Migrate your applications and infrastructure to the cloud efficiently and securely

You cannot decide which applications to move to the cloud and which to keep on ­premise unless you know your application landscape in detail. Consider the purpose of each application, and whether your organization has needs that are not being met in the current landscape.

Be especially aware of uncovering any shadow IT that might exist in your organization. As CIO you need to know if employees use third­party technology on their work devices or if Line of Business have acquired tech­solutions and a­pplications ­without ­consulting ­or­ even ­ briefing the IT department.

We­ recommend ­that ­you ­do ­a ­360 ­holistic­ review of the application landscape in a cross-­functional team, preferably with unbiased external help. Note any challenges that you might identify; for instance agility challenges or compliance and safety challenges.

What is your position and approach to cloud, and how far are you willing to go?
We recommend moving your IT services to a hybrid engine that enables you to keep your business­-critical legacy systems running together with business solutions for the future. A multi cloud strategy allows you to pick the right cloud for ­the ­right ­service ­–­ this allows for flexibility and provides you with an opportunity to scale your cloud services.

Also, continuously evaluate the right mix of legacy and cloud solutions to support your organization, and drive change at the right pace ­– ­that way,­you ­can ­remain ­flexible ­and make realistic plans for integration, migration and innovation.

With your strategy decided, you should reassess your approach to compliance. By applying a risk-based ­approach, ­you effectively ­focus ­on areas with higher risk, and to do that, you need to evaluate and­ understand­ your­ risk-profile.­

There can be many blind spots in a risk­-assessment, and IT cannot realistically cover them all alone. Set up a team consisting of, for example; IT, QA, LoB and an expert service provider.

If you go for multi cloud, you also depend on choosing service providers that can deliver it. As a life sciences organization, you will face ­challenges­ and­ requirements ­that ­differ ­from those in other industries, which is why you should choose service providers that know the life sciences industry.

With the vast amount of data and business applications in today’s IT landscape, you need an integration and migration partner that understands the entire landscape.

Moving applications to new platforms is not merely a technical challenge, but also extremely business critical. Any partner needs to comprehend how your individual landscape is interconnected and how any relocation or service update will­ affect ­the­ rest ­of ­the ­landscape.­

Consider­ forming­ an ­integration ­office ­with­ the ­specific­ task ­of­ maintaining ­a constantly updated overview of the integration landscape – or decide to outsource the task to a life sciences IT service provider.