Find the risks and costs before you move anything to the cloud

What the 15 questions cover

• Infrastructure

  Is there a current inventory of servers, with age, capacity and what runs on each? Do you know how much storage you use, how fast it grows and what must be retained? Are your current virtual machines and operating systems on versions still supported by the vendor?

• Applications

  Do you know whether your ERP or accounting system is supported on cloud infrastructure by its vendor? Is there a list of business applications with an owner and a criticality rating for each? For custom-built applications, is the source code and documentation in your possession?

• Security

  Are user accounts managed centrally, so access can be granted and removed in one place? Do you know which data must stay in Kenya or meet conditions before leaving the country? Is sensitive data encrypted in storage and in transit today?

• Operations

  Does your team or provider have hands-on experience running cloud workloads? Is it clear who approves new cloud resources and spending? Is it agreed who supports the systems after migration, with response times?

• Financial

  Do you know the full yearly cost of current infrastructure, including power, licences, support and staff time? Is there a migration estimate that includes parallel running, data transfer and staff time? Has the expected return been calculated over three years, not only year one?