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By Brittany Fugate, CEO at Cenetric 

If your company isn’t making use of cloud storage, I’m afraid you might be a bit behind. According to Pluralsight’s 2023 State of the Cloud study, 70% of organizations report more than half of their infrastructure is in the cloud, and 49% say they’re actively moving more of their data to the cloud.

If none (or just some) of your data and applications are in the cloud, it’s time to think about making a move.   

What is cloud migration?

The process of cloud migration involves moving files, applications and data from physical servers you keep at your location to a cloud computing environment.

With information and tools in the cloud, users can instantly access applications and data over the internet — a must for hybrid and remote work. Additionally, cloud migration eliminates the need for expensive local servers and data centers, allowing businesses to allocate resources elsewhere.

The benefits of cloud migration

What’s the big deal about “the cloud,” anyway? Does your business really need it? Making your data accessible through the cloud adds value to your business through efficiency and cost savings — not to mention convenience for you and your team. 

Scalability

Cloud migration makes it easier to add and remove resources when needed. As demand increases, your business’s computer processing, memory and storage can expand to accommodate the traffic without a lot of hassle.

Then, if demand decreases, resources can shrink to just what’s necessary to run your business. This means you’ll only be paying for what you need when you need it. 

Cost savings

When compared to a local, on-premises environment, the cost advantage becomes clear. To accommodate large amounts of traffic, like on Black Friday for retail businesses, you’d have to have large enough data centers to meet that demand — or risk customers being denied access. For the rest of the year, much of your data centers would be unused, making your investment almost worthless.  

A cloud migration strategy helps you manage your budget by leaving operating costs in the hands of your cloud provider’s professional staff. That way, you’re not incurring large upfront costs and managing ongoing maintenance requirements — all while the equipment depreciates in value.  

Accessibility

Accessibility to data and systems is critical for companies that offer remote or hybrid work. Fortunately, cloud computing makes your resources available anywhere an employee has a device and an internet connection. Cloud accessibility makes it easy to quickly get to work. (Make sure you have the correct amount of  bandwidth available.)  

Reliability

The best cloud providers use world-class technology to offer low latency for faster speeds and data backups for quick recovery in case of a disaster, like a cyberattack.

Security

One of the main concerns about cloud migration is the security of sensitive company data, but this is actually one of the best things about cloud migration. Providers’ businesses rely on them giving you a secure, compliant environment with the most up-to-date protections and they take that seriously. 

The protections they offer are usually an enormous step up from the average security practices of businesses for their local computing resources. Your information is likely more secure with a cloud provider than in your own building.

Challenges of cloud migration

While a successful migration brings a lot of advantages, you may have to overcome a few hurdles along the way. Your cloud migration could end up wasting resources instead of saving them if you don’t find a way to avoid these challenges.  

Complicated process

Typically, cloud migration can be a complicated process. It requires planning and professional help to ensure your business’s data is as streamlined and safe as before you transitioned to the cloud.  

Vulnerability during migration

While data is being transferred, you can still face small vulnerabilities. Having expert help will make sure all of your data is intact and secure in its new location. 

Large databases

If your business has a significant amount of data to transfer, it can be more difficult to migrate to the cloud. Sometimes, databases won’t be able to function in the cloud unless they’re moved to a new platform, and large databases could take too long to upload through the internet. In other cases, you may need to load the data onto physical hardware and ship it to the cloud provider.  

That probably sounds overwhelming, but you don’t have to try to figure it out. That’s what the pros are for.

Common migration strategies

There are three different ways you can go about migrating your data.  

1. Lift and shift

Also called rehosting, the lift and shift method means you’re migrating your data to the cloud with no changes. It can be used for simple migrations by organizations without many complex applications.

There could be hidden costs with this method, though. Making minimal changes might mean you’ll have to pay more over time. Without optimizing your data before the move to the cloud, your cloud operations might be less efficient and cost more.  

2. Improve and move

Known as re-platforming, the improve and move method involves updating your data to ensure it fits into its new environment.

This option provides more benefits than lifting and shifting but could still seem inferior when compared to the rip and replace method. However, it’s generally easy to implement.  

3. Rip and replace

This strategy is also called refactoring and involves rebuilding all of your data to be cloud-native. This approach takes more time and effort, but it’ll provide your business with maximum benefits in the long run.  

Repurchasing, retiring and retaining

While you’re considering your options, you’ll want to think about repurchasing, retiring and retaining your data. Repurchasing refers to when you have an application that can’t move to the cloud, so you simply buy a new comparable product.

When you’re looking over everything, you may find an application you don’t even need — retiring that application will save money and time. Lastly, retaining is a strategy you can use when you aren’t ready to move specific data to the cloud.  

This is where working with a vendor-neutral managed services provider on a cloud migration project comes in handy. When you choose an MSP that’s not required to stick to one particular provider, you get the exact tools and services you need — not what the MSP is required to offer you through their partnership.

The cloud migration process

The move to the cloud requires planning, monitoring and professional implementation.  

1. Make a plan

First, plan for what you need to move. Are you moving everything at once or leaving some data to look over later? Decide which strategy is best for your business. Take inventory of everything you need to move (lifted and shifted) and what might need replatformed (improved and moved) or refactored (ripped and replaced).  

2. Establish key performance indicators

Next, you’ll need to set goals and decide on some key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you monitor your success. Consider why you’re migrating in the first place and make sure you have a way to track whether you’re receiving the benefits you expected.  

3. Migrate slowly

Once you’re ready to get started, you’ll want to begin the migration with something small and simple. This will help you figure out the process and reveal any complications you must iron out. After it’s moved, test everything and make sure it works.  

Common cloud platforms

There are a few different cloud platforms to consider. The two we work with at Cenetric are Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). There are many small differences between the two platforms, so the best one for you depends on your specific situation. 

Microsoft Azure

Azure is a relatively new cloud computing solution but is also a strong frontrunner. Many businesses already rely on other Microsoft applications, and Azure is able to integrate perfectly with them.  

Amazon Web Services 

AWS is one of the oldest solutions and has been the market leader for a decade. It offers comprehensive service with a more developed infrastructure than some of its competitors. 

Cenetric can take the worries of cloud migration off your shoulders

Whether you need help moving a few key systems to the cloud or you want to move your operations entirely, our experts can help you determine the best plan for your cloud migration and guide you through the process.

If cloud migration (or any other IT project) has you overwhelmed, tell us about it. Cenetric has the reliable experts you need to help you make sense of it all.