The process of Cloud Migration has grown intensely in the last two years. According to a Gartner report, it will be one of the tech trends in 2024, going along with the aim of companies willing to optimize costs and improve services. They estimate that, worldwide, spending on cloud services will increase by 20.7% and generate a total business of $591.8 billion.  

In this article, we will look at what a cloud migration strategy is and what benefits it brings to organizations. Besides, we’re reviewing:  

• The steps to achieve a successful migration to the cloud
• The different strategies according to the needs of each company
• The best practices to follow.

What is a Cloud Migration Strategy and why is it crucial for businesses?

A Cloud Migration Strategy is a plan developed by an organization to transfer data, applications, and services to the cloud. Cloud computing is a series of Internet-based services such as data storage, servers, databases, networks, and software. And this type of computing has important advantages for companies, as we will see below. 

How can Cloud Migration benefit businesses?

Companies that start cloud migration can have great advantages that allow them to focus on core business or increase the innovation skills of their teams, among other benefits. These are some of the main advantages derived from cloud migration: 

• Cost savings.
• Increased agility and flexibility
• Increased productivity
• Scalability
• New businesses opportunities
• Improved customer awareness

Steps to a Successful Cloud Migration Strategy

The first thing to keep in mind when planning a cloud migration strategy is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for successfully migrating to the cloud. There are many factors to consider since each organization has unique goals and needs. Here are some of the steps we believe you should be aware of before beginning the migration process: 

Think of a good plan:

Before starting work on the migration journey, organizations must carefully consider the characteristics and goals to be achieved. Because the main goal of cloud migration strategies is to increase productivity, improve communication, and ensure greater customer satisfaction, you should never lose sight of the company’s core business. 

Planning also involves knowing the existing assets (human and technological) and designing the KPIs needed to attain the desired results.   

Choose the right Cloud Model:

There are different cloud computing models, depending on the needs of each company (which, as mentioned above, must be clearly defined). Each provider offers different services, and it is important to have the right information to make the best decision.  

Another alternative is to hire Consulting Services to help your company develop a precise strategy for migrations and deployments.  

These are some of the categories of cloud computing services you should be aware of:   

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): The IaaS model has the basic components of cloud computing and provides access to network functions, computers (virtual or dedicated hardware), and data storage space. Offers flexibility and management control over IT resources.

• Platform as a service (PaaS): The PaaS model allows organizations to dispense with the management of the underlying infrastructure and focus on the deployment and management of applications. This reduces maintenance tasks to keep applications running.

• Serverless computing: Although it is like the PaaS model in that it allows applications to be built without the need for infrastructure management, both models have differences. For example, serverless computing (which does not imply that there are no servers) enables faster scalability because it does not require developer configuration. Another distinction is that this model is pay-as-you-go rather than a flat fee like PaaS.

• Software as a Service (SaaS): The SaaS model offers a complete product run and managed by the service provider.

Research the most suitable Cloud provider:

When hiring a cloud service provider, we are entrusting some of the most valuable assets of a company: data and applications. That is why it is essential to take these aspects into account before making the purchase:  

• Reliability.
• Security and compliance with data protection policies.
• Legal protections and SLAs.
• Performance.
• Disaster recovery.
• Support.

Build the team to make it happen:

Once you have the plan defined, you will now need the right professionals to execute it smoothly. Having a team of developers with the right knowledge and experience will increase the chances of a successful migration. 

These are some of the key positions an organization needs to make a successful migration to the cloud:   

• Project Manager
• Solution Architect
• DevOps Engineer
• Cloud Administrator
• Cloud Security Manager

(If you need to hire professionals with years of experience and proven skills to complete your project quickly, contact us) 

The 6 R´s: Different Strategies for Cloud Migration

Transferring large amounts of data to the cloud is an arduous process, so there are different strategies for doing so. This is a guide from Amazon with 6 different strategies that organizations can apply to perform the migration securely and reliably: 

1. Re-hosting: This strategy consists of a process of moving data from on-premises storage and redeploying it to cloud servers. 

2. Re-platforming: It is similar to the Rehosting process but with some minor modifications that involve some programming experience. However, the application architecture stays intact. 

3. Re-purchasing: It involves abandoning the on-premises software you currently have to hire a SaaS platform or another cloud platform (Salesforce, Workday, Drupal, etc). 

4. Re-architecting: This is the most costly and time-consuming strategy. However, it can bring excellent results to fully exploit the capabilities of cloud computing. It consists of rewriting applications from scratch to build them natively in the cloud. 

5. Retiring: Some parts of the infrastructure may become obsolete or useless for organizations. For this reason, companies may decide to turn off to optimize costs and dedicate resources to applications that are the core business. 

6. Retaining: On some occasions, for financial and operational reasons, organizations may choose to keep some modules of the infrastructure on premises. 

Best Practices

Prioritize security:

One of the most important aspects of successful cloud migration is security. It is critical to protect data and workloads while transferring them to the cloud because these assets can be vulnerable if not managed carefully. In general, responsibility is shared between the customer and the service provider, as the customer is responsible for cloud security and the provider is responsible for cloud infrastructure security. 

Some of the issues to consider when thinking about cloud security are:  

• Governance
• API vulnerability
• Regulatory and compliance requirements
• Disaster recovery

Prepare your staff:

Migration involves major changes within an organization that can cause negative reactions in teams, based on the fear of the unknown and of leaving the comfort zone. For this reason, it is essential to communicate with employees about the changes in advance. It is also reassuring to communicate the tasks and changes that will affect each person so that when it is time for the migration, they will already be prepared. 

It is also vital to have continuous learning processes that provide training and all necessary tools so that each employee can perform tasks and become more specialized over time. 

Define goals:

Like digital transformation processes, migration to the cloud is not a goal in itself. Companies should analyze the benefits and challenges involved in the process to make it as efficient as possible. Another aspect to keep in mind is that it is necessary to document each stage of the process and communicate progress to the entire team. 

Consider outsourcing:

An outsourcing provider can help organizations drive the cloud migration strategy, but it is also helpful in recruiting the best talent for key roles in the development of the applications. To carry out the complex migration process, it is especially important to have professionals with the experience and skills required for these technologies. 

What provider is the best option for your company?

There is a wide variety of cloud products and services, with high standards of security, quality, and performance. In general, the differences between the services of the world’s leading providers are very subtle. To make the best decision and hire the service that best suits your needs you will have to analyze in detail the pros and cons of each company. 

The following are some of the features of the main cloud platform providers that share most of the market share: 

AWS:

Amazon Web Service is the number 1 provider in the market. It offers great flexibility and ease of use. It allows you to choose the operating system, programming language, web application platform, database or other services. The flexibility it offers allows you to focus resources on other core business aspects instead of infrastructure. 

AWS services also are recognized for agility and scalability thanks to a wide range of tools that allow you to always have access to resources and storage. 

AWS employs a comprehensive approach to infrastructure protection, including physical operational and software measures. And has certifications and accreditations to manage companies’ IT infrastructure in a secure and long-term way. 

Azure:

It is the second-largest platform in the market. It is a cloud service suitable for companies, and especially very convenient for those who have contracted the entire Microsoft ecosystem. 

The pricing scheme shows that it is up to 5 times cheaper than other clouds; specifically, because the optimization scheme is very efficient. 

Azure can provide both a public cloud and a private cloud in a computing environment that allows your applications to be shared between them. It allows the flexibility and convenience to customize the needs that best suit your business and you can feel secure whether you choose a SaaS or PaaS route.  

With respect to cybersecurity, it has an AI system with the ability to prevent threats. It also allows you to encrypt backup information and data transferred to the cloud. 

It is compatible with multi-cloud environments so it can manage AWS and GPC solutions to provide companies with better management of their clouds.  

GCP:

It stands out for easing innovation for organizations because it supplies the latest tools to work on AI, machine learning, and Big Data projects.  

In terms of security, it has end-to-end encryption to reduce the chances of cyber-attacks. 

Another of its advantages has to do with restoring data in a noticeably short time compared to other providers. 

Oracle:

Oracle’s differential is the adaptive intelligence that allows identifying market trends, generating a competitive advantage. By supplying a more personalized service, it is also possible to improve the customer experience. 

Conclusion

Achieving a successful cloud migration strategy is a complex process, but if you have the help of experts, it can be much easier. We provide cloud services, consulting, and support to help your company with the specific functionalities and needs to create the conditions for success.  

Contact us to learn more about our services!