation means many things to different organisations.
“One of the challenges that we have is... a lack of transformative experience, because people are used to managing systems and processes that existed in other forms. There are dependencies on legacy technology and systems that are a big factor for many organisations, because they need to keep the lights on with the technology that they have, and those same key resources need to be available to help define the new strategy. It’s easy to get stuck between a rock and a hard place because the same people that need to help define your future strategy are too busy maintaining your legacy solutions.”
"The same people that need to help define your future strategy are too busy maintaining your legacy solutions."
Trent Odgers, Veeam Software
Many organisations have benefited quite dramatically from additional productivity, out of the resources that they have, because we're not sitting in traffic or rushing around to meetings, adds Odgers. "But with this new way of working, there’s also a risk to businesses and customers. We've moved data and put it in another location, and by doing that, have opened our organisation to risk. Trying to reduce business risk is key, as is moving the business forward, but there are impacts on either side and you need to weigh up what enhancements it will bring versus any risks that it could potentially bring to your organisation.”
Improving CX
Odgers says all businesses are trying to improve the customer experience, which is why there are so many new apps and new capabilities that have done so well; the legacy way of doing things was hard and complicated. “Nowadays, everything is a lot more app driven, and you have visibility in what you need to do. You're also trying to lower your costs so that you can push some of that revenue to... modernise your business operations and processes.”
Ultimately, all these things are generating data, and this is where Veeam comes in, because the impact of data loss is quite dramatic. "Your organisation's data is your responsibility, so check with your partner and make sure that you have frequent backups that are recoverable, and that your business can continue moving forward."
Modernised backup
You need to start with a modernised backup, which has cloud mobility built in, advises Odgers.
"Make sure that you are partnering with a software-defined and hardware-agnostic company, because that gives you the ability to take advantage of your existing infrastructure and resources. It also ensures that you can scale and move your business as you need to.
"Select a vendor that has the ability to accelerate your hybrid cloud journey and help you with your migration, as opposed to making it a lot more complicated and tricky to achieve," Odgers concludes.
* Veeam Software sponsored a webinar on Demystifying and managing multi-cloud environments as part of the ITWeb Cloud Webinar Series from 10-12 November.
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