The notion of moving assets out of the cloud may sound like a step backward in an era where digital transformation is driven primarily by migration efforts into the cloud. But it turns out deliberately shifting cyber assets away from the cloud– known as “cloud repatriation”– can be a highly strategic option for CIOs and enterprise IT teams looking to strike the optimal balance of cost, security, performance, and scalability in their IT environments.
Cloud Repatriation Use Cases are Growing
Cost optimization represents the most common reason for cloud repatriation today. Investment in IT infrastructure, operations, or security can be reduced if an application running in the cloud is brought back on-prem or shifted to a SaaS program, MSP contract, or other service alternative. A 2022 survey conducted by the Uptime Institute found that a third of organizations reported moving applications from a public cloud provider to a co-location facility or their own data center, with cost savings as the most-cited driver for repatriation.
Cloud repatriation use cases have spiked in the post-pandemic era, as organizations revisit and restrategize rushed migrations meant to cope with COVID-related disruptions to their business. Some companies have found themselves paying for two sets of infrastructure, a result of hurriedly moving the front end of an application to the cloud while leaving the back end behind in an on-prem data center. And as the question of completing the full migration arises, for some, the alternative of pulling assets back from the cloud may be the smarter option.
Shifting business conditions or operational requirements can suddenly render an existing cloud deployment impractical, opening the door for strategic cloud repatriation. This can include scenarios where an agreement with an existing cloud vendor stands in the way of evolving business process alignment. A critical assessment of these situations may reveal that some applications should never have migrated to the cloud at all.
Key Considerations for Successful Cloud Repatriation
While the reasons for cloud repatriation are plentiful, IT teams should consider a few essential details to determine if these migration efforts are the right fit for their organization and use case:
Where are the assets going? If a transformation team is planning on migrating assets away from the cloud, they need to have a clear idea of where they’re migrating to. The destination is not always somewhere back on-prem – a SaaS program, MSP contract or some other third-party arrangement might be the most strategic option.
How much will it cost? A clear and comprehensive understanding of the underlying costs for each migration option is also essential. If you’re heading back on prem, what are the infrastructure costs for networking, storage, and server equipment; and how about staffing and utility costs for maintaining an on-prem data center? If your destination is elsewhere, what are subscription and security costs to protect the application system and its connectivity with a third-party provider?
What will it impact? Considering the impact of the transformation effort itself is paramount. For instance, you may find that a marginal run rate savings from cloud repatriation is canceled out by the downtime, diversion of IT staffing resources, and other changes due to cloud repatriation cut into overall company performance and profitability.
The good news is that when all the priorities we discussed are factored in up front, cloud repatriation becomes a highly useful option to consider in cases where the cost economics of the cloud no longer support key business objectives.