44. App modernization, cloud readiness and an agile model of cloud migration - with Rik Hepworth

In this episode, we talk to Rik Hepworth. As Microsoft Azure MVP, member of the Microsoft Regional Director program, and Chief Consulting Officer at Black Marble, he helps organizations make better use of the cloud. We talk about his role at Black Marble and how it is a development shop at heart; helping customers reach a higher level of maturity in terms of Application Lifecycle Management or DevOps, and helping them with app modernization, cloud adoption and migration. And we dive into the entire process of getting an on-premises solution ready for migration to the cloud in small baby steps. Talking about the reasons their customers need to move to the cloud, the difficulties and challenges they face with migration projects, and how to deal with them; he has broken this down into five stages of app migration. Subsequent, he explains that organizations need to be aware of two great things: business value and risk. And business value has got to be the principal driver for pushing you to the cloud, but in doing so, you need to minimize risk. That might mean foregoing a full cloud migration, opting for a hybrid solution and experimenting with an agile model of migration. Because a big plus of cloud computing is experimentation, trying out cloud services and solutions, just to switch it off if it doesn’t work. Which is more difficult with hardware. And as Rik explains, most businesses don’t realize how big of a deal this is; they need to start their migration project years before they decommission their database (licenses) and hardware. You need to look forward, because businesses and IT are evolving rapidly, especially in the last 10 years. Thus, are you ready for cloud migration?

About this episode, and Rik Hepworth in particular: you can find @rikhepworth on Twitter and GitHub. Check out his website and read his blogs.

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