Cloud adoption is on the rise in industries worldwide. While the benefits of the cloud are plenty, the data migration process can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the technology. Moving to the cloud is more than a simple data transfer. Successfully implementing a cloud solution requires careful planning, analysis, and execution.
If you’re interested in moving to a cloud environment, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn how you can overcome cloud migration challenges and ensure business continuity for your organization.
What Is Cloud Migration?
COVID-19 has forced many companies to assess their IT infrastructures. While cloud technology is far from new, the increasing popularity of remote work and business decentralization has made cloud computing a more appealing and forward-thinking option than ever before. Cloud migration is the process of moving a company’s digital assets, resources, data, and applications from an on-premises data center to a cloud environment. It can also mean moving data from one cloud service to another.
Building cloud infrastructure is an involved process. When planning a cloud migration strategy, it’s important to consider more than the move itself. Once you have your cloud solution in place, you need to ensure data security and compliance, evaluate how cost-effective your migration process was, and consider how you can rebuild applications and optimize them for the new environment.
Cloud technology is complicated, but the benefits of cloud migration outweigh the risks, especially when you strategize effectively.
What Are the Benefits of Cloud Migration?
Undertaking the cloud migration process can have a major impact on your company’s operations. With a move to the cloud, you gain flexibility and more significant opportunities for innovation. No matter what type of cloud solution you choose to implement, you’re bound to experience the following advantages:
Scalability
When you have workloads in the cloud, you can quickly respond to peak demands and scale support to suit the situation. With the right cloud computing tools, these adjustments can occur automatically. All the frustrations of managing an on-premises framework are gone. You don’t have to worry about purchasing and installing new, clumsy physical servers or storage equipment.
Cost Reduction
When you move to the cloud, you don’t have to fret over maintenance and upgrades. Your cloud provider handles services like data backup and recovery, meaning you spend much less time and resources on IT operations. Your internal teams are free to pursue other projects.
Security
Your cloud provider should routinely update tools like firewalls and antivirus to ensure you meet all industry security and compliance standards. This service protects you from compromise and reduces the chances of cyberattack. According to Gartner, by 2025, 95% of all cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault.
Availability
Cloud technology is a boon for remote workers. Team members can securely access data and applications from anywhere in the world, at any time, and on any device. This improves collaboration between departments in your business and allows your employees to work from home without fear of security compromise.
Strategies for Moving to the Cloud
There are five well-known cloud migration techniques. When planning your cloud migration strategy, choosing a cloud migration process that meets your needs is important. Here are your options:
Rehost
This is known as the “lift and shift” strategy, and involves using infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). You transfer all existing data and applications to the cloud environment, deploying everything as it was on your on-premises data center. Rehosting may be the best method if you don’t have much experience with cloud migration processes, as it’s fairly simple.
Refactor
Refactoring involves modifying data and applications for the cloud. Your applications’ core characteristics remain the same, but changes are made to guarantee compatibility with cloud-based tools and resources.
Revise
Revision requires making significant modifications to the architecture of the applications moving to the cloud. You may need to introduce major code adjustments. Revising is the best choice when you want to make sure your data takes full advantage of the benefits of cloud technology. You’ll need to plan and have significant experience with cloud computing.
Rebuild
Rebuilding is an extreme take on the Revision strategy. Instead of modifying the existing code base, you throw it all out and build a new one. This is a time-consuming process and only recommended for companies who have determined other options don’t fit their requirements and have the experience needed.
Replace
The difference between the Rebuild and Replace phases is that you don’t build an application from the ground up but migrate to an application provided by your cloud vendor. All you transfer in the migration process is data. Everything else about the system is brand new.
The Cloud Migration Process
- Cloud Migration Plan – Determine what business case the cloud environment will serve. Is it for disaster recovery? Cybersecurity? Network monitoring? Evaluate your current IT landscape and determine what factors will shape the migration. Discover what legacy data you need to prioritize and what can be left behind.
- Migration Business Case – Consider your options for a cloud service provider. Do you understand their services and costs? Use cloud cost calculators to estimate the expected total cost of ownership (TCO) and forecast future costs such as storage, computing resources, and networking requirements.
- Cloud Migration Execution – Once you’ve evaluated your environment and mapped out a strategy, it’s time to execute the migration. The challenge in execution is discovering the best way to minimize costs and downtime. If data becomes inaccessible to users during the migration process, you risk losing revenue. Test every element transferred for operability before moving on to the next application.
- Ongoing Maintenance – After your data has been migrated successfully, ensure it’s secure and optimized. Monitor your cloud infrastructure for potential issues. Review assets to ensure your cloud environment meets security and compliance standards for your industry.
Netprotechs Performs Cloud Migration for Small Businesses
Cloud migration is a serious undertaking. They’re sophisticated and challenging to plan for if you have no experience with cloud computing. Netprotechs provides small businesses with all the cloud managed services they need for a successful migration. We integrate with your team to help you navigate the cloud migration steps and avoid all the pitfalls you don’t see coming.
Our tools let you sync data securely and quickly. If you’re ready to move to the cloud, reach out today.
