Atlassian says that 95% of new customers choose Atlassian Cloud. That’s a pretty convincing statistic – and proves that Cloud isn’t the future: it’s now.
But many organisations are still hesitating to migrate to the Cloud. Cost concerns, security implications, downtime and compromised data integrity – there’s so much to worry about. Except, there’s really nothing to worry about at all, if you have the right Cloud migration strategy in place.
The top Cloud concerns of businesses that rely on their IT infrastructure to operate are totally valid. In the past, as Cloud platforms were maturing, there were definitely issues. But consumer, business and private Cloud platforms have really come of age now; there are rarely any horror stories of data breaches, corruption, downtime or catastrophic failure. And if there are, they’re almost certainly down to human error, and not the platform itself.
So let’s look at the top concerns of migrating to the Cloud – and see if we can clear them up.
1. Cloud security concerns
Security remains the number one cause for concern among businesses yet to adopt Cloud. But this isn’t a Cloud problem – it’s more of a training and compliance issue. 95% of security breaches are attributed to human error, not a weakness in the platform.
Atlassian has a solution; rather than relying on people to never make mistakes (that’s never going to happen!), Atlassian Cloud’s Enterprise plan enables two-factor authentication and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), with single sign-on through Atlassian Access. Leaks and breaches can’t happen without some serious thought and effort – and if they do, they’ll be immediately traceable.
Atlassian Cloud is monitored with enterprise-level security – so your IT team no longer has to monitor and patch up any holes in security: it’s all done centrally, monitored and updated 24/7/365, by Atlassian’s team of cybersecurity professionals.
Security is now a non-issue – and in fact, Cloud security and resilience is now far better than that of on-site server rooms, to the point of their redundancy. If security really is a concern, then Cloud is the best possible solution.
2. Managing Cloud is going to take forever!
Some admins might be concerned about the time it’ll take to manage everything. Setting up, allocating resources, access and permissions… It’s going to take forever to move everything over. Right?
It’s a fair concern, too. Nobody wants to be endlessly setting up and not getting any work done. But a unified Cloud platform will actually make everything easier.
With centralised controls, admins have full visibility and control over the tools in use across the business. It’s super simple and straightforward, and there’s far less to go wrong.
Atlassian Cloud’s admin console (available in the Enterprise plan) gives an overview of all the Atlassian products in use – allowing admins to set up multiple instances. Admins get full control of who has access to what: the entire organisation or just select teams?
There’s no limit to how many instances can be set up, and permissions can be managed down to the individual level or across teams.
And this feeds right back into security. Admins know exactly what’s happening, and who can see what. Alerts can be triggered when certain areas are accessed (even when permissions are granted), and a full picture of access management across the organisation can be gained through clear yet detailed logging and reporting.
3. Cloud is expensive
Monthly costs certainly look higher for Cloud subscriptions and licenses. And not owning the software (or hardware, even) is a real negative for some. But let’s face it: hardware becomes obsolete before you know it, and even a state-of-the-art server room is dead weight within 5 years. And as for software, advances and upgrades come in thick and fast – so even if you own a license, it’s only on the version you’ve purchased.
If you plan on staying in business for the long haul, it makes sense to go down the most cost-effective route in the long-term.
And with Cloud, IT professionals report average savings of 20% post-migration.
That’s game-changing money that can be invested in your people, your product, your business – especially when your IT infrastructure is the core of what you do.
Cloud is unique in that, as a virtual service, it’s completely scalable. You get what you need, maybe with a little headroom, and maintain total efficiency as a result. There’s nothing wasted. All the apps you need are upgraded to the latest version, without having to buy new licenses. The hardware you run on is maintained, upgraded and scaled as you need – and is far more capable and resilient than anything you could achieve in-house.
And this is at a reduced overall cost.
4. Downtime concerns
Cloud resilience, especially in private Cloud configurations, is exceptional. So good, in fact, Atlassian guarantees 99.95% uptime across its Enterprise Cloud products.That’s because Cloud data centres are purpose-built, endlessly monitored and maintained, and made with best-in-class equipment. There’s on-site security, digital security and double-redundant, uninterrupted power supplies (with backup generators should the worst happen). Automated, fully compliant off-site backups can be made, up to hourly in some configurations. And network access is lightning-fast, with double redundancy built-in, for most private Cloud setups.
If your server room could match that, you’d be selling private Cloud services!
In terms of downtime or data loss during migration, this can be mitigated with a Cloud migration strategy. By phasing the crossover from legacy to Cloud, implementing virtual machines and using rock-solid backup and archiving, the risks are lowered significantly, with the absolute worst case being a momentary roll back.
With an Atlassian Cloud migration expert on hand, you’ll have the knowledge you need to take the stress out of Cloud migration – and alleviate all your concerns.
Hire a Cloud migration expert
ClearHub specialises in finding the best Atlassian Cloud migration contractors, to make migrating to the Cloud seamless and low-risk. Want to know more? Get in touch with the ClearHub team today – call +44 (0) 2381 157811 or send your message to info@clearhub.tech.
