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Ever since its arrival back in 2006, AWS (Amazon Web Services) looked poised to make a strong mark on the cloud computing and cloud infrastructure market.
It turned out these high expectations were well-earned.
Fast forward 15 years and throw into the mix the portfolio of over 200 fully-featured services and you will get one of the best-developed, comprehensive, and scalable pay-as-you-go cloud services in the entire industry that can do nothing but benefit your organization.
However, in spite of all these benefits, all big transitions and overhauls are painful, and migrating your corporate infrastructure to AWS is not an exception. Let us take a look then at a couple of good practices and tips that will allow you to leverage all the benefits of Amazon’s cloud platform without grinding your company to a halt.
Identify the Key Business Objectives
Contemporary cloud services are known for their leanness and ability to provide considerable financial benefits if utilized properly. That brings us to the fact that simply subscribing to Amazon Web Services won’t simply solve all the problems with one click.
On the contrary, jumping on the AWS bandwagon just for the sake of it can throw a crippling wrench into the gears of your organization. That is why you need to identify the key objectives of your company, assess its current productivity weaknesses and see how you can use AWS to patch things up. Any other approach is counterintuitive and expensive.
Develop a Disaster Recovery Strategy Before Deployment
High security and effortless disaster recovery are some of the main reasons why small businesses invest in cloud technology. Taking into consideration all the perils of the digital environment, providing top-tier protection to corporate data simply presents too big an expense for most small and medium companies out there.
Still, as powerful as it is, AWS is not without its weaknesses and the process of data migration makes your company especially vulnerable to exterior threats. So, do your best to back as many things up on physical media and develop a recovery strategy before you start the overhaul.
Assemble an AWS Management Team
Keeping in mind the perks of AWS, we have to remember that, much like on-site tools, this powerful platform requires careful maintenance and management to realize its full potential.
Assuming you are making your first dive into the cloud pool, your existing staff may not be ready to tackle these responsible tasks – at least not through the initial stages of the AWS adoption.
Because of that, consider looking out for third-party professional AWS consulting services to lend you a hand during this rough transitional period. Outsourcing this vital task is often a more cost-effective solution than handing it in-house.
Devise a Multi-Phase AWS Development Plan
This job will be considerably easier if you are introducing the AWS platform to your company with some specific measurable purpose. One of the main reasons why so many small and medium businesses are transitioning to the AWS toolkit is to ramp up the overall productivity and allow for the company’s growth.
This potential, however, will remain untapped if you don’t devise a full-fledged AWS development plan and set up some KPIs to measure how your plans are enveloping. Without these two things, all you can do is throw things at the wall to see what sticks.
Develop an AWS Account Strategy
Once you have a clear idea about where your company will head in the following years and how you are going to use AWS tools to promote that growth you will need to take into consideration how you are going to manage your Amazon accounts.
Although at the very start, one centralized account seems like the most economical approach you can take, once your company starts scaling and using more AWS services, this model may prove to be too rigid for efficient operations and decision-making. So, consider giving your business departments more autonomy and separate AWS accounts as the company scales up.
Take One Step at a Time
Last but not least, we would like to point out that all these practices and the introduction of the AWS platform as a whole need to be performed gradually to be effective. The main idea behind cloud computing is to enable and support business success.
You will never be able to achieve these high goals if you apply shock therapy, freeze your operations and try to rebuild the entire infrastructure from the ground up. Instead, you should take one step at a time, allow new tools and practice to achieve optimal efficiency, and only then move to subsequent upgrades.
We hope these few tips and practices will help you to make the backbone of your future AWS strategy. Being such a powerful and versatile toolkit Amazon’s cloud can prove to be a tremendous asset for your growing company. But, to meet this goal, AWS needs to be introduced thoughtfully, carefully, and strategically. Now, you know where to start.