Migrating IT networks to the Cloud has proven to be pivotal for businesses. It is an intelligent strategy that allows businesses to future-proof themselves and realize their long-term goals. Further, the possibilities realized by migrating to cloud-based hosting have revealed the limitations and unavailability of in-house IT infrastructure in the long run.
However, even as you explore options for cloud migration, the transition must be smooth. This article explores some of the key elements to consider as you perform a Cloud Application Migration on your IT infrastructure.
Why you need to Migrate to the Cloud
According to software development company, many businesses are migrating to the Cloud. But the reasons to migrate to cloud-based platforms go beyond the fact that everyone is doing it. Overall, cloud-based IT infrastructure offers more flexibility and scalability to businesses. More specifically, cloud infrastructure:
- Reduces business operation cost: Unlike on-premise IT infrastructure that requires significant capital investment to maintain and scale up or down, cloud infrastructure demands less capital. Additionally, the associated costs are more comprehensive, covering critical services required like security, storage, and powerful data processing.
- Helps businesses achieve business transformation: Migration to the Cloud requires businesses to adopt digital infrastructure and processes. Working with offshore developers helps businesses realize their digital transformation goals by weaning off their reliance on traditional non-digitized structures and frameworks.
- Offers more value: Value is attained by the elimination of the need for some time-consuming and resource-demanding processes such as equipment maintenance, network expansion, and security upgrades.
- Business agility: Cloud infrastructure is more flexible compared to on-premise infrastructure. It is easier to scale up or scale down, and to adjust your strategy based on the uniqueness of every project you handle.
- Improved security: A lot of effort has been put to ensure cloud-based systems are secure. This implies that, in addition to more storage and processing power for data, businesses also get to enjoy advanced security features.
Best Practices for Cloud Migration
1. Develop a clear strategy and goal
The first step has a clear strategy and goal in mind. This begins by doing a critical evaluation of your existing infrastructure and analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. After that, spell out the improvement you intend to make with the adoption of a cloud-based framework. Some key areas to look at are your response speed, system availability, storage needs, data processing, and conversion rates.
A proper analysis of all these aspects should then inform the migration model to choose and the entire migration process.
2. Craft a migration plan
Identify the applications to prioritize when migrating and map out a plan of how all other applications will eventually be migrated. Ideally, the processes and applications to be prioritized are those with an immediate return on investment. Also, those that have limited resource implications and can significantly improve the performance of business processes can be prioritized. Thereafter, you can map out a strategy to have the remaining components migrated to the cloud-based system, with careful analysis of the implications their migration will have on your internal processes
Part of developing a migration plan also involves identifying a suitable architecture to migrate to, a suitable migration model, and observing all compliance requirements. You should also consider the cost implications in your plan, including the licensing costs. Your plan should be as comprehensive as possible.
3. Identifying a Cloud Service Provider
With a comprehensive strategy at hand, the next step is sourcing for a cloud services vendor to execute the migration. The criteria for selecting a potential vendor is dependent on the set of services they provide and their ability to meet the demands of hosting your business’s IT framework in the Cloud. The cost of their services, reputation, experience, and portfolio are important guides to inform the selection process.
A vendor’s task goes beyond executing the migration. It also involves evaluating your migration strategy and redesigning it for seamless migration. It also includes a comprehensive analysis of the requirements for successful cloud migration. Based on this, the selection of a vendor to execute the migration and host your IT infrastructure in the Cloud should be preceded by thorough research and background check on their suitability and professionalism.
4. Train your staff early
Get your workforce equipped with necessary cloud skills for effective migration. In fact, it is prudent concurrently to commence the training with the planning phase to ensure they are conversant with the cloud systems and processes. This is aimed at getting them to adapt to the new frameworks early.
5. Migrate!
With your staff equipped and your migration plan approved, actualize the migration. A good practice is to conduct a comprehensive test to ensure the architecture and new framework you are migrating to are fully functional. This is critical in identifying any missing pieces of the puzzle and addressing any gaps. It also helps to test whether the cloud-based system offers the utility intended.
Wrap up
Cloud-based systems have become a fundamental requirement for businesses. Even those relying on on-premise IT infrastructure are increasingly adopting hybrid systems to tap on the Cloud’s potential. This simple guide can help you migrate successfully from traditional IT infrastructure to cloud-based systems. It’s important to note that there are many cloud migration service providers available to assist with this process, providing expertise in areas such as data migration, system integration, and cloud architecture design. Choosing the right provider can make all the difference in ensuring a smooth and successful transition to the cloud.