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Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, said, “We see most data breaches in pharma during the move from physical to the cloud. More than half of incidents(data breach) happen during this move”. Migrating large silos of data from physical format, and physical space, to a cloud-based service is quite a complex step. And, most companies, that are not technically sound, may pooch this step and might end up losing money and reputation in the market. The cloud undoubtedly will define the way a business operates and manages its information in the years to come. Migrating a company’s brain or the operational center to the cloud gives the company the flexibility and resilience it needs to respond to the challenges of a fast-moving world of endless stream of data flowing every nanosecond. Storing this kind of data on the cloud not only frees the servers of the company itself, but also makes the required information quite accessible anywhere, anytime for anyone, if given the right key. Securing the cloud is the most basic function a company has to fulfill so that the right information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. The information stored in the cloud is used by researchers, analysts, and even programmers to study the trends and predict the future.
Operations large and small can mobilize this technology to their advantage to save money and generate real long-term value. We are at the most digital state we have ever been and like a human needs a doctor, a company, at this moment, needs a sound IT infrastructure service provider to stay relevant and efficient.
Cloud migration is not just a hefty process, but it’s also a complex one; undoubtedly crucial, but also prone to mistakes. That’s why this is all you need to know to safely accelerate the cloud migration process inside your business.
Stages of a Successful Cloud Migration
According to AWS (Amazon Web Services), a critical first step in creating a migration strategy is collecting application portfolio data, such as extracts from a configuration management database. Then, the data must be evaluated against the seven Rs of migration strategies for moving applications to the AWS Cloud. The Rs stand for- refactor, replatform, repurchase, rehost, relocate, retain, and retire. There’s more about these Rs on AWS informative page.
So, all in all, there are 3 stages involved in successfully migrating the operations to the cloud.
The Plan : Any big decision starts with a plan. So consequently, Cloud Migration also requires a robust plan. In this, one has to define the type of data to be transferred, the CSP chosen, the already available technologies the company has, and most importantly how long the project will take. All this is focused on getting the right data and the right CSP.
The Migration : Once the migration starts, it opens up the door to multiple failures. That’s why one has to want to keep building each iteration off some experience from the previous one. Cloud migration is a very crucial step as a lot can go wrong here. Beware of the breaches that can happen during this stage. And also, it’s always better to run the migration step in a controlled environment first before migrating bigger chunks of data. Work with cloud providers to understand the options for cost savings, according to the specific requirements.
The Execution and Upkeep : Once the environment has been assessed and a plan has been mapped out, it’s time to execute the migration. The deciding factor of this stage is carrying out the migration with minimal disruption to normal operation, at the lowest cost, and as quickly as possible. If all these boxes are checked, then only one can call a migration successful.
If your data becomes inaccessible to users during a migration, you risk impacting your business operations. Moreover, the work is not done once that data has been migrated to the cloud. It is important to ensure that it is optimized, secure, and accessible. One also has to ensure that the regulatory compliance laws such as HIPAA and GDPR are not violated.
Now, let’s see some tips to accelerate the cloud migration step.
Conduct a Comprehensive Assessment
One of the best and also one of the easiest practices to accelerate cloud migration process is conducting a comprehensive internal assessment. Priortizing this step can save time, money, and efforts. An assessment enables the IT teams of businesses to set realistic migration targets, stay one step ahead, predict the future, and predict the cost. One can conduct a comprehensive assessment by keeping these five things in mind.
Discovery: Finding out what’s running on which platform or OS.
Tracking: Tracking the applications installed on physical servers to understand their makeup and compatibility.
Analysis: Use historical data and previous consumption rate of data to predict the cost and the future usage.
Dependency Mapping: Visualize application dependencies to mitigate issues.
Reporting: Create customized reports to analyze different scenarios that can help in choosing the right Cloud Service Provider or CSP
Safeguard Your Network
Cloud Migration takes time, unless one has exceptional network speed. Using private network connected to a dedicated outlet is the better way to go as this won’t compromise with the speed. More than that, it’s better to configure the cloud network with an optional internet gateway and an optional IPSec VPN connection to securely extend the on-site network.
Hire a Project Manager
Project Manager is on the site physically to look for any issues that might happen, because they understand what it takes to do a migration. Hiring a consulting project manager is advisable especially when the migration is complex, spread over multiple project teams.
Establish a Cloud Center of Excellence
Establishing a cloud center of excellence (COE) is quite effective during cloud migration. Irrespective of where a team is in the cloud adoption journey, a cloud COE is a great way to accelerate the entire process for the better. For this, build a dedicated cloud migration program team that includes a core team, a support team of technical SMEs, and a cross-functional team to keep the communication channels open because in the end, cloud increases dependency among the teams.
Invest in Required Tools
Going stringy with required tools can prove to be even more costlier in the long run. So, invest in a tool that helps do auto-discovery, assessment, and sometimes even migration. This, in turn, helps save substantial time and effort by making the process faster, and reduces the burden of application teams.
Get Done With the Bulk on Priority Get
The heavy stream of data created by just one large file slows down the entire process even though other files are not that big. This is why, a dedicated team should work on priority to create the landing zones for catering to more complex and space-consuming apps, so their bulk is moved away to fasten the process
Conclusion
Every action in the corporate world requires a well-formulated strategy that requires rigorous plan-making to begin with. In conclusion, the only way one can accelerate the entire migration process is by planning in advance. Doing the due diligence beforehand and focusing on planning, tweaking, and again planning will save tons of time, money, and efforts of the IT teams and they will just thank the decision makers in turn.
This is quite a bulky process that requires continuous coordination among multiple departments and teams. The communication flows both way and hindering this could cost a company unconsciously. Migrate safe, fast, and be done with it so you can focus on more pressing matters of a going concern.
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