The cloud computing market is expected to hit $623 billion by 2023, which doesn’t come as a surprise. The process of moving data and applications to a cloud environment allows organizations of all sizes to reap significant benefits including, improved security, scalability, elasticity and cost efficiency.
Though the advantages are many, cloud migration can still be a daunting task for businesses. It demands a precise plan with thoughtful execution and often the support of a cloud-managed service provider.
If your company is contemplating or preparing for a transition to a cloud environment, there are several common challenges you may be faced with. Fortunately, there are proven solutions and tactics that can help ensure a smoother migration.
There are countless choices to be made along the way to a successful cloud migration. From selecting a private, public or a hybrid cloud infrastructure to choosing between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (Paas) or Software as a Service (SaaS) models, these are decisions that require careful planning and consideration. Businesses too often rush into cloud migration without a comprehensive plan in place that explores all possible options.
A detailed cloud migration plan is necessary to properly analyze your current infrastructure and business objectives and ultimately guide you to choose the right strategy for your organization. Your plan should also consider cost analysis, projected downtime, employee training and estimated time to complete the migration.
“A detailed cloud migration plan is necessary to properly analyze your current infrastructure and business objectives and ultimately guide you to choose the right strategy for your organization.”
In addition to a well-designed plan, pre-migration support is critical to ensure your business objectives, budgets and workloads are considered from the onset of the project. A cloud-managed service provider can offer the expertise to assist you with all of these necessary considerations and checkpoints during your cloud migration.
Though the returns on cloud migration are significant, brand new costs can bring pause to a hesitant business. The top costs of the transition include: rewriting application architecture, training users, bandwidth and downtime. While that may seem like a concerning list, companies can control costs by keeping key strategies in mind.
As we already mentioned, it all starts with proper preparation. A thorough plan is paramount. It should outline the entire scope of the project and note any foreseen disruptions to the business. A strong cloud-managed service provider will perform cost analysis comparison to provide insight into where your designated cloud computing budget is being spent to help ensure your resources are being allocated appropriately while setting up your business for long-term success.
A business can also choose to migrate to the cloud in increments. Batch adoption can help break down financial costs into segments to avoid an overwhelming investment up front. Additionally, the available options for your cloud selection can provide an opportunity to manage costs. Some companies prefer a public cloud, while others prefer private or hybrid cloud options. Your business’ usage will have a direct impact on cost. No matter what you choose, it’s important to understand the financial implications of each option.
Lack of CapabilityYour company may not have the in-house skillset to perform a highly complex cloud migration. A best case scenario is if your IT employees have an understanding of your legacy technology and existing processes, which makes it easier to train in new skills and have the team make useful contributions to the migration.
If this is not the case, your company will need a partner with the expertise to manage your cloud migration. A team of solutions architects will have the knowledge to develop an actionable cloud strategy to ensure your business is ready for this transition and the on-going maintenance that it requires.
Despite cloud environments being completely secure, businesses are tentative when it comes to moving sensitive data to a third-party cloud service.
A secure cloud migration includes technology and procedures that ensure the transfer of data is completed through a routable path and is protected in the firewall at all times. This guarantees that data is not visible to third parties during the transition, which eliminates the risk of data theft and compliance issues during the migration.
“A secure cloud migration includes technology and procedures that ensure the transfer of data is completed through a routable path and is protected in the firewall at all times.”
For added peace of mind, you can ask your cloud provider about their security practices, such as:
The answers to these questions will provide initial insight into the security procedures for a given cloud provider prior to your final decision.
Migrating to the cloud is a significant change for your business and people tend to be resistant to change. Your organization can’t ignore the human element during this process because employee engagement and adoption will be critical to cloud migration success.
In order to encourage company-wide acceptance, it helps to start at the top. Executive leadership has influencing power when it comes to employee engagement. Their approval and enthusiasm will mean alot to the larger organization. To secure their buy-in early, it’s important to establish the business needs and objectives and have them communicate those points to the rest of the organization. Executives who understand the reason behind the change are more apt to get behind it and create a positive culture around cloud migration.
“Your organization can’t ignore the human element during this process because employee engagement and adoption will be critical to cloud migration success.”
At EmergenceTek, we understand that cloud migration is a significant undertaking for any business. It’s why we are here, not to just shift your data to the cloud, but to position you for sustainability, optimization and growth.
As an organization, we offer an AWS Select Tier Partnership, which demonstrates our proven technical expertise and exceptional customer experience. From cloud consulting to cost analysis comparison to AWS well-architected framework reviews, there is quality control built into every phase of our cloud migration process. We will work closely with your business to ensure a smarter path to the cloud while addressing your performance, cost optimization, skillset, security and adoption concerns.
