Utilizing cloud technology has become essential for thriving in today’s digital world, so cloud migration has become crucial for organizations. Moving to a cloud like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud gives you the benefits of flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency. However, many times you might face difficulties or come across challenges that will make it hard to migrate to the cloud and avail the full benefits of cloud investments. This difficulty often arises from a lack of careful and systematic planning.
The solution is to plan your cloud migration strategy and process in 5 stages. What are these steps? Explore different cloud migration strategies and the 5 steps to design a cloud migration strategy and process to start your migration journey.
Before moving to the cloud migration steps, let’s understand the different cloud migration strategies. Here are the 7Rs of cloud migration strategy and process:
1 – Rehosting – Lift and shift
Rehosting is a quick move to the cloud, preserving the application’s original form.
2 – Replatforming – Optimize for cloud
Replatforming means optimizing an application for the cloud with minimal code changes.
3 – Refactoring – Rewrite for cloud
Refactoring is a profound transformation of an application to exploit cloud capabilities fully.
4 – Repurchasing – Replace with SaaS
Repurchasing is switching to cloud-based software in place of legacy systems.
5 – Retiring – Eliminate unused systems
Retiring eliminates outdated or unnecessary applications.
6 – Relocating – Move data center.
Relocating means physically moving IT infrastructure to a cloud data center.
7 – Retaining – Keep on-premises
Retaining is keeping applications and data on-premises, avoiding cloud migration.
Explore the 5 steps necessary to build your cloud strategy to ensure your seamless cloud migration:
Preparation is the first step of the cloud migration strategy. In the initial phase of preparation, the organization should define its goals. These goals include more flexibility, lower expenses, increased scalability, and improved operational efficiency. Make a business report for each application’s cloud migration to facilitate this changeover. You can use cloud readiness assessment tools to determine whether your organization can adopt the cloud. Besides, reports must be prepared that include the predicted total cost of ownership (TCO) for the cloud environment compared to the current TCO. Use cloud cost estimating tools to project future costs precisely. It includes accurate assumptions about storage utilization, processing power, types of instances, operating systems, and specific performance and networking needs.
Points to be considered during the Preparation
➮ Assessment of Current Infrastructure
➮ Setting Goals and Objectives
➮ Building the Migration Team
➮ Budget and Resource Planning
The next step is to design a scalable and result-oriented cloud migration plan. This step involves defining which workflows to migrate and in what sequence. Organizations must choose their preferred cloud platform and determine whether changes to current applications or data are required. Because of the critical nature of your data, you should evaluate whether any data needs to be updated frequently, whether compliance regulations apply, or whether less critical data can be transferred early in the process. These steps help determine whether data needs to be cleaned, which destination volumes to use, and whether encryption is required for data in transit and at rest.
Points to be considered during the Planning
➮ Developing a Cloud Migration Strategy
➮ Selecting Cloud Providers and Tools
➮ Defining a Timeline
One of the critical steps of cloud migration strategy and process is essential. In this stage, you move your traditional infrastructure to the cloud. It involves transferring data, applications, and other tasks to the cloud. A considerable part of this process is moving the data itself. If your data is inaccessible to the users during migration, it will disturb the process and business operations. At the same time, ensuring everything stays updated after the initial transfer is essential. Before moving to the next step, each workload component should be tested in the cloud. Additionally, it’s necessary to pay attention to cloud security; you can use different cloud security tools to protect your cloud from threats.
Points to be considered during the Migration
➮ Execution of Migration Plan
➮ Monitoring and Managing Migration
➮ Ensuring Data Integrity and Security
After migrating data to the cloud, you move into the operational phase of the cloud migration strategy. At this stage, organizations oversee cloud-based duties like resource management, performance monitoring, security, and compliance. Continuous improvements based on feedback and data, adapting as needed, are necessary to optimize cloud operations. You also need to assess the security of data stored in the cloud. Taking care of compliance is another task you must perform in this step.
Points to be considered during the Operation
➮ Management of Cloud Environment
➮ Training and Support
➮ Governance and Compliance
The final step of cloud migration is optimization. Successful data migration in the cloud is not the end of this process; it includes continuous management and maintenance of cloud resources. Organizations explore methods to enhance their cloud environment and optimize resource usage. Improving performance involves simplifying cloud operations, finding ways to cut costs, and incorporating cloud-specific features and services. Organizations aim for ongoing optimization to maximize value and business advantages from their cloud usage.
Points to be considered during the optimization
➮ Continuous Performance Evaluation
➮ Cost Management
➮ Scaling and Enhancements
An effective cloud migration process is essential for businesses to leverage cloud computing, facilitating a seamless transition, cost savings, improved security, and future scalability and innovation. This is possible when you follow the five steps for designing the cloud migration strategy and process, and if you are stuck anywhere, you can always reach out to a cloud migration service provider to make your cloud migration journey seamless.
Happy Clouding!!
