Cloud migration is no longer the fancy term thrown around from one corner office to another. Businesses, large and small, are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of shifting their legacy systems to the cloud. And even better, these organizations can’t wait for their competitors to initiate the move; in fact, they want to be the first to gain that competitive advantage.
That said, cloud migration isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. It’s not all about uploading data to the cloud or investing in some sophisticated cloud services. The whole process is more of a journey and never a destination. To avoid cloud migration challenges, it’s advisable to pay attention to the following aspects:
- People and processes – many times, businesses focus on technology and forget their most incredible resource – talent. If people and processes, often referred to as culture, aren’t up for the cloud challenge, technology alone won’t deliver.
- A well-defined cloud migration strategy – before moving to the cloud, you need to assess the priorities and the resources you can leverage upfront without incurring extra costs. Working with a cloud solutions company right from the assessment phase right to the implementation stage will minimize the chances of failed migration.
- Security, Time, and budgeting – several organizations put brakes on their cloud migration projects due to hidden costs, too many expectations, cyber-attacks mid-way along the way, among other challenges.
What You Need Before Moving to the Cloud
Tapping into the scalability, speed, and cutting-edge services of the cloud requires a workable strategy and help from a company that’s well-versed in the field. Integration challenges, compliance issues, inefficient data sync, and the demanding requirements for test-data availability are some of the barriers preventing several businesses from progressing in their cloud journey.
If you are considering moving to the cloud, you probably don’t want to get stuck somewhere along the way. Below are some tips to help you push the cloud migration strategies successfully.
- Choose a responsible cloud migration architect – more often than not, your business will use some help navigating the complex cloud landscape, and that’s where a cloud architect plays a significant role. A cloud architect company is responsible for planning and executing all aspects of the migration.
- Understand what you are getting into – Delegating all the cloud migration duties does not mean having no clue of what’s happening in the background. As much as possible, do your research with your in-house IT team to come up with some goals and key KPIs so you can add value to the cloud migration processes.
- Get ready to steer the boat – Once a couple of applications, servers or processes have moved to the cloud, the worst that can happen is having a team that’s not cloud-ready. Where necessary, invest in employee upskilling and reskilling programs to ensure your team is digital enough to innovate and advance cloud adoption.
Why You Should Consider Cloud Migration
Cloud computing sees a wider adoption across industries, thanks to the added operational convenience, flexibility, and agility. According to an IDC Whitepaper, businesses that move to the cloud enjoy 51% reduced operating costs, 94% reductions in downtime, and 62% increase in IT staff productivity. Below are the other benefits of moving to the cloud.
- Increased agility and decreased footprint – Shifting operations to the cloud allows businesses to scale capacity up or down depending on the demand. This also means you only use the resources and energy you need.
- Disaster recovery – cloud computing helps businesses implement data backup and recovery solutions, which take less effort and upfront investment.
- Reduced hosting costs – With cloud solutions, you cut the hosting costs. For instance, hybrid cloud storage connects your on-premises apps and systems to cloud storage, reducing hosting costs and minimizing the management burden.
- Better security – Cloud solutions offer advanced protection, safeguarding your apps and sensitive data from digital invaders. With real-time access to updates and security information, you take precautionary measures to evade cyber-security threats.
Choose the Right Cloud Solution
The success of your cloud migration strategy begins with choosing the right cloud solution partner. If you don’t get it right from the start, you are only going to make things worse down the line. Amazon web services (AWS) is the cloud provider of choice, helping small and large organizations move workloads such as websites, applications, storage, databases, physical or virtual services, as well as the entire data centers to the cloud.
At NetworX, we partner with AWS to offer a wide range of cloud solutions depending on your business needs and goals. As an AWS solutions architect, our clients benefit from significant IT cost savings and substantial improvements in business agility, productivity, and operation resilience.
Our team will walk you through the cloud migration journey from conception – cloud assessment and migration planning to delivery – cloud integration, monitoring, and management. At NetworX, we are committed to helping you move from an obsolete, inefficient, and unreliable IT legacy system to a more secure, cost-effective, and convenient world in the cloud.
