{"id":16313,"date":"2021-08-02T20:53:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T15:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/?p=16313"},"modified":"2021-08-11T12:28:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T06:58:04","slug":"quality-assurance-era-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/quality-assurance-era-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a perfect Cloud Assurance and Modernization Factory in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Owing to rapid cloud technology adoption, the global cloud migration and application modernization services market is expected to\u00a0increase\u00a0more than threefold by 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The cloud migration market in 2020 has shown steady growth, even after the contraction of the global economy due to COVID 19.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pandemic has significantly restricted operations of on-premise IT systems, and hence,\u00a0organizations are rapidly migrating their applications towards cloud-based systems to support different lockdown and work from anywhere models.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

North America holds the largest market share due to the\u00a0large scale\u00a0adoption of AI at the industrial level and Bring Your Own device (BYOD) incorporation in enterprises. The region is also a hub\u00a0for\u00a0some of the top cloud migration vendors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asia-Pacific is also recognized as the fastest growing market for cloud migration and modernization services due to rapid cloud technology adoption.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cloud adoption has become critical to IT optimization as\u00a0enterprises\u00a0continue to grow their cloud investments\u00a0to push business forward.\u00a0A well-designed and solid cloud platform can easily overhaul your company’s operations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Businesses may become nimbler, reduce inefficiencies, and improve customer experiences by migrating to the cloud. The need for stability and flexibility has never been greater than it is today.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0<\/span>Gartner<\/span><\/i><\/b>, \u201c<\/span>Emerging technologies such as containerization, virtualization,\u00a0and edge computing are becoming more mainstream and driving additional cloud spending. Simply put, the pandemic served as a multiplier for CIOs\u2019 interest in the cloud<\/span><\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each organization’s optimal IT infrastructure is unique, although it frequently includes a mix of public cloud, private cloud, and traditional IT environments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adopting a cloud infrastructure, on the other hand, does not have to be an all-or-nothing approach for organizations concerned about\u00a0disruptions\u00a0to their operations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By combining apps into a hybrid cloud model, businesses may start enjoying the benefits of cloud technology while continuing to run assets\u00a0in their\u00a0current on-premise settings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Migrating to the cloud may boost operational performance and agility, as well as workload scalability and security.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Industries such as\u00a0Banking, Finance, Stock, and Financial Services (BFSI), Health Care and Life Sciences (HCLS), Retail, and\u00a0Travel & Hospitality\u00a0(T&H),\u00a0have seen a remarkable surge in their\u00a0key business processes\u00a0moving to\u00a0the\u00a0cloud.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Key business processes\u00a0are\u00a0moving to\u00a0the\u00a0Cloud<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

According to\u00a0<\/span>Sid Nag<\/span><\/i><\/b>,\u00a0research vice president at\u00a0<\/span>Gartner<\/span><\/i><\/b>, \u201c<\/span>The events of last year allowed CIOs to overcome any reluctance\u00a0to move\u00a0mission-critical workloads from on-premise to the cloud. Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow\u00a0by\u00a023.1% in 2021 to total $332.3 billion,\u00a0up from $270 billion in 2020.\u00a0Even absent the pandemic,\u00a0there would still be a loss of appetite for data centers.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following are the key business processes\u00a0of\u00a0the aforementioned industries\u00a0migrating to the\u00a0cloud.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BFSI:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Within\u00a0retail\u00a0banking\u00a0and\u00a0mortgages, key processes that migrate to\u00a0the\u00a0cloud include customer onboarding, KYC, transaction\u00a0management, and\u00a0internet banking. In the wealth and\u00a0investment\u00a0banking\u00a0sector,\u00a0key business\u00a0processes such as portfolio management, market analysis, transaction processing, fees,\u00a0and margin management\u00a0have seen a surge in cloud adoption.\u00a0For\u00a0enterprise and\u00a0corporate\u00a0functions, processes such as underwriting, collections, settlement, risk management,\u00a0and\u00a0CRM\u00a0have embraced cloud adoption.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HCLS:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Real-time workflows for scheduling, registration, billing, claims\u00a0etc.,\u00a0Telemedicine,\u00a0Electronic data capture,\u00a0Master Data Management (clinical trials), and Health\u00a0information storage and exchange\u00a0are\u00a0a\u00a0few of the key business processes expediting towards cloud adoption.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retail:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Inventory\u00a0management,\u00a0Point-of-sale (POS) systems,\u00a0CRM and customer data analytics,\u00a0Website and recommendation engine personalization,\u00a0loyalty program management, and\u00a0Omnichannel order fulfilment\u00a0are some of the key business processes\u00a0adopted by the\u00a0cloud in the retail segment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Travel\u00a0& Hospitality:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Processes such as demand\u00a0forecasting and\u00a0pricing, integration with other tools\/platforms (booking platforms, itinerary, payment platforms, F&B service etc.), analysis of customer reviews,\u00a0personalized packages & recommendations, and loyalty\u00a0management\u00a0are the major business processes of the T& H sector moving towards the Cloud.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While many industries have been moving their key business processes to\u00a0the\u00a0cloud, migrating your entire enterprise applications to the cloud has never been easier.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Typical Cloud Migration Lifecycle\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Cloud Application Migration Lifecycle is a collection of stages in a process for migrating traditional applications to the cloud.\u00a0A typical cloud migration lifecycle is broadly classified into 3 phases:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pre-Migration:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Assessment and planning are done in this phase. The assessment includes documenting the\u00a0strategy and fostering\u00a0stakeholder support, evaluating the\u00a0current ecosystem and identifying\u00a0gaps, change management, security roadmap, and recommended\u00a0remediation to mitigate gaps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0planning process includes aligning\u00a0cloud adoption\u00a0tactics\u00a0to business outcomes, calculating\u00a0costs and ROI, analysis of cloud\u00a0fitment, security, regulation, risk and compliance analysis, and establishing key performance indicators for\u00a0the\u00a0cloud.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Migration:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Design\u00a0and migration activities are performed in this phase.\u00a0The design stage includes identifying\u00a0the\u00a0cloud platform, accessing\u00a0the\u00a0workload architecture, defining\u00a0criteria for cloud deployment and service model, developing\u00a0a\u00a0mitigation plan, and finalizing\u00a0cloud design, sizing,\u00a0and build.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next steps involve building\u00a0the cloud,\u00a0prioritizing migration components, establishing performance baselines, creating a robust migration plan, and then\u00a0migrating\u00a0the workloads\u00a0followed by sync data.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Post-Migration:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The last phase involves validation,\u00a0such as securing\u00a0governance practices setup and testing, customer experience and business assurance, data assurance, security assurance, and infra, network and scalability testing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent study\u00a0from\u00a0<\/span>International Data Corporation (IDC)<\/span><\/b>, a global technology and research and consulting firm,\u00a0says, \u201c<\/span>In order to address infrastructure demands, over 90% of organizations globally will use a combination of on-premise\/dedicated private clouds, multiple public clouds, and legacy systems by 2022<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is thus imperative to scale a robust cloud migration strategy for desired business outcomes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Desired business outcomes\u00a0and challenges of\u00a0Cloud Migration\u00a0Strategy\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The answers to many questions about what to move where, why, how, and when are required for the creation and execution of a logical strategy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing the answers to these questions will aid you in developing a detailed\u00a0cloud\u00a0migration strategy and plan that will enable you to achieve the required goals in terms of current and future company agility, growth, and\u00a0controlling costs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Below are some of the key business outcomes expected\u00a0from\u00a0cloud migration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Cost Optimization<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Conversion of\u00a0CapEx\u00a0into\u00a0Opex\u00a0and right sizing of computing resources and IT infrastructure costs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Security<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Modernization of IT infrastructure according to best practices and greater application security.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Accessibility and Convenience<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Central location of applications and services with easy and\u00a0uninterrupted access;\u00a0Improved collaboration among teams.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Leverage\u00a0new\u00a0technologies<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Leverage complex,\u00a0cloud-friendly applications and services across AI\/ML, data analytics, data lakes,\u00a0etc.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Disaster Recovery<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Remote access to systems in a secure virtual environment\u00a0enables\u00a0quicker recovery of critical systems in the event of a disaster.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    To take advantage of emerging possibilities and pivot to address business and market developments, your cloud computing migration strategy must provide elasticity, agility, and scalability.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The cloud architectural layers of software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) will be used to achieve these goals.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Based on business needs and best practices, you can use these in hybrid and multi-cloud systems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Even though many organizations race to implement cloud computing procedures, it is not a simple undertaking. Cloud migration comes with its own set of challenges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Downtime<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0Low levels of reliability,\u00a0network connectivity issues,\u00a0and\u00a0disruptions during live migration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • Data loss:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Lack of proper data backup,\u00a0power outage at\u00a0the\u00a0data center,\u00a0and\u00a0attack\u00a0on the\u00a0data center.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Security and Compliance:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Compliance violations, contractual breaches,\u00a0insecure APIs,\u00a0misconfigured servers or lapses by CSP, and\u00a0malware, external attacks, errors, etc.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Inadequate\u00a0visibility and\u00a0control:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Inadequate control over resources handling data centers,\u00a0lack of fundamental monitoring capacities, and\u00a0lack of alerts to threats.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Assessment of technical feasibility:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Incompatibility of current IT architecture,\u00a0vulnerabilities in technology used by CSP, and\u00a0complexity due to legacy app architecture.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        To overcome these challenges, there is a compelling need for an\u00a0independent cloud\u00a0service provider to validate activities across the entire value chain of the cloud migration journey.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The\u00a0need for an\u00a0independent cloud\u00a0service provider to validate activities across the entire value chain of the cloud migration journey\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        Stringent and diligent assurance is critical across the entire value chain of the cloud migration journey\u00a0to\u00a0ensure success.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The\u00a0Cloud\u00a0Migration Assurance\u00a0player validates the migration journey at each stage to minimize downstream migration risks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The typical validation efforts encompass\u00a0infrastructure,\u00a0applications, and\u00a0data.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Infrastructure:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The infrastructure validation\u00a0includes\u00a0modelling the infrastructure based on\u00a0the recommended design architecture and environmental\u00a0blueprint.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Application:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Testing the functionalities along with the upgraded features\u00a0and ensuring validation of the end-to-end business workflows\u00a0forms a part of the\u00a0application validation efforts.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Data:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The data validation efforts include validating all database components\u00a0that\u00a0are migrated\u00a0and testing the data flow as per the requirements.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        While it is imperative to\u00a0validate activities across the entire value chain of the cloud migration journey, it is also vital to analyze the critical success factors needed for cloud migration assurance services.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Cloud Migration Assurance Service Offerings\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        As businesses become more agile, infrastructure workloads are shifting to virtualization and the cloud.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The process of shifting IT infrastructure, data, applications, or other business pieces from an organization’s current configuration to a new on-premise or cloud data center, or from one cloud environment to another, is\u00a0what constitutes\u00a0an\u00a0infrastructure transformation or migration.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        All service providers, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, offer infrastructure building blocks like IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, and all these ready-to-use blocks are technically prepared and accessible around the world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        A typical Cloud Migration Assurance service offering\u00a0is\u00a0broadly classified into 3 sections, such as\u00a0Advisory or\u00a0Pre-migration,\u00a0Assurance or\u00a0Migration, and\u00a0Validation or\u00a0Post-migration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        A cloud migration assurance strategy may also be necessary to guide you in the right route for validating an unexpected or unknown circumstance and structuring your efforts in the right way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        It could be any strategy for any goal. The decision to move to the cloud or to adapt existing cloud initiatives will have a significant impact on your business.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The reason for the rise in cloud use is the ability to access data from anywhere, at any time, and it is imperative to have a robust Cloud Assurance in place to harness\u00a0the\u00a0benefits.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Benefits offered by an ideal cloud assurance platform\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        As more businesses throughout the world utilize\u00a0the\u00a0cloud, a variety of migration scenarios emerge. They can simply rehost applications and infrastructure, refactor underlying operating systems, or even switch to a microservices design.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The complexity is increased by on-premise infrastructure and multi-cloud adoption. This necessitates a robust solution capable of meeting the difficulties and requirements of numerous stakeholders during the transitional and maintenance stages.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        A typical Cloud Assurance Platform aids in the rapid assurance of data center and cloud applications and infrastructure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The Cloud Assurance Platform assists businesses in ensuring quality during cloud migration, data center transformation, and modernization projects, as well as improving their strategy, test execution visibility, and coverage and compliance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Using a catalogue-based testing method, enabling cost predictability, increasing your time-to-market, and the efficiency of infrastructure test automation execution are some of the other benefits offered by an ideal cloud assurance platform.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Over the next decade,\u00a0the\u00a0cloud will play a critical part in the\u00a0digital\u00a0transformation of\u00a0most\u00a0businesses.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        CIOs\u00a0must be able to reliably control the quality of each new cloud service and application that is implemented throughout the organization.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Closing thoughts\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

        There are a variety of reasons why the world is transitioning to a “cloud-first” paradigm, not least\u00a0of which are\u00a0the digital transformation possibilities that would be impossible to achieve with a legacy IT infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        These are some of the capabilities needed for cloud migration assurance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n