One of the biggest challenges organizations face when moving to the cloud is the skills gap. In a recent study, 96% of IT decision makers acknowledge a skills gap in their organization. However, it’s difficult to get the right training for your team or hire the right skills required to manage every element of your cloud strategy. Moreover, if you hire an outside organization to do the migration for you, you miss out on an opportunity to upskill your team. This is why we created The Azure Accelerator Program, it’s the only service where we not only complete the migration itself, we also provide the training and mentorship necessary to grow your competency around the cloud.

When you invest in the cloud, it opens the door to significant change and transformation. However, if you aren't prepared to undertake all the elements required to managed the cloud, you will face a lot of hurdles. Learn how you can tackle the 3 key areas often overlooked when transitioning to the cloud: the cloud skills gap, operational readiness and cost management. More importantly, see what qualities you should look for in a managed services partner.

Did you know 57 percent of organizations have exceeded their cloud budget at some point? Two-thirds of those by more than 20 percent? Multiple factors like skills gaps and poor strategic planning are key contributing factors. Our latest survey of more than 200 IT leaders provides insights into the issues hindering cloud adoption as well as solutions you can implement to drive your own success.

When deployed effectively, the public cloud is a powerful and disruptive model. It brings positive operational transformation and greater competitiveness. But poor implementation is equally disruptive. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 60% of IT infrastructure and 70% of software and IT services spending will be in the cloud. Yet 96% of IT decision makers acknowledged a skills gap in their organizations with regards to cloud. With over 500 successful cloud migrations we created this guide to outline, in detail, best practices around moving from CapEx to OpEx, considerations for your first workload, securing your cloud and more.