Navigating Mergers and Acquisitions: From On-Premises to Cloud
Written on
Introduction
In today’s fast-paced business environment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become essential strategies for growth and expansion. However, alongside business transformation, organizations face the intricate task of integrating their Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, particularly when dealing with on-premises setups. If not managed carefully, the transition to public or hybrid cloud can result in inefficiencies, disruptions, and a reduction in return on investment.
This comprehensive guide will explore IT integration during mergers and acquisitions, focusing on the transition between public cloud and on-premises data centers. We’ll outline the essential steps businesses must take to effectively merge their IT systems, facilitating a smooth transition that maximizes the potential of the newly formed entity.
Challenges for Cloud Adoption in M&A
Managing on-premises data centers alongside cloud infrastructures for two organizations can introduce time-sensitive challenges such as expiring contracts, outdated hardware, and software nearing end-of-support. Additionally, businesses may face pressures related to cash flow, the need for increased capacity, and the imperative to maintain security while ensuring continuity.
Main Steps to Migrate
Step 1: Align Stakeholders
To overcome common migration obstacles, it’s crucial to formulate a clear business strategy for migration. Aligning stakeholders on motivations and anticipated business outcomes will influence decisions made by the cloud adoption team.
- Motivations: Begin by identifying and categorizing the motivations driving the migration effort from various stakeholders in business and IT.
- Business Outcomes: Once motivations are established, capture the desired business outcomes, providing measurable metrics for transformation.
Deliverables: - Utilize the strategy and plan template to document motivations and expected outcomes.
Accountable team: - Cloud strategy team - Cloud adoption team - Cloud center of excellence or central IT team
Step 2: Align Partner Support
Various partners, including Microsoft Services and other Microsoft programs, can provide essential support during the migration process.
- Understand Partnerships: Identify the appropriate level of partnership and support required.
Deliverables: - Establish contractual agreements with supporting partners before engagement. - Identify approved partners within the strategy and plan template.
Accountable team: - Cloud strategy team - Cloud adoption team - Cloud center of excellence or central IT team
Step 3: Gather Data and Analyze Assets and Workloads
Conduct discovery and assessment to enhance technical alignment and create an action plan for your strategy. Validate the business case using data from the current environment and perform a thorough quantitative and qualitative assessment of priority workloads.
- Inventory Existing Systems: Employ a data-driven approach to assess the current state.
- Incremental Rationalization: Focus on qualitative analysis for all assets to support the business case, while conducting deeper analysis for the top 10 workloads.
Deliverables: - Raw data on existing inventory. - Quantitative analysis for business justification. - Qualitative analysis for the first 10 workloads. - Documented business justification in the strategy and plan template.
Accountable team: - Cloud adoption team - Cloud strategy team
Step 4: Make a Business Case
Developing a business case for migration is often a collaborative effort among stakeholders. Start by evaluating the potential return from a cloud migration, ensuring alignment around the question: is adopting cloud a sensible business decision?
Deliverables: - Record business justification in the strategy and plan template.
Accountable team: - Cloud strategy team - Cloud adoption team
Step 5: Create a Migration Plan
A cloud adoption plan accelerates the development of a project backlog, which can be adjusted based on discovery outcomes, rationalization, required skills, and partner contracts.
- Define Your Plan: Use the basic template to outline your cloud adoption plan and workload alignment.
- Align Efforts: Clearly define efforts for prioritized workloads and establish timelines for migration.
Deliverables: - Implement the backlog template and update it for the first 10 workloads.
Timeline Risks: - Inexperience with Azure DevOps may hinder deployment speed.
Accountable team: - Cloud adoption team - Cloud strategy team
Step 6: Build a Skills Readiness Plan
Existing team members can contribute to the migration, but additional skills may be necessary. Identify skill gaps and consider partnerships to develop these competencies.
Deliverables: - Add a skills-readiness plan to the strategy and plan template.
Accountable team: - Cloud adoption team - Cloud strategy team
Step 7: Deploy and Align a Landing Zone
All migrated resources should be placed in a landing zone, starting simple and expanding to accommodate more complex workloads over time.
- Choose a Landing Zone: Determine the best approach for deployment based on your adoption pattern.
- Expand Your Zone: Identify and fill gaps in your landing zone to ensure proper governance and compliance.
Deliverables: - Deploy the initial landing zone and refine it with the cloud center of excellence or central IT team.
Timeline Risks: - Governance and security requirements may slow down the process.
Accountable team: - Cloud platform team - Cloud adoption team
Step 8: Migrate Your First 10 Workloads
Migrating the first workloads is a straightforward, iterative process. Assess, deploy, and release workloads systematically to manage risks effectively.
Deliverables: - Enhance the migration team's capabilities with each iteration.
Accountable team: - Cloud adoption team - Cloud strategy team
Step 9: Hand Off Production Workloads to Cloud Governance
Effective governance is vital for the long-term success of migration efforts. Speed must be balanced with governance to ensure sustainable practices.
Deliverables: - Establish a governance foundation and complete a governance benchmark.
Timeline Risk: - Policy improvements may extend timelines.
Accountable team: - Cloud governance team - Cloud strategy team
Step 10: Hand Off Production Workloads to Cloud Operations
Managing operations is crucial for migration success. Begin planning for long-term operations alongside the migration effort.
Deliverables: - Deploy a management baseline and complete the operations management workbook.
Timeline Risks: - Review and assessment processes may require additional time.
Accountable team: - Cloud operations team - Cloud strategy team
From an Azure Technical Stack Perspective
The first step in implementing a hybrid strategy is to use Azure Arc for unified operations and management, allowing onboarding of resources that are outside of Azure, including Windows, Linux, SQL Servers, and Kubernetes clusters.
Following this, organizations can extend management services such as Azure Policy, Azure Monitor, and Azure Security Center, fostering a consistent management approach across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Next, develop cloud-native applications and run Azure services on various platforms. Modern applications are increasingly built using Kubernetes containers across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments.
Azure Arc enables customers to deploy standardized Kubernetes configurations from the Azure Portal, ensuring uniformity and scalability across all clusters.
Additionally, Azure Arc allows developers to centrally code and securely deploy cloud-native applications using GitOps.
The third critical step is modernizing the data estate with Azure data services. Azure Arc-enabled data services facilitate consistent updates for SQL deployments and Postgres databases. Manage data assets on-premises and in Azure using familiar tools like Azure Portal and Azure Data Studio, allowing for automation and support for data workloads in disconnected environments.
Finally, modernize your data center using the Azure Stack portfolio, bringing Azure services to various locations through Azure Stack HCI, which integrates seamlessly into the Azure Portal.
Conclusion
In the ever-changing business landscape, mergers and acquisitions serve as essential strategies for growth. However, the challenge of integrating IT infrastructures, particularly for on-premises setups, cannot be underestimated. Transitioning to public or hybrid cloud environments must be approached with care to avoid inefficiencies and ensure a favorable return on investment.
This guide has outlined the steps necessary for effective IT integration during M&A, emphasizing the importance of aligning stakeholders, securing partner support, and conducting thorough data analysis. A well-structured migration plan, skills readiness strategy, and robust governance practices are essential for long-term success.
By navigating this complex process, organizations can position themselves for innovation, scalability, and operational efficiency. Embracing cloud technology as part of M&A strategies is not merely a technological change but a strategic necessity in today’s dynamic business environment.
As we conclude this guide, we hope the insights provided will assist organizations in their M&A endeavors, enabling them to maximize the potential of their new cloud-enabled future.
Before you go!
If you enjoyed this guide and would like to support me: 1. Clap my article 50 times, it would greatly help me. 2. Follow me on Medium and subscribe for updates. 3. Connect with me on LinkedIn for more data insights.