Five application transformation strategies for multi-cloud success

Your applications can thrive in a multi-cloud environment. But transform them first to optimize cloud-native capabilities and benefit from greater flexibility, interoperability, security, governance and cost-efficiency. 

Organizations with cloud-optimized, portable, secure and integrated applications are better equipped to navigate business challenges, especially when governance practices are part of their application transformation.

The utopian view of the cloud focuses on its cost-effectiveness. However, realizing the ideal outcome takes proper cloud management to avoid simply recreating your on-premises data center in the cloud. Cost management tools like AWS Cost Explorer and Azure Cost Management can help you define budgets and automate alerts to prevent unexpected expenses.

To optimize costs, you need to prevent employees from moving workloads into cloud environments and operating them like a data center. Put another way, use all available cloud capabilities, such as serverless computing, database and API platforms, or dynamically scalable computing.

Managing multi-cloud effectively can yield significant benefits to your business, including:

• Providing cost benefits associated with retaining provider choice – aka avoiding vendor lock-in 
• Improving service reliability and resiliency – aka not putting all your eggs in one basket 
• Maintaining access to the right service for the right job – aka access to best-of-breed services 

Application transformation in a multi-cloud environment adds complexity and opportunity, but these five moves can guide your decision-making. 

#1: Consider why you invested in multiple cloud platforms

The right approach to application transformation depends on your organization’s reason for implementing a multi-cloud environment. For instance, some organizations are drawn to the unique services offered by different providers and head down the multi-cloud path. For others, data sovereignty or price considerations may lead them to adopt multiple clouds. One cloud provider may be appealing in different regions because it offers services that others don’t.

Understanding your organization’s motivation for moving to multi-cloud reveals what you need from your applications. A straightforward, one-cloud approach may be best for a simple infrastructure-as-a-service application. However, multiple clouds may be better if you seek a unique capability, like advanced AI services exclusive to one provider. If you prioritize your existing services and integrate them with a new one, it may be easiest to move them to the same cloud to remove complexity. 

#2: Understand your entire application portfolio  

Whether you have invested in one cloud or multiple clouds, knowing all of your organization’s applications can drive your success. A multi-cloud approach introduces new considerations and variations on typical ones, such as how apps communicate from a dataflow perspective.

Once you understand your portfolio, assess each application against a set of defined criteria focused on sustainability and fit-for-purpose from a business perspective, such as: 

• Is it supportable? 
• Is it maintainable? 
• Is it reliable? 
• Is it agile enough to improve quickly? 
• Is it serving the business effectively? 

This assessment will help identify which applications should be modernized, and importantly, why they should be modernized. 

#3: Determine the transformation approach 

After determining which applications merit transformation, take time to recognize the patterns defining the attributes or capabilities that best fit the different cloud services. These patterns should also consider market offerings and weigh each service’s merits. By including design standards and approaches, these patterns will save you from an analysis paralysis loop. Use these patterns to assess where each application should sit in your future state environment.

The knowledge gained from the portfolio assessment, coupled with the patterns, will assist you in determining the right strategy for each application, including: 

• Keeping an application on-premises. Some applications will need to stay on-premises for data sovereignty, latency or security reasons, especially for highly regulated industries like the public sector. 
• A lift-and-shift involves moving applications to the cloud without any modernization. This is the least preferred application transformation method because it’s not an actual transformation; however, it can move applications from on-premises.
• Re-architecting of an application so it can consume standard cloud services like API management and API Gateway services. With these foundational services, you move your data and use cloud capabilities to provide database services, avoiding associated management and support requirements. 
• Retiring, rewriting or replacing an application because it’s no longer fit for purpose or a complete overhaul would be necessary to prepare it for a modern environment. One option is to bring it into a microservices architecture or API-led environment, where you modularize application components. 

Modifying applications to fit modern cloud environments and handle new capabilities can take weeks or months for older applications written in COBOL versus potentially only days for newer applications. Consider prioritizing crucial applications running on unsupported software and those blocked from challenge-solving potential by technology, business or software constraints. 

Sometimes, simple modernization may be sufficient if an application is still largely fit for purpose. However, consider a broader replacement with a SaaS product if an application’s features and capabilities hinder your business.

The ultimate goal of application rationalization is to align your applications with your business needs. Arguably, a multi-cloud environment makes this even more crucial to long-term success. 

#4: Tackle quick wins first 

Prioritization is part of building an application transformation roadmap. However, use it as a guide rather than a mandate. With a crawl, walk, run approach, you don’t try to boil the ocean on the first try, but start small with applications that are easier to transform. It may be tempting to start by modernizing your core line-of-business application for the biggest return, but doing so would be risky. Collect some wins with simpler scenarios and apply everything you learn when you tackle more complex use cases. 

A methodical process also ensures you research your cloud options thoroughly and pair each application with the best cloud for that scenario. Cloud providers offer server auto-provisioning, infrastructure autoscaling, built-in resiliency and other features and capabilities that enhance applications. Taking advantage of such possibilities can ease your transformation efforts.

#5: Keep iterating on your transformation approach  

Optimizing your application migration strategy is an iterative process. After every application your organization migrates, consider what worked and what didn’t and adapt your strategies accordingly. For example, you may finesse your data migration approach by automating migration steps or developing a microservice to prevent repetitive migration of standard legacy functions.

Your willingness to modify your application transformation strategy based on what you learn can increase performance and decrease risk with future applications you modernize. This iterative approach also keeps you open to optimizing your cloud investments. Bottom line: A rigid mindset can prevent you from maximizing multi-cloud value. 

Transform your applications 

Moving your applications to the cloud does not inherently make them completely secure or resilient, so start with a strong, secure, resilient foundation and modernize your applications on top of it.

The Unisys Application Transformation solution takes the complexity out of modernizing and migrating your applications across multiple cloud platforms. Take our six-question assessment for a customized report of the maturity of your AI-augmented application modernization, and imagine how valuable application transformation can be for your organization.