A Look at the Statistics from IT Professionals
Several statistics demonstrate the trend of IT decision-makers embracing the cloud. These statistics show that most IT decision-makers are either using or planning to use the cloud first strategy in the digital era, and many have adopted a "cloud-first" approach to IT strategy. This suggests that the cloud has valuable and necessary solutions in the Digital era.- 72% of ITDMs stated their company uses cloud-based services by default when upgrading or buying new technology.
- 96% of ITDMs have just had major problems putting their cloud strategy into place.
- Over the next 12 months, the organisations plan to spend a total of $78 million on cloud computing. This is more than the $73 million they spent in 2020. It shows that organisations continue to place more cost into the cloud because it is vital to their strategic success.
Key advantages for IT leaders embrace a Cloud First strategy in the Digital Era
IT Cost Savings: Saving money is a major perk of cloud solutions since cloud technology enables organisations to expand or contract their operations as needed. This frees up capital for other uses and eliminates the need for companies to purchase costly equipment and software. In addition, cloud solutions may be deployed rapidly and without disruption, reducing the time IT staffs spend on system installation and upkeep. Enhanced Security: IT departments of all sizes may benefit from deploying the cloud first strategy in the digital era since anti-virus software is no longer a necessary expense or management headache. Cloud Migration enhances security, which is a huge plus. Cloud solutions are stored on servers in the cloud, which are constantly monitored and secured by security professionals. Sweetened Agility: Cloud computing solutions also provide more flexibility by enabling enterprises to scale up or down in response to changing conditions rapidly. Because of this, migrating to the cloud is a great option for businesses that need to respond quickly to changes in the market. In addition, cloud solutions can be set up rapidly, making them perfect for enterprises that value speed and efficiency. Maintain Market Competitive (Premium): Businesses may gain a competitive advantage by deploying cloud first strategy to have access to cutting-edge tools and technologies. Furthermore, cloud solutions are simple to adopt and maintain, reducing the time and effort IT specialists spend on initial setup and configuration. Ultimately, cloud migration may aid businesses in maintaining their competitive edge in the digital era.Consider Microsoft's Cloud Migration Experience for a Cloud-First Strategy
Microsoft took on the challenging task in 2014 of migrating its immense internal workload of 60,000 on-premises servers to the cloud and shutting down its few large physical data centres. At that time, there were few tools or instructions for cloud migration on that scale. Microsoft's leadership team recognised the need for a robust decision framework to ensure their workload's seamless migration to Azure. As a result, they developed a cloud migration decision tree (see diagram below) to assist them in shifting their vast number of servers to the cloud.
This infographic depicts Microsoft's cloud migration decision tree as they prepare to move their own infrastructure to the cloud. (Graphic by Microsoft | Inside Track)
Microsoft's experience with cloud migration is a true success story. Microsoft has transitioned to the cloud, reducing its on-premises server count from 60,000 to 800, with just 7,474 virtual machines on Azure and 1,567 at its own premises. Digital era's Cloud first strategy is 96% complete as of September 2022. This followed the closure of six IT data centres.
IT leaders should understand that cutting-edge engineering may be a useful resource during cloud migrations. They should also be encouraged to prune excessive workloads. This is a huge success for Microsoft, and as business technology solutions experts, we should give confidence to any company that wants to deploy the cloud first in the digital era.
Key Points
In 2014, Microsoft started its cloud migration when few resources were available to help with the transition.- 96% of the company's migration is done (as of 2022).
- Using a combination of modern engineering and Azure IaaS, the number of on-premise servers has been cut from 60,000 to 1,567.
- When the team found enough opportunities for restarts, the lift-and-shift operation quickly expanded into something much larger.
- With optimization dashboards and other tools, our service has been able to save millions of dollars since moving to Azure.




