Right-sizing before a cloud migration…what is it and why do it?

Inoapps Oracle Licensing Series: Part Two

In the first blog in this series, I examined your Oracle licensing options when considering a move to cloud and the importance of monitoring your deployment. In this blog, I'll be looking at right-sizing before a migration. 

Right-sizing…you subconsciously do this every time you shop. If you need a new pair of shoes, you’ll know which size to get, what color or material, you’ll know what you want them for—work, hiking or a holiday—and you’ll have a budget in mind. A new or replacement car? Then you’ll research the market, draw up a list of ‘must-haves’ like fuel efficiency, torque, off-road capabilities, connectivity, warranties, and if it has room for holiday luggage in the boot.

Right-sizing means matching something to specific requirements and budgets and we all do it, every single day

So why not apply the same methodology if you’re migrating from one software environment to another? Yes, I’m talking about moving your Oracle deployments from on-premises to Cloud. After all, going from point A (on-premises) to point B (Cloud) is a significant event and likely to be a long-term project for your organization.

The business expects that you will know, with certainty, that A to B won’t cause any technical or compliance issues. Or, in shopping parlance, that the requirements of A can be matched in B and that you won’t exceed your purchase budget!

The way to achieve this certainty is to right-size before you commit

Right-sizing your existing on-premises Oracle estate means a few things.

The technical things

• Obtaining visibility of your Oracle deployments
• Gaining an understanding of licensing rules
• Creating a compliance check with your existing agreements and license purchases to be sure you aren’t breaching or exceeding them
• Running measurements across your estate for accurate, evidential data
• Pinpointing problem areas

The operational things

• Opening up discussions with your own teams about what and where and why deployments exist
• Going into a Cloud migration with your eyes wide open and a timeline identified to achieve it
• Establishing which legacy items won’t be able to migrate to cloud due to technical limitations—and working out a plan to tackle them

The financial things

• Knowing which existing licenses you can take into cloud…
• …and which you must purchase separately
• What cost savings you could expect to make
• What future expenditure you might have to consider

This means you can confidently report to your management structure that yes, you have this under control

Right-sizing with Inoapps alongside you means you have a trusted Oracle Partner who can both help with the licensing conundrums and provide you with technical expertise to help you achieve your cloud goals.

As a small test…can you agree with these five statements?

1. I know every Oracle product deployed in my business
2. I know who, in my business, owns each deployment and is responsible for it
3. I understand Oracle licensing rules, definitions and pre-requisites and my team does too
4. I can find all my master agreements and understand all the clauses contained in them
5. I would be happy to engage with Oracle in an official audit because we regularly run our own compliance checks

If you’re in doubt about any of these statements, it’s time to consider right-sizing your estate before you commit to a cloud migration. Ideally, this will help you achieve your end goal of cloud adoption and educate your team with licensing knowledge at the same time. Even if it turns out that cloud adoption isn’t immediately possible, it still gives you sufficient visibility into issues to start fixing them and puts you on the road to your eventual goal.

Right-sizing is fundamentally a win-win because it educates you and your business about your Oracle usage

Now.. about that new car…

Inoapps is delighted to be the first Oracle partner globally to gain accreditation in the new Software Asset Management (SAM) Program. Find out about it here!