What is Cloud Migration? Strategy, Process, and Tools

A cloud migration strategy is a comprehensive plan that details how a company’s digital assets, such as IT resources, databases, and applications, will be moved from on-premises or co-located environments to the cloud. This transition can be partial or complete and involves migrating from one cloud platform to another, often referred to as cloud-to-cloud migration.

Cybersecurity Ventures noted that more than 100 Zettabytes of data are stored in cloud data centers and will be worth about $448.34 billion by 2025. These numbers portray the expanse of the cloud market. Businesses adapt to cloud technologies due to several factors and an effective cloud migration strategy can offer a clear roadmap. Cloud Migration ensures a seamless transition optimizing the functional efficiencies offered through the cloud platform.

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the process of moving data, virtual machines, applications, or other business elements from the on-premise computers to the cloud or moving data from one cloud space to another. Data transfer and mobile applications from a local on-premise data center to the cloud is one of the more common cloud migration models. Reverse cloud migration is also considered as cloud repatriation or departure, taking place when data or applications get relocated from the cloud to the local data centers.

Top Cloud Migration Tools

AWS Migration Tools

One prominent cloud service is Amazon Web Services. AWS offers  migration services for businesses to move data without any downtime. Amazon  offers reliable migration software that enables businesses to migrate to the cloud without transforming the goal or the source. The tool is accessible and companies need not download any drivers or applications.

Azure

Azure Migrate is one of the most  important migration solutions. Azure offers insights, progress monitoring, and recommendations  to assist in  completion of  cloud migrations. Azure Migrate is the Server Assessment and Server Migration tool used for assessing and migrating Hyper-V, public clouds, VMware, and other virtual machines to Azure. These tools are located within the Azure dashboard for efficient integration and functionality.

Carbonite Migrate

Carbonite Migrate offers highly efficient, secure migration solutions for the physical, cloud, and virtual workloads. It comes with less risk and without any downtime for your business. The Carbonite Migrate tool enables businesses to transfer assets seamlessly and without any disruptions.

Turbonomic

Turbonomic optimizes data management in hybrid cloud environments through intelligent automation. Its tools streamline operations across various phases, providing real-time visibility into resource consumption and usage patterns. This empowers teams to make informed decisions, scale infrastructure efficiently, and maximize data center capabilities.

Google Cloud

Google Cloud migration offers different services and solutions to migrate data and applications to the cloud infrastructure. Platforms like Oracle, Microsoft SQL Servers,  offer information migrations, modernized options, and application migrations. Additionally, these products integrate artificial intelligence, automating repeatable tasks during migrations, variations, and modernization. The database migration solutions enable the clients to integrate the databases across the Google Cloud services, fostering endless combinations and automating the deployments through the constant delivery pipelines.

The Cloud Migration Process

The complexity and the size of any infrastructure determine the migration pathway to the cloud. These are the fundamental steps of the process of cloud migration:

Planning Cloud Migration

Before the users start, they should understand the necessity of making this change and the method that helps customers. Start by assessing one’s current situation. This will help prevent purchasing more than what you need by evaluating the overall cloud server requirements that depend on the current application resource requirements.

Choosing a Cloud Environment

Following the cloud migration planning, the users would clearly know what to do. They should determine the type of cloud model they need to employ. It hinges on their current and future needs, regardless of whether they choose a cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud.

Migrating Data and Apps

Migrating data and apps involves implementing a migration plan following the evaluation of the space and strategy that needs to be developed. The main objective is to complete the migration with the least interruptions and expenses in the shortest timeframe.

Validating Post-Move Success

After the data is shifted to the cloud, it is important to ensure that it is organized and retrievable in the future. This helps detect real-time changes to the required infrastructure and predict possible workload conflicts.

Best Practices for Success

Ensuring the seamless transition to the cloud involves careful planning, strategic decision-making, and following best practices. Here are the approaches that a business should implement.

Define Goals

A successful cloud migration solution requires proper alignment between every stakeholder involved and clear knowledge about the possible outcomes. Goal setting plays a pivotal role in this process. The business cases for the cloud migration strategy are formal and documented. Some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) should be measured to assess the activity across the cloud migration as part of the goals.

Decide Which Assets Will Be Moved and When

To devise a successful cloud migration strategy, a comprehensive assessment of the existing infrastructure is crucial. Stakeholders must meticulously examine every component including data, software, services, and hardware within this system when determining the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of migrating each element. It’s imperative to identify interdependencies and create a detailed inventory of assets.

Use Cloud Cost Calculators

While cloud costs may initially seem lower, their dynamic nature can lead to unexpected expenses. Strategies that worked flawlessly on-premises might turn into expensive mistakes on the cloud. To mitigate these risks, enterprises often rely on cloud cost calculators provided by various Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers. Cloud migration teams use these calculators to estimate the total costs of their cloud setups.

Ensure That a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) Is in Place

Cloud migration often involves a tried-and-tested setup. Despite the clearest of strategies, fail-safes and backups are enough to handle the unforeseen downtimes. A disaster recovery plan often helps here. The majority of businesses have their DRPs in place, but they need to test or update them regularly. Companies should ensure that their DRP is foolproof upon drafting the cloud migration strategy.

Choose the Right Cloud Provider

Choosing the right cloud migration provider is essential since it is a long-term decision. Choose the one that offers the services you need and grows with your business. Businesses using the latest technology have a better chance of staying competitive. Businesses often use one or more cloud providers to safeguard themselves from risks. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why Do Companies Migrate to the Cloud?

Once businesses migrate to the cloud, they will need fewer resources or in-house teams. This will also benefit them by reducing long-term operational costs.

2. How Do I Ensure the Right Users Have Access to Post-Migration?

Rather than unintentionally excluding users from data access, which hinders their ability to perform their jobs, focus on ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to the information they need.

3. What Are Cloud Migration Services?

Cloud migration is the process of moving a company’s services, digital assets, IT resources, databases, and applications partially or completely to the cloud. Contact us today to learn more about migrating your business to the cloud.