Migrating your data to the cloud can be a daunting task
if your enterprise doesn’t adequately prepare for it. Cloud migration
can be a lengthy process, and it requires a large time and financial
investment from your company to fulfill. Without a well thought-out
migration strategy in place, your business will have a tough time
adopting the cloud into your infrastructure.
How do you design a successful cloud migration strategy? What are the key factors of cloud migration
that this strategy should address? Most importantly, how does your
business achieve the cloud migration goals you’ve set out? Below, we
list several tips for creating and executing a successful cloud
migration strategy.
Understand why you want to migrate to the cloud
First things first: why do you want to
move your enterprise’s data and workflows to the cloud? The cloud is an
exciting technology that businesses want to take advantage of. However,
without a clear reason behind adopting the cloud into your
infrastructure, your cloud migration is destined to crash and burn. Your
enterprise needs to understand what it seeks to accomplish by moving to
the cloud. Whether it be to reduce costs or to take advantage of
cloud-based services, your cloud goals allow you to design your
migration strategy around your specific business needs.
Know what data should be included in your migration strategy
Your business doesn’t necessarily need to
move all of its data onto the cloud. If you want to take advantage of
the computing power the cloud provides to build powerful applications
and solutions, for example, you won’t need to migrate your legacy
business data over. Alternatively, businesses that want to use the cloud
for data storage must consider which bits of data should remain
on-premise and which should be exclusively in the cloud.
Plan your cloud migration in stages
Fully migrating your data to the cloud
can take a long time, especially for enterprises that store a ton of
data in their infrastructure. Because it takes so long to move this
data, your migration strategy should move data onto the cloud in stages.
Non-essential data should be migrated first because you’ll likely be
unfamiliar with the cloud environment you’re migrating to. If you
attempt to migrate mission-critical or sensitive data first and
something goes wrong (such as accidentally leaking your data), it can be
costly to your business.
Evaluate your migration strategy after a while
After you’ve started migrating data over,
it’s a good idea to look at your migration strategy and see if it’s
working for your company. This evaluation can include how much of the
migration is complete and when you expect it to be finished if you work
at your current pace. Examining your cloud migration strategy can help
your enterprise understand how well your company is achieving its cloud
goals.
Keep your employees up to speed
When you move to the cloud, you’ll need
to train your workforce on an entirely new deployment. It’s fair to
assume that many of your staff do not use cloud solutions and
environments. They can be a roadblock for successful cloud operation,
especially if they aren’t familiar with your cloud migration plan. Make
sure that your employees are familiar with your cloud migration strategy
and what your short-term and long-term goals are.
