How to Build a Successful Cloud Migration Strategy?

Cloud computing has taken the organizations to a new height. This technology has brought a widespread change by providing access to applications via the internet. Adoption of cloud computing offers an organization the opportunity of improving its flexibility, reducing costs, and focus on its core competencies. However, migrating your old data to the cloud can be a tedious task and if not done efficiently, you may end up losing both your money and the data.   

As per the surveys, 69% of businesses are already using cloud computing solutions in one way or the other, and 18% are planning to implement this technology at some point. Organizations now are planning to migrate their operations and applications to the cloud servers. However, this isn’t a one-and-done proposition. Cloud migration is the process of moving the data, infrastructure, applications to a cloud computing environment, and this is a lengthy process that takes time. 

Cloud migration is of three types, one includes moving of data and applications to the public cloud. Another one is moving data, applications from one cloud to another, and the third type of migration is a reverse migration in which the data or application is moved off to the cloud or the local drive. In doing any of these a lot of precision and expertise is required and it is always better to reach out to a company that offers product engineering services as they usually have experts who can migrate your data to the cloud quite efficiently.

Benefits of Cloud Migration

Scalability 

Cloud migration helps in scaling the business upwards or downwards based on its necessities. Small business can grow up their process into new territories, while large scale business gets the opportunity to expand their business to the international audience with the help of cloud migration. Businesses can avail of the benefits of cloud computing with the help of cloud migration without investing in any specific hardware or software. 

Enhance Data Security

Data security is one of the major concerns of the organizations working these days. People get worried about the data getting transferred to the cloud. But migrating the data to the cloud enhances the security as it permits only the authorized person to access the data stored in the cloud over the internet. Several studies have proven that the data stored on the cloud servers, is more secure than the data stored on-site. 

Also Read: Overcoming the Data Security Challenges in the Cloud

Remote collaboration

The cloud environment allows organizations to work remotely. Cloud services allow access to documents and databases from anywhere with the help of the internet. Traditionally when sending documents, files were inefficient and time-consuming, with the help of the cloud environment it has resulted in reducing the time and labor involved in file sharing. 

Cost-effective

88% of companies have shared their experience with reduced costs when using cloud computing solutions. On-site servers take maintenance and support costs along with salaried IT staff. Cloud computing does not require expensive systems and equipment for leveraging resources. And this is one of the major reasons why there is a rise in the demand for cloud migration services in the market.  

How to Plan your Successful Cloud Migration Strategy

Migration towards cloud services embarks a major technology shift to your business. To succeed, it requires careful analysis, planning, and a detailed strategic implementation that sets your business up for lasting success. Businesses need to prioritize applications and systems to migrate while remaining compliant with data regulations. There are many IT consulting companies out there in the market that are providing professional services for this purpose. However, the following are tips to create and execute a successful cloud migration strategy. 

Get migration right

Migrating to the cloud is crucial. The enterprises need to allow time for internal processes to adapt the cloud scenarios. It is important to get ready for your staff and train them for the coming change in advance. Also, cloud computing is directly associated with internet connectivity. Downtime due to the internet means downtime of business in the cloud computing world. Hence, arrangement for redundant low-latency connections with high bandwidth is vital before you migrate. Along with it ensure backup alternatives in place when a migration fails. 

Choose the right deployment model

There are four types of cloud computing deployment models available to pick from: public, private, hybrid, and community. It is important to choose the right deployment model that is best suited for your organization.

Here is a brief about them: 

Public Cloud

This environment can be used by the general public including individuals, corporations, and other types of organizations. Public clouds are administered by third parties or vendors over the internet and services reoffered on a pay-per-use basis. It consists of users from all over the world wherein a user can simply purchase resources on an hourly basis and work with such resources which are available in cloud provider’s premises. The cons related to this type of cloud are the risk of compliance and data security.

Private Cloud

This cloud computing environment resides within the boundaries of an organization and is used exclusively for the organization’s benefits. As the name suggests it is particularly used by one company. Hence, there is the least chance of data being leaked. It is one of the most adopted cloud types, as along with flexibility and scalability, it offers high security and reliability. 

Hybrid Cloud

As the name suggests, this cloud provides the environment with a combination of both public and private clouds. Thus, benefits the business with multiple deployment models at once.  

Community Cloud

It is a cloud infrastructure that is majorly used by the business sharing common domain or interests. It is quite similar to the public cloud with few differences. It provides greater flexibility by moving workloads between cloud solutions as per the needs.

Also Read: 7 Reasons Why You Should Choose Cloud Computing Services for Your Business  

Pay Attention to Security

It is quintessential to take care of the security aspects while migrating the data and application to the cloud environment. Business deals with sensitive and confidential information, thus ensure to evaluate the service agreement of your CSP. Discuss all the compliance and security measurements with the chosen cloud service provider before moving.

Build Strong Management and Governance Structures

It is important to the backing of management and developers from start, as while the team will work together, they can give you alternative points of view and with the best solutions. Also engaging the leadership and efficient governance helps in avoiding risks and unnecessary spending of money.

Create a Future-Proof Top-Level Strategy

It is essential to build a top-level cloud strategy to meet both current and future requirements. For this, the internal team and stakeholders need to collaborate effectively to scale the infrastructure to cope with future growth and market challenges.

Test, review, and make adjustments as needed

After checking with all the connections, it is important to migrate a few components and check by running tests to compare results with pre-defined KPIs. This helps in ensuring that your app architecture runs smoothly.

Final Thoughts

Going through the above-mentioned strategies before migrating to a cloud environment is beneficial. Ignoring these may lead to the issues which can slow down the migration or even ruin the whole purpose of cloud migration. Cloud migration can be a lengthy process but it can help in the long-term for your organization by delivering products, services, and systems more efficiently to users. 

If you have decided upon the migration of your business to cloud services, do your prep work, create a transition plan, and communicate with your entire team for a smooth migration. It is better to go for an experienced cloud computing service provider that can help you in planning out everything smoothly.