To say that the early 20's (2020's) was a tumultuous and unpredictable period of time, is an understatement. Entire industries were challenged in ways they could not have fathomed, on a scale that nobody could have predicted. Classrooms went virtual, suddenly all meetings were on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and others. Many businesses suffered a great deal of losses, and some didn't make it. There are those businesses though that thrived, or at the very least, managed to emerge from the proverbial storm relatively unscathed.
Some of this we can attribute to industry, the fact is that some markets are just positioned to do well in a remote environment, vs others that rely on in-person interactions. But there are plenty of examples of businesses that thrived despite what their typical model of approach would normally be.
Cloud in a Post-Pandemic Setting
To this day, the impact from the sprint to cloud and the changes to how businesses operate can still be felt. While some businesses have managed to fully return to the office, it's clear that full-remote and hybrid models of operation are here to stay. At this point, from a business perspective, you might be asking yourself "if 2020 was the cloud boom, and I didn't migrate to the cloud, did I miss it?" and more importantly, "do I even need to migrate now?"
These are some great questions, and I'm here to tell you * spoiler alert * , the answer is still a resounding yes. A report put out by Research and Markets showed that the expected Compound Annual Growth Rate of the cloud computing market size is expected to grow by a whopping 17.5% from $371.4B back in 2020, to $832.1B by just 2025. That's a huge increase from a pre-2019 market value of $266B. Not only is the trend towards cloud continuing, but a combination of rocket fuel and red bull seem to have been funneled into the gas tank.
The Benefits of Cloud Are Still...Beneficial
All of the things that held true for cloud at the start of the pandemic aren't going anywhere, and the considerations that need to be taken into account when planning a cloud migration still exist as well. I wrote an article breaking down the pros and cons, you should go check it out. That is not to say that the climate around cloud isn't changing, in fact it is. The reasons around migrating to the cloud still apply today:
- Reduced IT Costs
- Increased business agility
- Improved Security
- Eliminating concerns around maintenance and end-of-life
For a while now the challenge with cloud was figuring out if your business needs were more aligned with moving your infrastructure to something cloud-based, allowing you to maintain your self-hosted capability, or something more in the realm of the SaaS model, migrating your applications into a 3rd-party hosted infrastructure that manages everything for you. Around this is when the question evolved from "should my business be in the cloud?" to "how should my business be in cloud."
Corbin Dallas Multi-Cloud
With the widespread adoption and rapid normalization of cloud-based computing, two major shifts have begun to happen, one on the consumer end, and the other on the provider and it's a real "chicken or the egg" scenario.
On the consumer side, with the number of provider options at their fingertips, it seems only prudent to shop around. One of the major focuses of businesses in cloud computer is maximizing cost savings. The initial move to cloud for most of these businesses already allowed them to realize savings compared to a self-hosted, on-prem solution, now they're looking to really dial that in.
On the provider side, the race has shifted from simply offering a cloud solution, to offering targeted or niche solutions. Businesses are OK having different cloud providers for their appropriate needs, if it comes with an overall lower cost benefit.
These shifts have led to a growing couple of trends dubbed "hybrid-cloud" or "multi-cloud" architectures. Whether it's trying to min-max their infrastructure by leveraging both public and private servers depending on the nature of the business function they house (hybrid-cloud), or utilizing a wombo-combo of SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS to optimize their cloud footprint (multi-cloud). Businesses are no longer choosing between one type of cloud implementation or another, and are fully embracing the idea "why not both?"
How To Get Your Foot in The Door
That brings us to today. You're looking to get your business into the cloud and start down your digital transformation path. Given all the options out there, where do you start? As someone that represents a Platinum Solution Partner with Atlassian, obviously my opinion is a bit biased, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. If your business leverages Atlassian products, it's a great place to start. Atlassian has already taken the position of doubling down on cloud, so it's not a matter of if you'll have to migrate, but when.
Atlassian is focusing heavily on supporting their customers during their migrations and is both making big moves on investing in their cloud-based products, and feverishly improving existing features. With a network of knowledgeable and seasoned solutions partners such as Praecipio, migrating your Atlassian products to cloud is positioned to be one of your smoothest cloud migration efforts.
If you're still using Atlassian's on-prem Server products, the case to migrate is stronger than ever. As of February 2024, "Server products and apps no longer receive technical support, security updates, and bug fixes for vulnerabilities." The most complicated cloud migrations can take upwards of 18 months, and the longer you wait, the greater the risk of security incidents or bugs.
Be sure to check out our Cloud Migration FAQ, and if you're interested in how Praecipio can help get you off the ground, drop us a line.
The TL;DR Breakdown
- Cloud is still relevant in 2023, if not even more so, and it's not going anywhere any time soon
- The move to cloud continues to have the potential to benefit your business
- Diversifying your cloud to fit certain business needs will bring added value to your cloud footprint
- Migrating your Atlassian products is a great starting point, and Praecipio would be more than happy to assist you with the move
