Risk and uncertainties are unavoidable parts of every project, including the move to the cloud. Almost all projects in the corporate world today come with a certain amount of risk, which needs to be mitigated for the desired results to be achieved. Cloud migration managers play an important role here, as they can strategize their decisions and manage objectives to save projects from running into trouble.
Risk and the uncertainties related to it have been the cause of failure for multiple projects. If you’re in the project management domain, you’ll be able to tell just how damaging risk can be for the entire scope of a project, especially if it is left untreated.
But, project managers with experience know of techniques they can follow to not only manage but mitigate the possibility of risk. Teams that have decent risk management processes in place can not only identify but cut down on the chances of risk within the organization.
In this article, we mention risk management tips for cloud migration. Take hold of these strategies to practice enterprise risk management in a broad spectrum.
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Maintain a Risk Register
The very first step to take while managing risk in an organizational setup is to create a risk register for your project within a spreadsheet. The risk register should include fields for risk description, impact, likelihood, owner, action, response and current status.
Creating a risk register is the first and recommended step toward tracking risk within a project. Your efforts for risk management and mitigation can only succeed if you are tracking all risks within the project and are in a position to avert the possibility of it impacting your project.
Identify Risks
Risk identification is something that comes to cloud managers and team members from experience in the industry and on previous projects. Identification is possible by brainstorming all the current risks present on your project. Sit down with the stakeholders on the project, including the key team members and determine some of the most important risks facing your organization.
Some of the risks associated with the cloud come in the form of security challenges, data loss and other related occurrences.
Managers should go through all the stages of the cloud migration and ask stakeholders about their relevant experience and risks associated with that specific stage. All problems and risks should best be streamlined at the start of the project so that all future discrepancies are averted. Risks related to technology, materials, procurement, budget, quality, legislation, suppliers and all other elements related to the organization should be identified during this brainstorming process.
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Identify Opportunities
When you identify risks within the project scope, it is also necessary that you factor in for the positive aspects related to opportunities for project growth and implementation. If you believe the project will be impacted by external factors, also account for things that can have a positive impact on the project structure.
For instance, managers should identify a cloud risk mitigation software, which can help minimize the occurrence of risk and provide a significant solution. Such a solution can help limit damages in the long run.
Determine Likelihood with Impact
The likelihood of the risk occurring should be determined appropriately before you move on to other risks. Establish how likely it is for a particular risk to occur during the course of the project when you are finding out risks. The likelihood of all risks should be measured on the basis of 1-5, with 1 being least likely and 5 being most likely to occur.
When determining the likelihood of the risk, also study the impact it may have on the overall processes within your organization. Determine the impact of the risk on time, quality, cost and scope of the project.
Determine a Response
Once you have determined the right likelihood and impact of the risk, you should move on and determine a response for the risk or a risk mitigation strategy, as some may call it. Focus your attention on all risks that have a higher likelihood of occurring, based on the computations and analysis you have carried out above.
Identify how you can initially lower the likelihood of the risk occurring and can then work to reduce the impact it has on your operations. To lower the impact of a risk that cannot be averted, sit down with your team and create a mitigation strategy.
Eliminate Irrelevant Perceived Risks
So many organizations waste resources today focusing on irrelevant risks that are highly unlikely to occur and are just perceived by the managerial team. Risk registers are polluted with irrelevant risks that may not happen at all or may not have an impact on the project scope.
Such risks can pose as a danger to your plans and may signal unnecessary alarms when there is no need to panic. In fact, the best strategy to manage such risks is to constantly go over risks in the register and leave no space for irrelevant risks.
Establish Realistic Risk Mitigation Response
The response you determine for likely risk events at the start of your project, should be realistic in nature. Accurately describing risks within your register won’t account to much if the mitigation strategy or the response you have outlined for these risks is not actionable and lacks purpose.
The right way to create a risk mitigation strategy is to follow the S.M.A.R.T acronym. The strategy you choose to fight off and respond to the risk should be; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Specific.
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Final Word to Risk Management Strategies and Tips for the Cloud
The world of cloud management is changing and businesses face a number of new scenarios and risks in their management process. We hope the risk management tips in this article will prepare managers for risk mitigation in projects and will guide them to successful project completion. Contact us for solutions related to Risk Management Strategies and Tips for the Cloud.
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