Quiz Time: Are You Ready for the Cloud?

Okay, everyone, it's time for a pop quiz! Be sure to turn all cellphones off, pull out a No. 2 pencil, and keep your eyes on your own paper.

Answer the following questions to find out whether your company is ready for the cloud:

1. Migration Is Hard Work. Are You Ready?

A.) Our team has prepared a migration plan and is ready to commit the necessary time. The cloud service provider is ready to import our virtual machines.

B.) The team is ready, but our cloud service provider has yet to specify the support it provides for the synchronization of data and potential ad hoc changes.

C.) Due to a heavy workload, migration will mainly be a one-person show, but we expect the migration to run smoothly.

D.) Our team is more of a "go with the flow" type.

2. What Happens When Things Don't Go Precisely As Planned?

A.) Our environment is prepared to keep legacy and new cloud implementations in sync and is ready for failover should the transition prove more difficult than originally thought.

B.) The applications being moved into the cloud are not mission-critical, and as such, they do not require a contingency plan.

C.) A recovery plan has yet to be finalized in the event migration fails.

D.) We've hidden away our migration plans in a small R2 unit should the Empire's attack succeed.

3. Have You Communicated Migration Plans to Affected Users?

A.) Communications have been sent well in advance of actual migrations. Clients and internal users are aware of the procedure, and any potential downtime has been allocated and communicated.

B.) Clients have been notified of the transition, but hard details and associated downtime have yet to be worked out.

C.) Communications are being drafted now and will be sent out as migration plans become more concrete.

D.) PSAs are being broadcast on C-SPAN as we speak.

4. Have You Addressed All Potential Cloud Needs?

A.) Our cloud business is fully explored, with everything from communication systems to application servers assessed. We know exactly which aspects of our organization will benefit most from cloud services.

B.) We've addressed the most pressing needs within our business processes and will continue to explore other cloud opportunities as time and budgets permit.

C.) This is our first foray into cloud services, and we're starting small with a single business process. We'll reassess at a later time.

D.) Google Docs has us covered!

5. How Well Do You Know Your Data?

A.) We've acquired a detailed view of our environment's data, along with the compliance requirements it's subject to. We're prepared to line up these requirements with the abilities of prospective cloud service providers.

B.) We have a pretty good idea of what kind of data floats through our systems and will look into any regulation needs when the time comes.

C.) No data will be sent outside of our on-premises infrastructure.

D.) We have our financial data sitting in flat text files ready to be emailed to our cloud service provider!

6. How Complex Are Your Current Workflows?

A.) The workflows and business processes we use are typically complex in nature, with a fair amount of repetitive tasks involved. We crave automation!

B.) While certainly complex, the workflows that drive our organization are very hands-on, custom processes.

C.) Our workflow processes are incredibly simple and run flawlessly under our current architecture.

D.) Our recently deployed carrier pigeon initiative has fully automated our business processes.

7. Do You Understand the Relationship Between Hardware and Applications Within Your Environment?

A.) Our environment has successfully documented — and in many cases, abstracted — the dependency of critical applications from the underlying hardware. The needs of our applications are met by our cloud service provider's hardware.

B.) After identifying hardware dependencies of critical applications, some critical pieces of software require a new migration strategy to ensure a successful integration.

C.) Our environment is mostly composed of custom applications heavily dependent on specific infrastructure.

D.) The applications in our environment are tightly integrated with the Raspberry PI ARM architecture they run on.

8. Why Are You Moving to the Cloud?

A.) Our organization has identified important business processes that need an extra helping of agility, flexibility, and scalability.

B.) We're looking for creative ways to cut IT costs.

C.) Our data center is at capacity, and we're in need of more resources and disaster recovery sites.

D.) We recently upgraded our iCloud accounts and have tons of free space to use!

Answers:

• Mostly A's: Congratulations, your environment is ready for the cloud!
• Mostly B's: While you've still got some work to do, your cloud business is headed in the right direction.
• Mostly C's: Chin up! Though your environment needs some foundational help to get ready for the cloud, at least you know where you stand.
• Mostly D's: You've got quite the sense of humor, don't you?

So, does your business make the grade? The cloud is changing how companies work every day — preparing for it should be every organization's homework.

Visit Vonage Business to learn more about what cloud services can do for your organization.