Independent research claims that 40% of UK mid-market IT decision-makers felt rushed while undertaking public cloud migration projects. And the feeling of being hurried rises to 41% of IT directors, 43% of cloud architects, 45% of CIOs, 47% of heads of IT, and 80% of heads of infrastructure.

► Making decisions based primarily on cost-reduction leads to mistakes

► Unrealistic demands being placed on migration project leaders

The figures come from a report from the cloud services provider, Six Degrees. Vince DeLuca, CEO at the company said that customers need to pace their migration with care and not make the case for public cloud migration primarily on savings benefits.

‘The application modernisation necessary to realise savings from public cloud migration projects is usually much harder to achieve and takes far longer than originally anticipated. As a result, there’s likely to be pressure to move this phase along as quickly as possible – often causing problems and incurring more costs in the long term. This explains why so many IT decision-makers told us they felt rushed.’

In the firm’s UK SME Cloud Intelligence Report 2024 cost-reduction was the primary reason cited by a quarter of IT decision-makers. Other reasons included flexibility (32%), reduced capital investment (28%), and reduced reliance on on-premises infrastructure (24%).

The research also found that 80% of UK SMEs have experienced unexpected costs or budget overruns relating to cloud usage. Conversely, it claimed that some organisations are migrating to public cloud in order to access innovative technology and adopt new applications that will improve business efficiency, customer experience, and productivity.

Vince added: ‘Our findings underscore why it’s unrealistic to expect immediate cost savings from public cloud adoption—and the unnecessary stress this can create for those involved. However, when orchestrated appropriately with considered outcomes, cloud transformation projects will deliver tangible benefits, reduce technical debt, manage risk, and deliver greater efficiency—all of which will also play a key role in driving down business costs. The message is clear: set realistic goals and outcomes from the outset and play the long game to maximise public cloud adoption benefits.’

Download a free copy of Six Degrees’ UK SME Cloud Intelligence Report 2024