Comparing cloud migration providers is not easy. Not least because on the surface we all seem to do the same thing, deliver the same value and at a comparable price. If you’ve already identified the cloud solutions you want to use, such as Office 365, who out of all the cloud migration specialists out there should you shortlist for your project?  

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2020 is expected to be the year that more organisational workloads are run in the public cloud than on-premise. Cloud migration is driven by a business need to be more agile, to increase mobility, to innovate with AI, machine learning and the IoT, and to excel at DevOps. Increasing productivity and collaboration, driving efficiencies and reducing costs are also common reasons for migrating to the cloud. 

7 factors to help you assess cloud migration service providers 

With more demand for cloud migration services the marketplace is competitive and while that gives organisations more choice, it can make benchmarking different providers difficult. With that in mind, here we share 7 important factors to assess different providers by, which will help you draw up a shortlist of the best cloud migration service providers for your organisation. 

1. Flexibility and choice – many cloud migration service providers specialise in one cloud platform. Even if you’ve already identified this platform as the best option for your organisation, look at providers with experience of different platforms so they can provide flexibility and choice, and a balanced view of what platform is best for your organisation. 

2. Specialist cloud platform expertise – however, once you’ve decided on the best cloud platform make sure your cloud migration provider has specific expertise and experience of migrating organisations like yours to this platform. Accreditation like Microsoft’s Partner certification scheme will help you benchmark their specialist expertise. 

3. Case studies – look for evidence that the company has handled projects like yours. Factors to consider include the sector you operate in, especially if your organisation is in the regulated industries, company size, location/s and the business case for cloud migration. You can explore our case studies here >>> 

4. Cloud security expertise – one of the main barriers to cloud adoption is security concerns. To help balance the cyber security risks against the benefits of digital transformation, only engage a cloud migration provider with security expertise. Do they understand the security and governance landscape for your organisation, industry and location (particularly if you’re multinational)? 

5. Migration methodology – what methodology does the provider use to plan and execute a cloud migration project? It’s important to understand the steps the provider goes through to migrate customers to the cloud. For example, if the provider claims to be cloud platform agnostic the initial discovery phase should focus on your requirements and a criterion for identifying the best cloud platform for your organisation. Make sure you ask about the process. 

6. Migration tools and blueprints – having a clear idea of what tools the provider uses will also help you understand what to expect from the migration process. For example, tools to automate the migration will help reduce human error, speed up the process and drive cost savings. However, there is also a risk of system failure, so you’ll also want to know what contingency is in place for this and controls. 

7. Cloud support and training – a smooth cloud migration is the main objective but once your users are in the cloud, what support can you expect? The cloud platform will provide basic support, usually in the form of self-serve knowledge banks and online training content, but will this be enough to get full adoption by your users and the productivity, agility, mobility and other benefits you want? Many cloud migration providers also offer training and cloud support, some might be included in the project costs or as an add on option. Do you need cloud support? Find out here >>> 

Moving to the cloud can be complex so it’s important to have the right support in the form of an experienced cloud migration service provider. We hope the factors above will help you benchmark different providers, if you want to put Cloud Business to the test please get in touch!