Cloud, cloud, cloud that’s what it’s all about. Businesses of all sizes continue to transition to the cloud. It is arguably the most disruptive technology since the industrial revolution. In fact, you could say that computing and now cloud computing is our very own modern-day “digital revolution.” There is little question that digital disruption is rewriting every chapter and verse of our lives-business and personal.

Let’s face it. For many IT executives, it can be a real puzzle to transition your business to the cloud. Transitioning to the cloud also creates real challenges and struggles for your vendors and partners. They may be amid their own transition, or they may have to deal with the issues that arise out of your transition to the cloud. Either way, the path to transitioning to the cloud is a risky one.

Thankfully, lots of help is available to guide and assist you in transitioning to the cloud. All the big enterprise software companies have made that journey and can provide you with plenty of excellent information and guidance.

The “Cloud Transformation Journey” by 451 Research is a very valuable report that will help you understand the issues and help guide you through a thorough cloud migration process. For the literary-minded, you may find the four stages of transformation that 451 research identifies a great tool to guide your process. It makes the steps “memorable” by equating them to great book titles.

There are five stages of cloud transformation that are defined as follows:

1. Great Expectations– Looking forward to the cost savings that will drive consolidation.

2. Wuthering Heights– Discovering that lower costs also drive greater consumption resulting in increased costs and virtual sprawl.

3. A Tale of Two Options– Determining how best to handle all your data, applications, security, and storage. Should you go Cloud or Hybrid Cloud?

4. War and Peace– Finally gaining control to the point where usage and cloud costs are controlled through payment terms and tools.

5. Brave New World– The ongoing process of optimizing and making continual improvements to enable flexibility and agility, scalability, and the cost savings you anticipated at the beginning of your cloud journey.

You do not need to go through the cloud transformation or migration journey alone. Thankfully, many large enterprises have successfully transitioned to the cloud and can help you. You can also benefit from learning about what is new, what is hot, what is not, security concerns, and governance issues by attending or following top cloud providers like Amazon and Google. Both offer summits that provide deep-dive information on all sorts of cloud and enterprise transformation topics. Some sessions from these summits are even streamed for free. The other benefit of attending these summits is the ability to develop relationships and learn from others who have already made a move or are in the process.

Transitioning your business to the cloud can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it can also be scary and full of risk. Doing your due diligence and lots of research into other brands like your own that have made the transition will provide you with great learning and prepare you by helping you navigate the cloud landscape and focusing your energy on the areas that will be the most important for your brand’s cloud success.