How to Plan for a Cloud Migration
Organisations must consider security, distributed workforces and cost in the digital age. Most people already know about the cloud and what it is, but are you unlocking its full potential?
Migrating your IT resources to the cloud can yield massive benefits for agile companies. The shift is also accelerating, with 70% of companies found to have accelerated their migration plans. In this guide, we’ll discuss planning for your cloud migration and why you should bother in the first place.
Understanding why you want to migrate to the cloud
Undergoing cloud migration impacts entire organisations. It’s one of the single most meaningful investments today’s businesses can make in themselves. The cloud brings agility and flexibility, which are both essential to meeting the demands of consumers and markets.
Migrating your services and data to the cloud also has real cost benefits. For example, it’s estimated that 84% of businesses adopting the cloud reduce their computing costs. Plus, cloud computing can reduce infrastructure costs by 20% annually by doing away with private servers and other in-house infrastructure.
Let’s sum up the advantages derived from cloud migration:
- More flexibility
- Increased agility
- Faster innovation
- Ease your resource demands
- Reduce costs
- Immediate business benefits
- IT simplification
- Enhance performance
The cloud’s scalability makes it one of the few investments that benefit businesses regardless of size. Act on your cloud migration plans now, and you’ll be left asking the question, “Why did we wait?”.
Preparing for cloud migration challenges
Every company will experience unique challenges in their migration journey. If we boil it down, expect to consider six major challenges:
- Incompatible infrastructure between different cloud environments.
- Compliance with security standards.
- Dealing with app migration.
- Cost of rewriting in-house apps.
- Strategic planning.
- Skill shortages.
Planning can minimise most of these challenges by weighing a company’s priorities and how to address them. Truthfully, it’s not about whether the cloud is suitable but which cloud configurations work best for you.
What migration tools may my business need in order to move to the cloud?
End-to-end cloud migration tools enable businesses to migrate their infrastructure, applications and data from in-house to the cloud. The same tools are there to conduct the migration without impacting day-to-day activities, such as apps going dark or outright downtime.
Unfortunately, dozens of cloud migration tools on the market make it confusing for companies to decide which tools are right for them. This is why companies often outsource this problem to a cloud migration specialist, such as Matrix247, to handle the problem of choosing and deploying tools.
What is a cloud readiness assessment?
Cloud migration is more than just pressing a button. Before doing anything, businesses must ask, “Are we ready for the cloud?”
In essence, a cloud readiness assessment evaluates your current IT infrastructure, business processes and employee skills to decide whether you’re ready to adopt cloud technology. It’s also the roadmap to identify the optimal strategy for you.
However, remember that this is not just about facts and figures. It’s also a holistic approach that accounts for business objectives and stakeholder impact.
Four phases of your cloud readiness assessment
Typically, a cloud readiness assessment will include four phases. Let’s go through each one:
- Evaluation Phase – Begin with a high-level evaluation of your existing IT infrastructure. This phase examines your technological readiness and compatibility with the cloud as it stands.
- Interview Phase – Move your investigations to your company’s structure. This includes talking to personnel and assessing the maturity of technology and processes. It also looks into the business impact of cloud migration.
- Analysis Phase – Use the data gained from the previous two phases to find where you fit into the market. This is an analysis of you vs. everyone else in your market. It tells you how you measure up and whether more work needs to be done before launching your migration.
- Reporting Phase – The final phase ties everything together to provide actionable insights. These recommendations are tailored to improve your readiness and provide a final migration roadmap.
As you can see, a cloud readiness assessment effectively lays the groundwork for your move to the cloud. Skip it, and you risk flying blind.
Working with cloud migration specialists
Cloud migration sounds simple on paper, but it can quickly become a nightmare without proper expertise. There’s no denying the benefits of the cloud, but a Capita report found the majority of UK organisations had become disillusioned by their decision to move because of potholes on the way.
It underlines the importance of working with cloud migration specialists like Matrix247, who can guide you through every step. Yes, it might be cheaper to do it yourself, but the savings you make initially are instantly lost when you run into problems later.
In other words, call in the experts to manage your entire migration from start to finish.
Cloud migration steps to include in a plan
We’ve established that planning is the key to overcoming cloud migration challenges, but what does a plan look like?
Every company is different, but several steps will always apply. Here’s your cloud migration checklist.
1. Why are you migrating?
Establish why you want to move. You can’t work towards a goal if you don’t have one. Establish your KPIs before proceeding.
2. Set a budget
Switching to the cloud can save you vast amounts of your IT budget, but cloud migration can be costly. Your costs depend on your business size, the amount of data you’re migrating, and your needs.
Set up a budget for the migration itself. Knowing your ceiling also helps you select a cloud partner.
3. Choose your destination
Who’s going to be hosting your business on the cloud?
Evaluate security, pricing and scalability to create a shortlist of suitable partners. It also helps to know whether you’re looking for a public, private, or hybrid cloud environment.
4. Re-architect your applications
You’ll likely have to alter some of your applications to make them run in the cloud. This could include virtualising the app, changing the code, or containerising the whole app. If any of this is required, it must be done before you can move your data to the cloud.
5. Build your tool stack
You’re not alone when making the switch. Many cloud providers have their own tools to import your assets into the cloud. Likewise, if those native tools aren’t enough, a range of third-party tools exist. Either do your research or contact a cloud migration specialist for pointers.
6. Select a transfer option
How will you move your data to your new cloud environment?
You have physical transfer, public Internet, or a private network. Each has pros and cons regarding speed, security, time and cost, so consider what works for you.
7. Communicate your plan
After making the key decisions, it’s time to communicate your timeline to all relevant stakeholders. This timeline will include not only what you’ve done and why, but also what data will be transferred in what order. If there are any service disruptions, tell your customers in advance.
8. Perform a small migration
Never attempt to move all your data on the first attempt. Use a small data set or a non-critical app as a canary in the coal mine. Initiate the transfer and check that it’s done correctly. If there are any errors, troubleshoot and run the test until everything works as intended.
9. Move to a large scale migration
Confirm your migration process is kink-free, and begin moving the rest of your apps to the cloud. Complete the process, with checks along the way, and perform a final audit to ensure everything has been transferred safely.
Planning your Cloud Migration with Matrix247
Let’s be honest – most people aren’t technical wizards; but with technology dominating every business, it’s impossible to ignore the benefits of the cloud. Instead of figuring it out yourself, partner with a proactive IT provider to give you the peace of mind that your migration is fully handled.
Work with Matrix247, and let us design your cloud migration around you. To learn more, contact us today.
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