More and more organizations we’re working with are seeing the value in migrating to Azure, Microsoft’s all-in-one platform allowing businesses and individuals to build, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud.
Migrating to Microsoft Azure can offer significant benefits, including scalability and flexibility, significant cost savings, stronger security and compliance, global reach and availability, and more.
However, effectively implementing Azure is not automatic. It takes a strategic implementation approach to avoid potential pitfalls and challenges. Here are five critical pitfalls organizations that implement Azure need to avoid, with key strategies for avoiding them.
1. Failing to optimize spending can lead to higher cloud costs.
One of the biggest financial risks associated with Azure migration is overspending on cloud resources. To avoid this, organizations should carefully monitor their cloud usage, implement cost management tools, and optimize resource allocation. Optimizing cloud costs requires technical expertise to identify and implement cost-saving measures.
The Azure Pricing Calculator can be used pre-migration to assist in estimating the costs of running various services in Azure. You can also utilize the Azure Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator, which compares on-premises, or on-prem, costs with Azure costs, to estimate the cost savings you can achieve by migrating existing workloads into Azure.
By utilizing that expertise, organizations can significantly reduce their cloud costs through rightsizing instances, utilizing autoscaling, implementing just-in-time (JIT) access, auto start/shutdown, and scheduling resources based on usage patterns. Azure Advisor can be leveraged at no cost to ensure the environment is cost-effective and running efficiently.
2. Implementing migration strategies that lead to poor performance and scalability.
Issues with performance and scalability can directly impact revenue and customer satisfaction. They can also lead to technical challenges, such as application slowdowns and errors.
To mitigate these risks, organizations should choose Azure regions that are geographically close to their users, optimize network performance, and implement auto-scaling. Additionally, ensuring that applications are designed for scalability so they can handle peak loads is crucial.
Leaving your Azure application with the same design and implementation paradigm as your on-prem applications when migrating to Azure Cloud can lead to the same performance and scalability issues noted above. Set aside the time to review and update applications as soon as possible to mitigate these issues. For example, taking advantage of elasticity and auto-scaling can only be effectively leveraged when considering and implementing cloud-native design principles.
It is important to note that having these cloud-native design principles can yield benefits when implementing a hybrid strategy. Cloud-native applications have the potential to provide flexibility as they are less likely to be tied to a specific setup and configuration like on-prem applications are, while applications that must remain on-prem for regulatory compliance reasons can continue without update.
3. Failing to properly integrate on-prem and cloud systems.
Integrating on-prem systems alongside Azure’s leading cloud capabilities can be technically complex. To address these challenges, organizations should develop a clear hybrid cloud strategy, utilize Azure Hybrid Cloud solutions, and optimize network connectivity between on-prem and cloud environments.
The Azure (Entra) AD connector can be used to connect and sync accounts from on-prem to the cloud. This is a one-way sync, not bidirectional. Password hashes can be used to securely store passwords, and then password writeback can be used to sync the passwords back to on-prem accounts.
Enabling single sign-on (SSO) in the connector ensures that once you log into Microsoft 365 you will be able to SSO into all of the other MS applications within your organization provided you have the necessary permissions.
These actions can help reduce the integration complexity while helping to maximize security without impeding your teams’ effectiveness.
4. Implementing poor security and compliance standards.
Breaches of security and compliance can result in severe financial penalties and damage to brand reputation. Ensuring security and compliance in a cloud environment requires careful planning and implementation. To protect against these risks, organizations should implement robust security measures, ensure compliance with industry regulations, and regularly conduct security assessments.
The Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark, Azure Well-Architected Framework, and Cloud Adoption Framework can be used as guides and references to improve your security posture in Azure. Azure Security Center can help you implement your robust security measures and be in compliance with industry regulations.
Further, MFA, FIDO2, Conditional Access, Access Reviews, Azure Policies, and User Sign-In Risk policies can all effectively mitigate risk in Azure. You should also ensure the proper Role-based Access Control (RBAC) roles are assigned to the correct users to result in the correct personnel having the correct permissions when working in the Azure portal.
5. Migrating data without proper planning and strategy.
Issues with data migration and synchronization can lead to data loss, corruption, and downtime, resulting in financial losses and operational disruptions. To avoid these issues, organizations should develop a comprehensive data migration plan, conduct thorough data validation, and implement data loss prevention measures.
Insufficient planning and assessment can lead to technical challenges during the migration process. To avoid these challenges, organizations should conduct a thorough assessment of their workloads, develop a detailed migration plan, and utilize Azure Migrate tools to automate the migration process. The Azure Migrate toolset is a comprehensive suite of tools that assist with the discovery, assessment, and migration of on-prem resources into Azure.
How Coveros Can Help
By understanding these key pitfalls and taking proactive steps to address them, organizations can mitigate risks, optimize costs, and ensure a successful Azure migration. It’s essential to carefully plan, implement appropriate security measures, and continuously monitor and optimize your Azure environment to avoid these challenges.
That’s where our team of experts can help. Coveros offers comprehensive Microsoft Azure expertise in migration planning and support, assessments of your current cloud setup, implementation of Azure DevOps and GitHub Advanced Security, as well as Azure advisory and coaching services. Learn more about our Azure services and start a conversation with our experts today.
