Podcast

Ep 3 – Lift Off: Telcos moving to the public cloud – beware of lift and shift

October 5, 2020

This week’s guest

Forrest Brazeal

Senior Manager A Cloud Guru

You’ve decided to move to the public cloud using a lift and shift strategy as a starting point. Your plan is to pick up your applications, plop them into the cloud, and let your IT team figure out the rest. TA-DA!

Uh, yeah, no. Successful cloud migration demands a clear view of where you’re headed and why, and how you’re going to get there. Without these, your lift and shift is a ticking time bomb. Things will look great at the beginning, but as time goes on, KABOOM!

In this episode, I talk with cloud architect and all-around fascinating guy, Forrest Brazeal. He wrote a great piece for A Cloud Guru called “The Lift and Shift Shot Clock.” It talks about the limitations of a lift and shift strategy, the importance of setting a game plan, and what telcos can do to beat the buzzer. Spoiler alert: Make sure you listen all the way to the end. Forrest and I laid down an epic cloud rap battle!

Listen to our conversation to learn:

why companies lift and shift in the first place [3:43],
keys to migration success [5:51],
and when a poor migration plan will start to hurt and why [8:07].
We also talk about the importance of cultivating a cloud culture [10:32].
And if you’re a telco exec, find out how you can get a free copy of Forrest’s book, The Read Aloud Cloud [14:02].

Guest bio

Forrest Brazeal is an enterprise cloud architect, speaker, and community advocate. Currently a senior manager at A Cloud Guru, he spent years designing applications for the cloud at Infor and Trek10. One of the original AWS Serverless Heroes, Forrest was also named one of Jefferson Frank’s Top 7 Global AWS Experts in 2019. His first book, The Read Aloud Cloud, is available from Wiley & Sons. He holds a master’s degree in computer science from Georgia Tech and is a certified AWS Solutions Architect Professional.

Links and Resources

You can find the transcript of this episode here.
Recommended Reading: The lift-and-shift shot clock, by Forrest Brazeal
Get your copy of The Read Aloud Cloud by Forrest Brazeal.
Follow Forrest on Twitter @ForrestBrazeal
Watch Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby
Watch Forrest sing 168 AWS services in 2 minutes.
After you listen to this episode, check out the last episode of our three-part series Liftoff to hear cloud economist Corey Quinn’s advice on controlling the budget.
And in case you missed it, tune into the first episode of the series to hear me talk with cloud evangelist Troy O’Brien about planning your move to the public cloud.