Here is a strategy guide for determining if your organization should go cloud-native; and what hurdles need to be overcome

As the global cloud-native market is forecast to grow at an annual rate of around 20.2% yearly, organizations may be considering switching to cloud-native architecture to remain competitive.

However, not every organization can jump on this bandwagon just yet. Some unique challenges need to be overcome in order for enterprises to succeed in their cloud-native journeys. One primary challenge stems from the intricate cost-benefit analysis inherent in cloud migration.

While cloud-native architectures promise significant advantages, the initial investment and ongoing operational expenses can be substantial on a company’s budget. This often compels a company to maintain on-premises deployments, particularly for workloads that may not demand high scalability or have specific security and compliance requirements.

How can organizations tackle impediments to cloud-native adoption if that is the final decision?

Keys considerations

To effectively navigate the challenges, organizations must meticulously weigh the potential benefits of cloud-native architectures against the associated costs.

This necessitates a thorough cost-benefit analysis encompassing factors such as total cost of ownership (TCO), return on investment (ROI), and risk assessment.:

  • Analyzing TCO involves comparing the costs of maintaining on-premises infrastructure with those of migrating to the cloud to be truly cloud-native, considering factors like licensing, maintenance, and personnel expenses.
  • Evaluating ROI is crucial to estimate the potential financial gains from cloud migration (and ultimately, cloud-native status), such as increased efficiency, improved scalability, and reduced operational costs.
  • A comprehensive risk assessment is also necessary to evaluate the potential risks associated with the cloud strategy, such as data security and compliance concerns. Any potential skills gaps must also be identified, because a lack of in-house expertise in areas such as containerization, microservices, and serverless computing can hinder the successful implementation and management of cloud-native applications. This necessitates investments in training and upskilling programs to bridge skills gaps and ensure a successful transition to cloud-native architectures, thus incurring additional costs that should be factored into the overall cost-benefit analysis.

Navigating strategic cloud partnerships

The decision-making process also involves the selecting the optimal cloud provider. With a diverse range of vendor options available, including global giants as well as regional players, organizations will need to carefully evaluate each provider based on a multifaceted set of criteria.

  • Performance evaluations are essential to ensuring that the chosen cloud provider meets the organization’s specific performance requirements. This necessitates a thorough assessment of service level agreements (SLAs), latency, and network performance — ensuring that the chosen provider can consistently deliver the required levels of availability, speed, and reliability.
  • Security and compliance considerations are also critical factors. Organizations should meticulously assess the security measures implemented by each provider, including data encryption, access control mechanisms, and threat detection capabilities.
  • Compliance certifications are also crucial for demonstrating adherence to industry best practices. Furthermore, data residency options must be carefully evaluated to ensure compliance with local data privacy and sovereignty regulations.

In the Asia Pacific region (APAC) the considerations listed above are particularly pertinent due to the diverse data privacy and sovereignty regulations. Such external factors can significantly impact data residency choices and the selection of cloud providers. As such, organizations will need to prioritize selecting providers with robust data security measures and the ability to meet the specific data residency requirements of every country in which they operate.

Avoiding U-turns with due diligence

Overall, despite the potential benefits of cloud-native architectures, organizations in APAC need to first address the unique hurdles in their adoption journey.

Only by carefully evaluating all potential and unexpected challenges, investing in employee training, and forging strategic partnerships with the right cloud providers, can regional organizations decide if going cloud native is the best way forward for now.