Managing the migration to cloud computing

In order to fully comprehend the benefits of cloud computing and overcome its associated problems for migration, it is important, to define a framework for transition to cloud computing (Conway and Curry 2012). Conway and Curry (2012) developed a lifecycle model to manage cloud migration projects. The life cycle model utilised a combination of management of IT outsourcing projects life cycle and IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF). The first is a detailed model of IT outsourcing which is

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supported by many years of practical experiences. The IT outsourcing life cycle model was adapted by applying the main challenges of cloud adoption. The-IT-CMF delivers a process capability maturity management of IT functions within an Organisation to ensure greater value from IT.

The life cycle model aids organisations in assessing and controlling their migration projects and the on-going management in the cloud environment. The model applies an approach that measures organisations maturity to migrate and manage services in the cloud environment.

As illustrated in Figure 16, the cloud life cycle is divided into four main phases that are: Architect, Engage, Operate, and Refresh. These phases are then divided into 9 steps.

Figure 16. Cloud migration life cycle model (Conway and Curry 2012)

Phase 1: Architect: The first phase starts with the analysis and planning of the cloud project. It begins by the investigate step that outlines what organisations want to

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achieve by migrating to the cloud. Afterwards, the identify step is performed, which comprises an assessment of what areas businesses are appropriate for outsourcing and what impact they will have on the current delivery model. Next is the implementation step that to decides on how the services that are planned to be outsourced will be rolled-out. It includes defining strategies on: staffing, organisational rules, program roll-out, and risk assessment. The final step of the architect phase is business design that details how the new cloud service will be managed, how it will be integrated into to the existing systems, and how it will be monitored and reported. Phase 2: Engage: The second phase is to select a service provider that can deliver the required cloud service detailed during the architect phase. Organisations may decide to stop at this stage in case the appropriate cloud services are not available, or there is no cloud provider that is able to deliver the required services. Then when the third phase (Operate) is entered that is the implementation and management of the cloud service which include manage the transition, manage the impact on staffing level and adapt accordingly, communication to all stakeholders, and acceptance sign- off. Finally, the fourth phase (Refresh) is the continuing review of cloud-based services. It includes reviewing of services requirements, changes within the business, changes within the supplier organisation, or the need to change the supplier.

The life cycle model provides organisations a structure that assist them in understanding and assessing their systems’ maturity and to evaluate, implement, and manage services in the cloud environment. However, the main limitation of this model is that it is a high-level structure. According to Conway et al. (2015) although the model has been successfully applied in some migration projects, it was observed that significant detail is required, in order to sufficiently address the cloud problems. For example, in the second phase (selecting cloud providers) the approach did not specify the mechanisms for evaluating and selecting providers. Moreover, this model focuses on managing the transitions to the cloud while it is not always certain that the cloud is more effective than the in-house deployment. Therefore, organisations need further support at the planning stage to assess whether cloud-based services provide the solution for their requirements. The support should also have sufficient details about the tasks to be performed at each step.

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3.7

Conclusion

This chapter explored decision making, decision problem types, the levels of management decisions, and the roles of data, information, and knowledge in decision making. Simon’s decision process model was discussed. The concept of the DSS, its evolution, and types were then reviewed. The discussion then focused on the DSSs designed to aid the decisions for migrating to the cloud migration. An analysis of three models developed to provide a comprehensive cloud migration process were then discussed.

The review of the existing cloud DSSs revealed that the level of support they offer is not sufficient to enable decision makers in making informed decisions. This is because of the underestimation of the factors affecting the decision making for cloud migration in which the support is usually limited to the choice of cloud providers. They often lack information about the cloud environment, particularly for customers who are not familiar with it, and provide a limited amount of the information needed by organisations to assess the suitability of their own services for the cloud. Therefore, a comprehensive support for the decisions of migration cannot be limited to the evaluation of cloud services providers.

The analysis highlighted the importance of the intelligence and design phases (competitive intelligence) as a key factor to ensure successful strategic decisions. successful support of decision-making is critically depending upon the availability of integrated, high quality information that is organised and presented in a timely and easy to understand manner. In the context of migration to the cloud, a wider range of information such as cloud capabilities, services offered, pricing schemes, etc., should be considered. This will aid organisations to identify opportunities and services that can help to improve business processes and operation. This chapter also showed that decisions being made without considering the whole process leading to less informed decisions and possibly resulting in higher risk of failure. It shows that a coherent process that covers the whole decision aspects and explicitly describes the migration steps and tasks is still missing. These findings chapter are incorporated in the model proposed in this research which is discussed in Chapter 6.

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The next Chapter discusses the analysis of the empirical data collected in this research.

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