Your Cloud Migration Is Failing Right Now And Your Cloud Vendor Can’t Fix It Alone
Moving enterprise data to the cloud is often treated as a technology project, but according to Naresh Sigamani in his Forbes Technology Council article, the biggest challenges often have less to do with choosing the right cloud platform and more to do with the complex systems, data, and processes being moved in the first place. For organizations running SAP and other large-scale enterprise systems, a simple “lift and shift” approach can create more problems than it solves. Moving outdated data structures and complicated business logic into the cloud doesn’t automatically modernize them—it can simply recreate the same inefficiencies in a more expensive environment. Sigamani points to several common challenges, including slow data processing, fragmented data definitions, rigid governance, and the difficulty of extracting and translating complex SAP business rules. In one example, a supply chain process that previously took eight hours was reduced to just minutes by moving workloads to scalable cloud infrastructure. But technology alone wasn’t the solution. Successful modernization also required rethinking data architecture, governance, and how different teams accessed and managed information.
One of the article’s biggest takeaways is that cloud modernization requires expertise on both sides of the equation. Organizations need people who understand not only cloud platforms and AI, but also the underlying ERP systems and business logic that power critical operations. The goal also shouldn’t simply be to report how much data has been migrated. Instead, organizations should focus on business outcomes like faster access to information, quicker decision-making, and the ability to support new analytics and AI initiatives. Ultimately, a cloud vendor can provide the infrastructure, but it can’t untangle years of legacy processes on its own. A successful migration starts with understanding what needs to change before moving it.
Retiring Lawson, PeopleSoft, or Oracle? APIX archives the entire application — every table, every year, attachments and security included — into your own AWS account in about 30 days, so you can decommission the legacy system and keep full access to the history.
