Moving OpenText software to the cloud is a complex process and often hinders the development of a company. There are many companies that fail to make the leap to the cloud and instead continue to rely on their proven on-premise hosted solution environments to do business. In this post, we will discuss how OpenText licensing in the cloud works, we will share the latest cloud migration forecast and we’ll describe 3 ways on how to move on-premise OpenText software to the cloud. Enjoy! Using Perpetual OpenText Licenses in the Cloud Not a week goes by that we’re not speaking to an existing customer about moving OpenText software to the cloud. And a lot of times we hear from customers they’d like to go to the cloud but can’t because they own perpetual licenses. Let us clear up that misconception right away and say that yes, you can use OpenText perpetual licenses in the cloud. But before going the familiar and easy way, an organization needs to explore its options, which include migrating from on-prem server-based software to containerized releases that are created and meant to run in the cloud. Cloud Migration Forecast While some organizations still analyze whether or not cloud computing would be a good fit for them, the industry is showing that the benefits are obvious. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker, spendings on cloud IT infrastructure will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.4%, reaching $109.3 billion in 2024, and accounting for about 63.6% of total IT infrastructure spendings. At the same time, public cloud data centers will account for 69.4% of this amount, growing at a 10.9% CAGR. Spending on private cloud infrastructure will grow at a CAGR of 9.3%. Spending on non-cloud IT infrastructure will rebound after 2020 but will continue to decline overall with a CAGR of -1.6%. Ways to Get On-Premise OpenText Systems to the Cloud The “lift and shift” method This means that the existing on-prem OpenText solutions are transferred unchanged from the local environment to the cloud, including existing configurations, data, settings, etc. Customers are often faced with the need to create new access stations through which company employees can access the OpenText software solutions in the cloud. This method is usually chosen by businesses with a relatively simple OpenText solutions landscape. At the same time, this approach does not always allow full use of the functions of the cloud service. With the “lift and shift” method, customers continue to own a perpetual OpenText product license. They can choose to make this OpenText cloud migration themselves, or hire a 3rd party certified service provider. They can manage the software themself or have a partner manage it as part of an application-managed service (AMS) contract. Partial improvement & switch to Kubernetes This approach is taken when customers migrate their existing on-premises OpenText solutions from a physical server or virtual machine to a containerized environment (such as OpenText Cloud Native, Cloud Edition, or Core releases). This allows them to benefit from features such as auto-scaling, high availability, and fault tolerance. Similar to the “lift and shift” method, customers are still responsible for owning the license and managing the software (except when hosting in the OpenText cloud or using Core releases). They can choose to make this OpenText cloud migration themselves, or hire a 3rd party certified service provider. They can manage the software themself or have a partner manage it. While this “happy middle ground” may initially seem like the best option, it often results in migrations that retain all of the technical debt and retain few or none of the cloud-native benefits. Optimized migration This way of OpenText software migration to the cloud implies a simultaneous transformation of the system structure. System consolidation, process optimization, architecture analysis, and optimization, replacement of all on-prem server-based solutions with cloud releases, where applicable. For example, the way OpenText ECM and CCM applications interact with the database may change. Some customers use this approach to let a partner manage their EIM solution, so that internal IT can focus on more strategic IT programs and innovations. It also frees up resources to focus on the company’s core competencies and provides an optimized relationship between vendors. Other changes can be made to take full advantage of the cloud. Each of the approaches mentioned above has its advantages and disadvantages. Understanding which option is best for your company requires a thorough business analysis. Next Steps? Before choosing your organization’s way to the cloud, make sure to take the time to do an audit and define which strategy would work best to move to the cloud in the most efficient manner. We at Ecodocx are an OpenText service provider with almost 20 years of market experience. Helping customers, like Washington Gas, Sysco, New York Life Insurance, Chance Healthcare, Continental Resources, McKesson, and many more, we provide OpenText advisory sessions to help organizations build their future product strategy. Contact us and schedule a consultation. In the meanwhile, subscribe to our blog to read more interesting content like this. Stay tuned for more!
