Your cloud migration plan is the baseline for a smooth business transition. Understanding your cloud migration goals before picking a vendor or even a managed IT service provider will make a world of difference. A report from VentureBeat says that cost savings are a significant factor when companies choose to move to the cloud, saving as much as 92 percent over time. However, depending on the need, there may be upfront costs as well. It’s time to discuss what is needed to skillfully move to the cloud. 

Before moving on, it’s important to acknowledge the massive step you take for your business when moving to the cloud. You are taking a very positive step that will set you up for success. 

What is Cloud Migration? 

Cloud migration takes one or more business processes, such as data storage, IT processes, or applications, from an on-premise solution to the cloud. An alternate cloud migration scenario is moving from one cloud provider to another. Cloud migration helps stabilize your business by offloading the worry of redundancy from an in-house option to a distributed one. For this discussion, we will stick to initially moving to the cloud. The three largest worldwide cloud providers are Amazon Web Services at 31 percent, Microsoft Azure at 25 percent, and Google Cloud at 11 percent. In Q1 2024, the total revenue was at US $76 billion. 

Before Building a Cloud Migration Plan, Discovery is Needed 

Before you move to the cloud, it will be essential to discover what you will be moving and when. You need to map out every application and database and how they work together. If you have business processes in place, driving something that the process relies on could temporarily deactivate it, causing issues with your staff and customers. Take advantage of this crucial step in the process. 

Cloud Migration Strategy 

We are now at the point of laying out the strategy to ensure your success. A cloud migration plan isn’t something to take lightly, and you believe the same since you are here reading this rundown. Be aware, though, that depending on your organization, application, and data needs, not all uses are more efficient in the cloud. Working with an experienced cloud provider like Complete Computers will help you get the biggest bang for your buck. 

Migration Approach and Rollback Plan 

There are generally two main approaches to a cloud migration plan: all at once or in stages. Your choice for migration really depends on your company’s complexity and what you are planning to move. Think back to the importance of project discovery. 

• All at once: This option tends to be the most popular for smaller, less complex setups. 

• Stages: This is recommended for anything complex and multi-system. You need to know the new locations for database connections, etc. 

Before flipping the switch, you should have a proper rollback strategy in place in the unlikely event of a failed migration. Testing before the switch will help uncover any scenarios that may cause issues, leaving you with time to solve them and move forward. Having backups and redundancies planned will help minimize your possible downtime. 

Risk Assessment and What Not to Migrate 

Having the appropriate risks laid out beforehand will ensure that everyone is properly informed prior to your move. These could include costs to the business related to downtime, customer and employee impact, costs associated with loss of data, compliance concerns, and more. When calculating the risks, you are looking at worst-case scenarios. 

There is a well-known Google Cloud Whitepaper, “CIO Guide to Application Migration,” that lays out three questions which must be asked during the cloud migrations planning phase and they are: 

• Are the components of my application stack virtualized or virtualizable? 

• Can my application stack run in a cloud environment while supporting licensing, security, privacy, and compliance requirements? 

• Can all application dependencies (e.g., third-party languages, frameworks, libraries, etc.) be supported in the cloud? 

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then these applications and applicable other systems either can’t be migrated or will require additional licensing. 

Environment Migration 

Unfortunately, not all systems and applications are the same, so just saying, “I want to migrate everything,” may not be possible, at least not without some tinkering. The cloud migration industry has six generally accepted terms or strategies that help describe this process, also known as the “Six R’s of Migration.” Here’s a brief overview: 

• Rehosting: “Lift and shift” involves taking exactly what you are running and moving it to the cloud. 

• Replatforming: Similar to “rehosting,” but could require some optimizations to run them smoothly. 

• Repurchasing: You need to move to a new product entirely. What you are running doesn’t have a cloud option or is old and can’t be moved. 

• Refactoring/Re-architecting: Involves updating a native, server-based application to meet the latest technology requirements and running it in a cloud environment. 

• Retire: There isn’t a real need to move, and better options are available in the cloud. 

• Retain: It doesn’t need to move to the cloud; it can continue to run as is. 

These are all questions and concerns that will be addressed with your cloud migration partner or areas needing discussion during your discovery period. 

Post Cloud Migration Plan Tasks 

Although well planned and perfect, your cloud migration plan inevitably needs to be documented or kept in mind. With any new change to a work structure, it will be essential to let all people working with the system document what happened and have a straightforward way to resolve those problems. These could be VPN issues, authenticators, files needing a different routing plan, etc. Embrace the short-term discomfort for the long-term efficiency boost. 

Ongoing Maintenance 

Moving to the cloud is the first step in a more extensive system reconfiguration. With your business running in the cloud, now will be the time to simplify your processes and see where you can become even more efficient. Are there other areas of your business that need to be modernized? Do you currently work with a managed IT service provider? If not, you need to investigate how you can streamline your business. Make sure to factor in future needs into your cloud migration plan. 

Moving to the Cloud is a Delicate Dance 

The need to bring your business into the future is an important one, but having a plan and executing that plan will be vital. Global public cloud services are projected to hit US $1.35 trillion by 2027. To be honest, this is the kind of business scenario where a professional should be brought in to minimize any issues that could arise. Once that partner is chosen, the fun part of building your cloud migration plan comes. 

Complete Computers is your place for a clean cloud migration, ongoing support, and voice service that completes your business. We are the one-stop shop you have been looking for.  Contact us today for a full breakdown of what we can do for your business.