Best Practices to Help your Team Migrate to the Cloud

Posted on August 22, 2018October 18, 2019 by Idexcel Technologies

If any IT organization feels that shifting their workloads to the cloud is as simple as a lift and shift operation, then it must be noted that there is way more than what meets the eye. The cloud has become the preferred choice of services; from small businesses to large enterprises, organizations slowly realize the importance of shifting to the cloud. However, moving to the cloud is not as easy as it sounds; getting there needs extensive planning, forecasting, and lots of reconfiguring to ensure a successful transformation.

To get the most out of the cloud organizations need to be on their toes. To fully harness all that the cloud has to offer organizations need to direct their mindset towards resourcing, operational efficiency, and offline storage. Organizations which don’t consider these factors often end up losing heavily on productivity and in turn suffer from increased costs.

Pre-Migration Stage

Have a Vision Ready: Communicating a central vision to the team is of the utmost importance. It is essential to understand how the overall idea will pan out in the long run. Being able to share the vision with the employees can help the team assimilate the concept and work towards the successful migration eventually.

Share a Well-Defined Plan: By having a governance model ready, the migration can become easy. During the drafting of the project, any loopholes can be addressed through brainstorming sessions. All the questions which arise during the brainstorming sessions can then be answered preemptively.

Train Staff to Handle the Migration: Your team members should be well trained with the nuances of the cloud procedure; this way, everything can be handled without incurring any problems. The better-trained people you have on your side, the smoother the migration to the cloud. Well educated people can be an asset in such movements since they are already familiar with the problems that can occur during the migration procedures.

Migration Stage

Start Small: Don’t try to transfer everything in one go. Instead, concentrate on migrating in bits and pieces, so that everything can be moved without too many hiccups. Break more significant fragments into small segments and then try to migrate to the cloud. Rest assured, efficiency will be enhanced, and the team would be well equipped to transfer everything seamlessly.

Automation is the Key: Automation within the cloud is helpful when it comes to driving efficiency. Spend considerable time in automating the processes and functions within the cloud, so that teams can be empowered to perform and adjust to the migration effectively.

Leverage Fully Managed Services: Organizations can use services like Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and the AWS Directory Service. Through AWS, day to day maintenance can be handled with ease, allowing the team to be freed up.

Post-Migration Stage

Monitor the Results: Post-migration, it’s important to stay abreast of all the changes that were initiated during the migration. Source the results, and the deviances, post-implementation strategies need to be developed to enhance the results and make them more effective. Any loopholes can be plugged, and the findings can pave the path for future migrations.

Use Cloud-Intensive Monitoring: There are a series of tools, which make the task of monitoring results more accessible and more straightforward. Tools like New Relic, App Dynamics, and AWS CloudWatch Logs are some examples of devices which can be used in this regard. Not only will the ops people benefit immensely in the long run, but stakeholders will also have a more precise base to make future strategies.

Cloud migration does not have to be a daunting job, as it is made out to be. With the right approach and techniques, the tasks can be eased out and can make the migration more natural and more effective. With the right partnership between ops and management, the movement to the cloud will be an asset worth maintaining.

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Top 5 Key Benefits of Digital Transformation

Posted on August 21, 2018October 8, 2019 by Idexcel Technologies

Digital transformation has become a buzzword for organizations these days. The world has gone digital; but does that mean that businesses are ready to revel in the era of digitization? The response is somewhat mixed; however, the benefits of digital transformation are still unknown, which makes the unexplored territory dangerous.

To usher in the true meaning of digital transformation it’s imperative to make companies, organizations and, businesses alike understand the five key benefits so that the adaptation process becomes more accessible and more lucrative.

Improved Efficiency
What does every organization crave? Customer satisfaction might be one of the benefits, but improved efficiency is a significant drive for digital transformation. Organizations are moving away from manual interventions, as effectiveness is beginning to become the critical phrase. When manual processes are replaced with electronic versions, there is a quicker process flow which is put into place, thereby making the organization efficiency model a success story to reckon.

Customer Experience
Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance; for any organization, the customers come first. For this very reason, if an organization needs to measure their success, it’s important to understand the quality of customer satisfaction and the methods which are used to arrive at the final verdict. The better the customer satisfaction levels, the higher the digital transformation success rate for organizations.

Robust Decision Making
What helps businesses achieve the first two points? When the management has sufficient, well-planned data to make sound decisions, it shows in the success rate, brand suitability, and brand name of the business. The sounder the decisions, the better would be the chances of achieving the organizational goals in the long run. Eventually, these methods of driving organizational goals are what leads a business towards success.

Enhanced Profitability
Digital Transformation is best measured with profit margins at the end of the year. The higher the profits, the better would be the motivation of the employees, and more significant would be the trust of the customers in the brand. When profits are enhanced, more decisions can be taken towards improving efficiency in business processes, which can be geared towards improving customer service.

Better Market Penetration
New customers can be added to existing business norms by penetrating unexplored markets. When new products are marketed, it’s essential to perform segmentation, to gauge the quality of the target territory. With improved efficiency and better decision making, the process of market penetration becomes more effective, which helps bring in loyal customers. As the customer base expands, so will the need for profits and improved customer satisfaction.

When all these processes are combined, they form a chain, which leads to the achievement of the pre-defined business goals. Each benefit is interlinked with the other, which is required for reaching the overall organizational goals.

Sound decisions are always a requisite for better profitability and customer satisfaction, to drive the essence of digital transformation and efficiency within each organizational realm.

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How Can The AWS Cloud Enhance IoT Solutions?

Posted on August 13, 2018January 20, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

The Internet of Things is a technical field that has garnered some of the most significant impacts in recent time. AWS IoT provides global scale and enhances security needed to collect data across millions of devices and sensors; this, in turn, is required to build end-to-end IoT solutions and applications to create, manage, and service smart, connected products without incurring any hassles managing additional infrastructure.

As the market-leading cloud provider, AWS IoT and the AWS cloud provide a global footprint of regions and a broad set of services, which are necessary to compute data, manage databases, storage, and secure device connections; this further helps aid management and helps to procure other IT resources needed for IoT processing.

From futuristic ideas that aim to revolutionize the entire economy to facilities created to improve daily life, we show the best IoT cases through examples taken from some of the best international companies.

Closer to the Needs of Clients
Connected agents bring companies closer to their customers because they offer information that can help them understand how they use their devices, as well as what they like. In a way, it is similar to the agile methodology in software development. Companies make updates, which are further introduced into the production process to obtain feedback from users to decide on the next steps they should undertake. The same agile approach is further refined with the answers provided by the various connected products; all this information can be used in hardware development to help companies provide customers with the best possible outcomes.

Products That Evolve
Thanks to the IoT, one of the Spanish based technology company has redefined the parking experience with the use of its mobility solution. With more than 40 years of experience of parking in the streets, they developed an application to improve parking areas in cities by connecting parking meters, smartphones, parking sensors, controllers, and vehicles used to control and monitor the system. In this way, they helps citizens in their daily challenges of parking and the nuances related to it. Also they established a base for the city of the future; everything contributes towards a smarter future and helps the city remain connected to the needs of its inhabitants.

The Product is The Interface
For years, we have become accustomed to “mid” interfaces, such as a keyboard or mice for a computer, or a remote control full of buttons for a television. A few years ago, “simulated” interfaces were created with the help of touch screens; this allowed new users, especially the elderly and the very young, to interact with products such as tablets and smartphones. Now, with connected devices, the interface is “direct”; the product itself is the interface that you can touch or have in your hands. With more sophisticated interfaces, such as those based on speech recognition, communication occurs naturally.

Reinvent Yourself, Thanks to the IoT
Another sector benefiting the most from the cloud is public services. The best example is one of the largest turbine manufacturers, who is responsible for the generation of 30% of electricity worldwide. The company uses the IoT to reinvent itself and, in this process, also reinvents the economic principles of the sector. The company employs hundreds of sensors and advanced analytics to improve the efficiency of its gas turbine fleet and estimates that, due to the enormous scale of its products, with the improvement of productivity by only 1%, the company can save hundreds of billions of dollars.

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AWS Summit Chicago – 2018

Posted on July 27, 2018January 20, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

Event Details: The AWS Summit is a free event designed to bring together the cloud computing community to connect, collaborate, and learn about AWS. Learn by attending technical sessions, workshops, chalk talks, and participating in team challenges. Visit The Expo to speak with leading cloud technology providers and consultants who can help you get the most out of the AWS products, services, and solutions in the cloud.

[Know more about the Conference]

About Idexcel: Idexcel is a Professional Services and Technology Solutions provider specializing in Cloud Services, Application Modernization, and Data Analytics. Idexcel is proud that for more than 20 years it has provided services that implement complex technologies that are innovative, agile and successful and have provided our customers with lasting value.

Rick Filippo – (Regional Cloud Sales Executive at Idexcel) will be attending this event. For further queries, please write to rick.filippo@idexcel.com

Security Advantages of Cloud-Based Systems for Media and Entertainment Businesses

Posted on July 26, 2018January 13, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

Cloud-based systems have emerged as a viable platform to address the security issues of both media and entertainment businesses across the globe. Of course, the boom in the sector has paved the way for a plethora of opportunities for the entertainment industry, but, on the flip side, the amounts of risk involved has also increased tremendously.

The incidents of cybercrime have affected many of the top media service providers due to this reason, smaller businesses remain at risk of possible intellectual property rights violations. However, the cloud-based storage systems offer a practical algorithm to process and manage a vast workflow securely.

In addition to the numerous advantages such as ease of access and secure storage of data, security features of cloud-based solutions make the Cloud one of the best possible options for the media and entertainment businesses.

Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent security advantages of cloud-based systems.

Data Encryption
Robust data encryptions within cloud-based security systems have substantially reduced the possibilities of data breaches; these solutions offer a layered approach that consists of security intelligence, key management, and secure access controls. Cloud-based systems give the required freedom to companies to choose their users who will be accessing the data that has been outsourced to the cloud. This way, any attempts to tamper with personal or profession data can be thwarted.

Most companies face the threat of internal data theft by their employees, and stronger access controls can nip these threats in the bud. The multi-layered security features weed out the possibilities of a breach of data to a great extent. Data, irrespective of its type, needs to be protected at all times. Any violations can be hazardous to the goodwill and the functioning of an enterprise.

Avoid DDoS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can result in hefty losses for entertainment companies. Hackers target the website by directing traffic from several sources to the end website, and, as a result, the system gets overwhelmed. These DDoS attacks may tarnish the image of the company, as clients begin to lose trust.

Cloud-based security systems guard this imminent threat with real-time scanning of potential risks; this function is further used as a warning tool for various systems which allows for the tracking of incoming threats and attacks instantly – this enables website admins to divert the traffic to several different locations.

Regulatory Compliance
Cloud computing security solutions usually provide reliable SOC1 and SOC2 certifications to the entertainment businesses. These certifications ensure periodic scrutiny of data and all types of possible glitches. Cloud-based solutions manage the requisite infrastructure for regulatory compliance and the protection of data. Detailed AWS reports about management of security controls ensure all organizations focus on their business operations, without worrying about compliance requirements.

Secure Storage
Traditional storage solutions don’t provide any protection against possible disasters that have the potential to erase required data from devices. Cloud computing allows the users to store their data safely, thereby negating any mishaps that may affect the equipment.

Cloud storage solutions offer private, public, and hybrid solutions which the businesses may choose as per their requirements. The hybrid cloud storage systems allow the users to keep their data secure in the most effective manner.

Patch Management
The vulnerabilities of a website are often exploited by hackers to breach the security system of a company. Cloud service providers keep their sites up to date; further on, they ensure that no vulnerabilities exist. Moreover, cloud solutions offer real-time assistance to clients by providing companies with the option to scale cloud solutions during high traffic situations. This flexibility allows companies to reduce their cost of services substantially.

These large number of security features are quite flexible, agile, and affordable. Enhanced security features offer sufficient protection to the private and financial data of both media and entertainment companies and help to thwart data and intellectual property breaches. In this era of digitalization, where cybercrime has emerged as a norm, cloud-based solutions seem to be the best alternative to traditional security systems.

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How will Artificial Intelligence Change the Evolution of Technology?

Posted on July 25, 2018January 20, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

Artificial Intelligence and robotics have become the overnight sensations every company wants to lay their hands. With decades of building and scores of changes within their implementation, the two have almost come to be used interchangeably. As the application of Artificial Intelligence takes precedence over manual intervention, technology has become the thing of the future.

With repetitive tasks no longer seeing the light of day, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are giving way to adaptive technology and intelligent applications. As Artificial Intelligence takes over the usual mundane chores, it will soon surpass human knowledge and make decisions we were never capable. In the coming years, this will result in paradigm shifts, which will only translate into better success rates for companies making use of these smart, evolving technologies.

With this said and done, it is difficult to overlook the fact that Microsoft and Oracle have already progressed on the path of smarter robotics, which has led to the development of cognitive, connected factories. At the same time, Artificial Intelligence-infused robots will aim at transforming industries with their innovative level of intelligence; this will further lead to enhanced areas of production in the fields of safety, service, transportation, and even habitation.

Artificial Intelligence and robotics have come a long way, and they are the promise towards ushering in a better tomorrow. Broadly speaking, these are technologies which work well within the domains of law enforcement, rescue operations, and many other fields. Slowly and steadily, these technologies will become an integral part of our lives, and become inseparable from our day to day jobs. What is yet to be seen is how these technologies can reduce the interdependency between humans and machines, and recreate the evolution for a better tomorrow.

The Growth Spurts Within the Artificial Intelligence Industry

The next four years will see a massive shift in the growth of Artificial Intelligence and robotics. Artificial Intelligence revenues are expected to grow by 20%, in 5 years (2015-2020). In the year 2015, the Artificial Intelligence industry was staggering at a revenue model of $5 billion. However, by 2020, this industry is likely to operate at a revenue model of $12.5 billion.

With the evolution of the Artificial Intelligence industry, software companies are rapidly taking up the evolution mantle and charging ahead at full throttle. This way, they can push the boundaries of automation and enhance the realms of social media. As the Artificial Intelligence industry continues to push forward, very soon Artificial Intelligence will begin powering automation in the automotive sector, thereby creating scores of jobs in business operations.

As an example, virtual assistants and chat-bots have already become widespread. Smart robots are slowly and steadily taking over the advice columns in the fields of finance, insurance, media, legal, and journalism; this has lead to a revolutionary change in the way information is processed and passed on, thereby plugging multiple gaps within the information processing cycles. Some other benefits within the Artificial Intelligence industry include, but are not limited to, progressing standalone R&D projects, reducing time to market products and services, optimizing supply chain networks, etc. While these are an ongoing series of services, they are going to be enhanced manifold in the many years to come.

Are We Going to be Replaced by Machines?

Hollywood movies have already projected the future of the human race in many films. With the launch of Artificial Intelligence and robotics, there is an excellent chance that all manual jobs will eventually be handled by robots and automation, which will lead to a massive shift in the unemployment cycle. Despite the fear of losing jobs, it is necessary to note that Artificial Intelligence will be aimed at reducing tasks, and not jobs.

At the same time, the fear of replacement is justified. Simply stated, technological unemployment and displacement is a result of technological progress. As companies begin to see the benefits of Artificial Intelligence and robotics within their growing operations, these technologies are rapidly becoming popular in the market. All unrest is put to ease when one concentrates on the fact that Artificial Intelligence as a technology is being used in niche industries, as development within this domain is yet to be funded and finalized. Despite the ongoing concerns, it’s important to note that everything is not black and white, and the grey areas are what needs to be seen as time progresses.

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Future of Business Intelligence in the Cloud

Posted on July 24, 2018January 20, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

In the wake of economic slowdown, organizations are aiming to make the most of their existing resources—to make every input a viable source. In such a strategy, modern technologies such as Cloud Services and Business Intelligence (BI) are regarded to be prerequisite platforms. Such technologies not only prepare companies to become efficient but also make them ready to maintain a competitive stance. BI and cloud work in sync to form hypotheses and predictions to be prepared for market competition. Researchers believe that the future of BI will be very bright when it is used on existing cloud platforms; it may also exhibit computing advantages based on daily data accumulating of large volumes.

Cloud-based BI is different from traditional BI in the sense that it implements expensive and complicated software on-site; it is accessible anywhere on any device in a so-called software-as-a-service model. Cloud BI doesn’t require additional hardware or software nor a strict restriction on space. The system can also auto-select storage according to current computing needs – this elastic scaling and ever-ready availability are the perks that make cloud-based BI so powerful.

BI involves making better decisions through the use of people, data, processes, and related tools and methodologies. Recently, BI has come to rely on near real-time operational data of systems such as ERPs, CRMs, supply chains, and so on. Operational BI is often tied to performance management and business process management with natural undertones of maintaining data quality, consistency, and the monitoring of these two. BI prompts intelligent reports based on a market analysis which may also involve geography based investment decision for MNCs or buying behavior of consumers for producers.

The ability to operate on BI involves intensive data management and computationally expensive data analysis. With the help of the cloud, BI bypasses these hurdles without impacting the quality of the processes negatively. Instead, it improves efficiency, reduces error, and expenditure. The analytics performed on the cloud platform will affect BI in the following ways:

• Accelerating the adoption of BI services due to rising lucrative intents involved.

• Easier evaluation of the data and analytics through real-time analysis at lightning-fast speed.

• Increased short-term ad-hoc analysis through avoiding data marts spawning. The data mart can be created whenever needed, and after the job, it can be eliminated from a cloud cluster without causing redundancy.

• BI will also make the process very flexible through avoidance of long-term business commitments. The companies will be autonomous in catering to the needs of data usage.

• Consideration of probable growth through ongoing analysis of data staged on an architecture functionally efficient, elastic and platform such as cloud.

BI in the cloud also has some benefits that might be instrumental in transforming its future, especially in its broad adoption. These benefits include:

• Fast, easy and inexpensive deployment resulting from non-requirement of infrastructural setup.

• No extra expenditure on hardware and software setup, which will inevitably result in low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

• Higher reliability will be extended as cloud computing can be used at reliable and secure locations for data storage against the threat of accidental data loss.

• Multi-tenancy environments where the resources could be better exploited to their optimum usage will result in cost reduction and higher customer reach.

• Free automated software upgrades and maintenance would attract wise brains in adopting the cloud for BI.

• Flexibility and scalability of the cloud needed are not just smart but also economical. Reduction in a waste of cloud space will help save both energy and money.

• Cloud types such as SaaS allow the consumers to pay for only what is used; this would result in the elimination of waste and reduced costs.

• Specific cloud solutions come with personalized needs for data handling. From large numbers of simultaneous users to a minimal amount of users, the consumer will indulge in fast and easy scalability.

• Cloud computing allows easy cross-location data sharing and remote data access even when they are deployed outside a company’s firewall.

With such astounding benefits, it seems convincing to agree with the researchers who proclaim a rapid growth of cloud-based business intelligence in the near future. As the world is progressing and advancing towards the betterment of the technology, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to predict the improvement of current benefits of cloud-based BI. Cloud-based BI enhances efficiency and productivity of business intelligence. In the future, BI will be further assisted by web 3.0 technology, making its future even brighter.

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What is DevOps Consulting and Why Do You Need it?

Posted on July 20, 2018January 20, 2021 by Idexcel Technologies

DevOps is a complete software automation delivery process that allows software development and testing to work simultaneously at a given point in time. This software automation delivery process first started in Belgium in the year 2009.

What is DevOps all About?
In the earlier days, software development teams and IT teams found it difficult to work together, especially when it came to automating development processes. With the help of DevOps, the times have changed; both sides have become robust, allowing them to work in tandem with each other to ensure a smoother automation process.

DevOps is required to automate the processes of product development and delivery. The best part of using DevOps automation process is that it helps developers make changes in products during the development stages. It also works as a smart communication bridge between the developer and operational teams, allowing them to quickly identify any process gaps or errors, which can’t be fixed once the products are fully developed.

DevOps has been adopted by over 30% of the world’s top 2000 companies. The technical benefits of DevOps have been discussed extensively over the years. Faster development process cycle, a lower rate of failure and speedier time to market the product are some of the well-known benefits.

The overall influence of DevOps is not limited to the technical sphere of business; it is much more profound than that. DevOps helps in better employee engagement and results in high levels of job satisfaction.

Why You Need DevOps Consulting
Traditional software came with prominent differentiation between the development of software and its release details. It was the software team’s responsibility to develop the software, and IT team’s job to release the software post development.

Development of a new feature would often incur a lot of time, and naturally, the entire process would become a highly time-consuming job. Software development is a field where time is money; it was entirely necessary to come up with a smart solution that could make the entire procedure efficient and free of hassles.

Apart from such time-consuming processes, this method also breeds a culture where each team defends its interest. As an apparent result, this creates a dysfunctional relationship between the development and the operational teams, in turn leading to a generation of misunderstandings, communication problems, trust issues, and different types of collaboration problems.

The DevOps approach breaks down challenges by promoting a sense of ownership amongst all team members; this has resulted in the creation of a peaceful and satisfactory job environment for all teams involved.

The Crucial Benefits of Employing DevOps

Better Employee Engagement: It encourages a sense of ownership. Each developer is entirely responsible for their code base, from writing the first lines of code to testing and ensuring its reason. The developer is engaged throughout the development process, which leads to happier, satisfied, and well-motivated employees, which in turn has a very positive effect on the business as a whole. Such an approach provides a better learning scope for the employees.

Enhanced Efficiency: DevOps promotes complete transparency across the entire process of development. The responsibility of building high-quality code is entirely on the developers. Writing the code, testing it for bugs and adding it to the deployment pipeline is an end to end process, which is the developer’s prerogative and responsibility.

The automated testing suite forms an integral part of DevOps and plays a very crucial role. The results given by the test suite are made public across the entire team so that each member of the team can easily know whose code performance is low. Coupled with the right spirit, it helps to increase efficiency and encourages the organizations to strive for par excellence.

Enhanced Communication and Collaboration: Open communication and active collaboration form the basis of DevOps ideology. The developer’s team and ops team no longer work in silos. Team members communicate more openly and work in active collaboration with each other.

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