Coleman Parkes Research surveyed 460 global business and IT executives in summer 2012 to ask big questions about big moves to the cloud. The research found that 78% of the moves to the cloud were for new applications not for legacy apps - the ones probably in most need of a refresh, a redo, or a complete reimagining.

What has execs scared to move their oldest and most ingrained apps to the cloud? Let’s take a closer look at the results, fears, and misconceptions that might keep the old apps lingering on your roster. 

Not every application is suitable for the cloud. Wait a second, what could possibly make an application not suitable for the cloud? Do I get a flexible and extensible user interface that can be accessed by any user with an internet connection and a browser? Yes. Do I get scalable processing power and storage space? Yes. Do I get seemingly endless options for integration? Yes. Do I get hundreds upon hundreds of pre-built connectors, modules, and full-blown application from places like the Salesforce AppExchange? Yes. It could be mis-information or application separation anxiety that might prevent an enterprise from moving an application to the cloud. After all, Salesforce.com’s mantra that building an app in the cloud is five times faster for half the cost is hard to ignore.

The research showed that business is coming before technology. That is, business needs are trumping pure technology plays. Enterprises are satisfying their business executives before appeasing their technology gurus. It seems that the business is too hung up on the fears mentioned earlier before realizing the benefits that the technology brings to the table. 76% of our executives have a cloud adoption strategy with reduced cost (52%) being the primary reason, reduced time to market (41%) the second, and operational efficiencies (39%) the third reason. As enterprises increase their cloud maturity, they also need to increase their decision maturity. It’s easy to create a new application in the cloud. Nobody is going to miss an application that never existed before. This makes is clear why new apps are the primary cloud while legacy apps lag behind: there is less fear in disrupting the more-powerful business user when you aren’t messing with their business.

But it’s time to start messing with business. Two top “Fears” our surveyed executives held about cloud migration were security breaches and a lack of integration. Yes, you cannot physically touch the cloud servers that store your data and run your cloud apps, but that’s ok. Security is a primary function of cloud providers. The smallest security breach would mean flocks of customers leaving. Rest assured the security methods and models employed by Salesforce.com and other cloud providers are typically more stringent than military-grade. Teams of security and up-time experts are staffed to ensure the access to your data is solid and highly available. Lack of integration is also an unfounded fear given the robust API offered by Salesforce.com and the plethora of ready-made connectors from Informatica, Cast Iron, Boomi, and others.

With the big fears at bay and big costs savings and functionality improvements waiting, how can a firm feel confident in an initiative to move legacy apps to the cloud? A solid design including an end state architecture plan, a business case addressing user, cost, and functionality concerns, and a deployment roadmap are a good start. Craft a strategy for the app that factors governance, data, and usability. Leverage the development and staging environments that make building in the cloud so easy. It’s completely doable. Your team has been doing it with new apps!

It’s time to take the leap with the legacy applications that will really move the needle on ROI and user productivity.

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