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Cloud migrations are not new. Tens of thousands of companies worldwide have gone through them. About 94% of all companies worldwide use some cloud service to help them run their operations, and 97% of IT leaders worldwide intend to expand their cloud systems further.
However, most companies should focus more on migrating from internal computing solutions to public cloud services like AWS.
According to an Expert Insights report, 80% of companies experienced at least one cloud security incident in 2023 because of faulty cloud service integrations or migrations.
The report adds that part of the problem is how organisations adopted cloud services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they needed help providing remote workers with the tools required to carry out their duties.
Expert Insights noted that 96% of organizations experienced significant challenges when implementing their cloud strategy. Many should have taken the need for a strong foundation more seriously.
Strong foundations guarantee the best results
The most robust buildings are built on solid foundations, or as internationally renowned basketball coach John Wooden once said, “A strong foundation is essential for lasting success.”
That said, when migrating to cloud services, it’s imperative to establish the right architectural foundations. That’s where the Well-Architected Framework (WAF) comes in. It enables organizations to start small and scale up to a global level with the need for significant re-architecting. The WAF is a set of best practices, guidelines, and tools that should be used to evaluate, design, and enhance the architecture of cloud-based solutions.
Alex Kearns, the Principal Solutions Architect for Ubertas Consulting, shared his adage about strong foundations regarding organizations’ WAF implementation: “Think of it like building a house—if the foundation of a single-story room is not strong enough, you won’t be able to safely extend it to two stories without significant re-work.”
The Benefits of WAF
So, what are the benefits of the AWS Well-Architected Framework (WAF)? It enables organizations to develop consistent practices for reducing risks and increasing business value.
Benefits include faster build and deployment timeframes on the Cloud, which drives company efficiency. It also means organizations can scale systems with minimal risks while improving developer skills, which translates into better customer service.
WAF helps companies focus on the cloud environment from inception. It helps with cloud-native approaches to developing and running applications, which enables handling change quickly, scalably, and resiliently against errors and breakdowns. That also helps with consistency, or in other words, to build reliable and scalable infrastructure. It helps to have all employees on the same page, ensuring reliable app releases.
In this regard, Kearns noted that “even if you don’t think your application will reach a global scale, it never hurts to be prepared — within reason. I’m not suggesting deploying to five different regions if all your users are UK-based. Still, solid foundational architecture decisions will set you up for more straightforward scaling in the future, regardless of the magnitude.”
Lastly, WAF allows organisations to measure their systems for best practices frequently. That helps identify improvement areas, which results in better products, customer service, and teamwork.
So, what is the WAF?
Ubertas Consulting Co-Founder Steven Crowley wrote that AWS WAF is “a framework for deploying and operating in the Cloud. The Framework often reviews existing Cloud operating environments and provides a much-needed benchmark against prescribed best practices.”
Kearns said that the WAF helps you understand the pros and cons of decision-making while building AWS systems. “It enables businesses to learn architectural best practices for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable systems in the cloud,” he added.
Potentially most important is that it enhances any business or firm, or as AWS said in a blog about WAF, “We believe that having well-architected systems increases the likelihood of business success significantly.”
WAF enables organizations using cloud services to understand the pros and cons of decision-making while building AWS systems.
Using the Framework helps them learn architectural best practices for designing and operating secure, reliable, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable workloads on the Cloud. It provides a way to consistently measure their organisations’ architectures against best practices and identify areas for improvement.
Reviewing an architecture is not an audit mechanism. Instead, it is a constructive conversation about architectural decisions that lead to achieving a well-architected business, which, as previously mentioned, significantly increases the chances of business success in the short, medium, and long terms.
The AWS Well-Architected Framework documents foundational questions that help organisations understand if their specific architecture aligns well with Cloud best practices.
The WAF provides a consistent approach to evaluating systems against the qualities companies, and businesses expect from modern cloud-based systems and the remediation required to achieve those qualities.
WAF’s six pillars
Not necessarily in order of importance, Kearns goes through the six pillars of WAF, starting with the Operational Excellence Pillar.
He says it focuses on running and monitoring systems and continually improving processes and procedures. Key topics include automating changes, responding to events, and defining standards to manage daily operations.
The Security Pillar is concerned with protecting information and systems. Key topics include data confidentiality and integrity, managing user permissions, and establishing controls to detect security events.
The Reliability Pillar refers to workloads performing their intended functions and how to recover quickly from failure to meet demands. Key topics include distributed system design, recovery planning, and adapting to changing requirements.
The Performance Efficiency Pillar focuses on the structured and streamlined allocation of IT and computing resources. Key topics include selecting resource types and sizes optimized for workload requirements, monitoring performance, and maintaining efficiency as business needs evolve.
The Cost Optimization Pillar aims to avoid unnecessary costs. Key topics include understanding spending over time, controlling fund allocation, selecting the right resources and quantity, and scaling to meet business needs without overspending.
Finally, the Sustainability Pillar. It focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of running cloud workloads. Key topics include a shared responsibility model for sustainability, understanding impact, and maximizing utilization to minimize required resources and reduce downstream impacts.
Ubertas’ AWS WAF Awards
Ubertas Consulting is a leader guiding hundreds of organisations in their most optimal AWS WAF implementation.
They have been a founding member of the AWS WAF since its inception in 2018 and achieved the AWS WAF Validated Partner status this year. This differentiates them for demonstrating expertise and a deep understanding of AWS architecture best practices.
Ubertas has empowered hundreds of organisations to migrate from internal computing services or inefficient public cloud service integrations to the most optimal AWS WAF, exceeding their expectations toward long-term business success.
Recently, Ubertas celebrated the first edition of the AWS Well-Architected Awards 2023. These awards recognise organisations that significantly engaged with and invested in the AWS WAF.
Hundreds of organisations participated in the awards, and although all demonstrated exceptional capabilities, only three were chosen for an award in three categories: Most Well-Architected, Most Cloud Mature, and Most Improved Architecture
The winners were Kinetic + in the Most Well-Architected Award. DeltaXML received the Most Cloud-Maure Award and Chief Mechanic the Most Improved Architecture Award.
It’s vital to lay the foundations perfectly from inception to face unnecessary challenges in the future, no matter how small or big an organisation is, as they all seek the same result, long-term success.
