As simple as the use of cloud technologies may seem at first glance, it does take some effort. In addition to deciding when what service is migrated to Azure using which tools, or what is to be mapped in Azure, there is often the question of who will perform this implementation.
The colleagues in today's IT department are busy with their daily tasks. There is little time for development and trying out new things. If you look at a typical Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment in Azure, for example, not much will change here.
Servers must still be patched, virus scanners monitored, and monitoring systems maintained. Only the costs for operating the data center infrastructure are eliminated or at least reduced. At the same time, however, the admin faces some new challenges. Numerous tools in Azure are initially unknown, or do not correspond to the previous toolset. Every action in Azure, every created Virtual Machine (VM) and every wrong decision directly causes costs. Therefore, even the smallest errors can quickly become a problem.
Imagine creating a VM in the next larger VM class in Azure. This leads directly to a duplication of costs for instance. It is therefore recommended to implement and monitor an Azure Governance concept.
In addition to the new environment, the company is quickly made aware of the need to optimize costs in Azure. Now there are also topics such as automation, scaling and cost management on the task list.
At the same time, many companies nowadays pursue digital strategies, which lead to a significant increase in IT requirements. Products are rapidly connected to offer customers new services. Apps and websites should successfully support the new ideas. In addition, there is external pressure from other market players.
Now tasks and to-dos must be prioritized. With the step into the cloud, responsibility for data center operations has already been relinquished in order to be able to focus on generating added value. But where does it go now?! IaaS operation, governance monitoring, cost optimization or product development?
The clear answer should be: what is most beneficial to the company. Thus, the priority is clearly automation and cost optimization, as well as the development and support of new products and services.