Enterprise adoption of cloud computing with application portfolio profiling and application portfolio assessment

Abstract

With the continued appeal and adoption of cloud computing, an assessment of cloud run costs and migration affordability prior to adoption would assist enterprises that have several legacy applications targeted for cloud migration. However, as cloud migrations have become more prevalent, many have been characterised by unsuccessful migration or application modernisation attempts. The primary reason behind the failed attempts is insufficient planning upfront, to identify which legacy applications are suitable to realise the benefits of public or private cloud, leading to time and cost overruns. There is a need for strategic decision making for application portfolios to mitigate the risks of cost overruns and migration delays. Thus, a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) of cloud run costs for an application portfolio is required in the planning phase as an input into IT governance. To obtain the ROM cloud run costs, it is necessary to baseline application data, preferably through automated discovery, and perform quantitative analysis of the applications. Therefore, we propose an approach to (a) baseline application data using Application Portfolio Profiling (APP), and (b) perform quantitative analysis of applications using an Application Portfolio Assessment (APA), to inform the legacy application migration decision. APP and APA are proposed as part of a Cloud Computing Considerations for Companies (CCCC) framework that enables an enterprise to make an informed decision regarding which legacy applications are to be migrated as part of enterprise Cloud Computing adoption. This decision is important because of the change in operating model, infrastructure requirements, hidden costs and commercial models inherent with cloud computing adoption. We validate the proposed framework through applying it to a real-world use case scenario that provides the necessary coverage to test the proposed framework.

Assessment of readiness for launching cloud computing services: The case of Ethio‐Telecom in Ethiopia

“…The application of Cloud Computing extends to many sectors, some examples include stable transition to Internet of Things (IoT), efficient data storage delivery (Sadeeq et al, 2021), access to smart grid technology for oil pipelines (Priyanka et al, 2021), access to mobile payments (Saranya & Naresh, 2021), cost efficient migration from legacy systems (Ramchand et al, 2021), and capital investments (Shetty & Panda, 2021). Sectors such as healthcare, education, and governments in Africa are primed for Cloud Computing adoption.…”

Do cloud-based enterprise resource planning systems affect the productivity of human resources in the COVID-19 era?

“…As a rapidly evolving technology, Cloud computing allows its users to deploy computing capabilities through infrastructure, service-based, payment-based software platforms to deliver business applications typically over the network they operate globally (Houssein et al , 2021; Kratzke and Siegfried, 2021). Today, in response to IT systems outsourcing complex services and various internal needs in the COVID-19 era, many organizations cloud computing, as a rapidly evolving technology, allows users to leverage computing capabilities through infrastructure, service-based, payment-based software platforms to deliver business applications through a Wide global network (Ramchand et al , 2021). One of the main factors many companies consider in choosing cloud services is its flexibility (He and He, 2021).…”

Deployment Archetypes for Cloud Applications

“…Authors in Reference [76] examine the pluses and minuses of lift and shift and how to optimize a strategy for a particular deployment. Migration planning to understand enterprise's infrastructure readiness, public cloud costs, performance implications, and security are discussed in Reference [102]. • Organic Growth-as a company grows, it may require changes to the deployment model of applications [94] either due to (a) scalability challenges a current deployment creates, (b) a business going global and hence has new geographies where users are accessing this application from, (c) usage of different storage and database products and solutions, or (d) the desire to integrate deployments of acquired companies.…”