ibm i Cloud technology has helped several businesses to incorporate flexibility along with reliability and responsiveness. It is not difficult to migrate your AS400/iSeries applications to the cloud, but it requires experience and expertise in successfully making the move.
Any organization exploring a strategy to move to the cloud should take into account several factors such as the interdependence and interfaces among the various applications, data contingency, especially legacy data, unique hardware configurations, 3rd party software etc.
In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive business environment; companies cannot afford any missteps, which might impact Business Responsiveness and Service Quality.
What is the ideal approach for a successful AS400/iSeries cloud migration? Here are a few steps your business should follow to meet its end goal.
Get the Ideal Project Partner:
Most organizations consider this to be the last step of their cloud migration strategy, but ideally, it should be the first step. There are several organizations that offer iSeries consulting services.
But, you should look for a partner that is willing to invest the time to analyze the unique needs of your organization, has extensive experience in developing a plan that actualizes the benefits of the cloud without compromising security, negatively impacting daily business activities, leveraging existing legacy systems, and not extending allocated budgets.
Integrative Systems is one such organization that has helped over 40 companies with iSeries consulting services over the past 25+ years.
Understand Current State and Future Requirements:
A disciplined, modular approach based on the Build, Deploy, and Run methodology is a viable solution.
A complete understanding and documenting the current software infrastructure, which represents the investments by the IT organization in the people, processes, and technology needed for application development, legacy workflow processes is very critical. Also, the embedded financial governance controls should also be taken into consideration.
Key stakeholders within the business need to be informed and the order of migration and impact on business and especially the staff should be clearly communicated.
Choosing to migrate to the cloud is a long-term, strategic decision that needs to factor in a company’s current strengths but also how it can help to address any weaker areas.
Costs and Risks Calculation:
One of the most challenging aspects of cloud migration is cost calculation. As stakeholders often underestimate expenses incurred in the complete process.
Your iSeries consulting partner can help you plan effective cost calculations for iSeries migration. In addition to the costs of migrating, they can help you understand costs incurred in tools and services involved in the transition.
Like every other business project, cloud migration also poses certain risks to an organization.
That’s the reason it is always advisable to discuss and understand every possible risk and address them upfront. This will help control extra delays, eliminate unexpected obstacles.
