You hear the term cloud everywhere and for various reasons. The term has become as synonymous as Bluetooth was back in the early 2000s. If your new device didn’t have Bluetooth, what good was it? That similar feeling has been tied to the cloud since before the pandemic, but don’t write it off just yet as another throw-away technology gimmick. For businesses of all sizes, migrating services to the cloud has real-world benefits that make those initial gimmicky thoughts melt away.

According to Cybercrime Magazine, by 2025, the world’s global storage will exceed 200 zettabytes, or 200 trillion gigabytes (GB). For reference, a two-hour-long movie in 4k is about 14 GB. Our world is shifting more and more to the cloud.

Be prepared with a cloud migration process that covers your bases. 

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the process of moving applications, data, infrastructure, security, and other objects to a cloud computing environment. Cloud migration refers to many different areas and functions, but the two main ones are initially moving to the cloud and migrating from one cloud provider to another. For this article, we will be focusing on initially moving to the cloud.

Steps for a Successful Cloud Migration Process

The preparation is just as crucial as the migration itself. For instance, you decide you need to move for better working opportunities but do nothing to prepare for the day of the move. You get the truck, come to your house, and then decide to pack everything to move. It takes at least four times as long, things get broken, and it starts your new, exciting adventure off on the wrong foot. Don’t let this be the scenario for you moving to the cloud; create a painless cloud migration process.

Working with an experienced managed service provider (MSP) like Complete Computers will help you complete your cloud migration with as little downtime and issues as possible.

Assess Current IT Infrastructure and Document

Beginning your cloud migration process on the right foot is crucial, so evaluating your current IT infrastructure is the only way to start. Here are a few questions to get you going:

• Does the software or service you would migrate need additional licenses to work in the cloud? 

• Depending on your industry, are there any regulatory concerns and restrictions around storing specific data in the cloud? 

• Have you documented workflows and network file-sharing locations so those can be duplicated in the cloud?

Evaluate Cloud Providers

The business of cloud providers has begun to expand in recent years. However, the three leaders still dominate the discussion: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. According to Statista, as of Q1 2024, the market share split AWS at 31 percent, Azure at 25 percent, and GCP at 11 percent, making up 67 percent of the worldwide cloud providers.

Your MSP can help you narrow down which provider could be best for you based on your setup, but generally, you should have no issues with any of them. Things to consider when choosing a provider:

• Services offered 

• Support 

• Cloud security 

• Performance reliability and redundancy 

• Pricing

Create a Migration Plan

Your cloud migration process won’t be as easy as flipping a switch, nor should it be. You must consider whether you will push a complete migration at once or a gradual, staged approach. The more detailed and thought-out the plan is, the better everyone will be at spotting needs before the migration begins. The chosen option will ultimately depend on your current setup and your business process.

Test and Monitor

Testing is vitally important to the success of the cloud migration process. Start small with a non-business critical item and monitor the results. Can you access and work with the program and information just as you could previously? Have you tried accessing the same item remotely, away from the office? Is it still accessible? Have a few employees also test it to make sure it’s accessible.

Common Cloud Migration Missteps

As with any new venture, there can, and will, be hiccups. You can successfully execute your cloud migration process by addressing these common missteps:

• Not all stakeholders are aligned or intimately aware of the upcoming change. 

• There wasn’t adequate planning. 

• Incomplete IT infrastructure assessment. 

• Poor testing. 

• Documentation of workflows was lacking or not optimized for a cloud environment. 

• Not choosing the right MSP or cloud provider.

Complete Computers has executed numerous cloud migrations, making ccCloud a reliable, scalable, and hassle-free solution for a company of any size.

Complete Your Cloud Migration Process with Complete Computers

Throw any skepticism out the window because now you can see that the cloud is the real deal business advancement you need, sooner rather than later. By understanding the process and working with a qualified MSP, you can make this cloud migration process as simple and painless as ever. Contact Complete Computers today, and let’s evaluate the best migration process for your business.