As the world is switching to digital methods, businesses are also pursuing digital transformation to accelerate decision making, improve workflows, and create advanced consumer experiences. In this transition, a well-established cloud migration strategy can do wonders.
The cloud acts as a catalyst, and it impacts the business when appropriately implemented and can truly bring transformation from top to bottom. At the beginning of any organization’s journey to the cloud, it must assess its performance.
According to statistics, the combined end-user spending on cloud services totaled $332.3 billion in 2021, and the projections indicate that this figure can rise to a whopping amount of $397.5 billion. Moreover, Gartner predicts that 28% of spending within crucial IT segments may shift to the cloud by 2022.
What Advantages Does Cloud Migration Have for a Company?
One of the most significant advantages cloud migration can bring to a business is space savings. In fact, it is the next evolution of data storage since the analog era, where folders, files, and boxes were stacked on endless shelves.
Moreover, due to the extremely high volume of data handled by businesses nowadays, the growing need for data hosting outside the business’s computer equipment is unquestionable. With terabytes of data circulating over the network- between videos, images, or even emails-saving all this information locally requires increasingly larger hard drives and servers.
Nowadays, in the era of streaming, data is increasingly imponderable: according to a recent study, more than 3000 terabytes of data are moved around the world via the Internet in just one minute, more than four million Google searches are performed, and some 160 million emails are sent. Undoubtedly, saving space is one of the primary advantages of data migration for businesses, but it is not the only one.
To stay competitive, it is a no-brainer that businesses have to migrate to the cloud while carrying their legacy business systems. Implementing a successful cloud migration platform requires several strategic steps, as mentioned below:
- Define a goals-based strategy: Whether your business is running traditional or online, the first step of a successful business is determining the goals. Enterprises can develop cloud strategies based on their future needs and current IT infrastructure and capabilities. However, businesses are often excited about the benefits of moving to the cloud without any particular goals.
This often leads to hassle and lowers the ability to take advantage of the newly acquired cloud power. Each project goal falls back to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), business goals, and technology advancements. Defining these goals and aligning them with the digital build-up can help your business achieve the desired target.
- Estimate the costs associated with your strategy: Moving from your legacy business setup into unknown territory can be filled with risks and higher maintenance costs. So, while establishing any cloud migration services, businesses should identify the monetary factors and address them upfront to maintain transparency.
While many businesses decide to move to the cloud to reduce costs, it’s recommended to estimate all the necessary costs before moving your data to the cloud. Estimating all costs before shifting to the cloud is crucial.
But what all should be estimated?
Firstly, the cost of storing resources and operating processes inside the cloud should be estimated. Further, businesses should also ensure that there are no additional or hidden costs, whether they work with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) or wish to migrate the data independently. The next thing businesses need to focus on is that the latest cloud-based processes require hiring additional staff. To determine the overall cost of cloud migration, businesses also need to break it down into different elements such as bandwidth costs, data centers, disaster recovery costs, etc.
Utilize tools to create price estimates for cloud configuration and consider geographic distribution, remote access, agility, and scalability before justifying the costs.
- Choose the cloud environment that fits your requirements: You need to change the business setup after calculating the costs. It is essential to choose the type of cloud model that complements your cloud migration strategy. You need to understand where your data and applications will be stored and offer consumers a seamless experience.
You can choose from four options- Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Private Cloud, and Multi-Cloud.
- Determine what should be migrated: Every part of a business can’t be established under the IT infrastructure. That is why businesses should prepare an inventory of applications, processes, and data and assess their viability for cloud migration. For example- there is no point in adding non-essential and non-standardized applications incompatible with a function. It should be necessary to determine the delivery of benefits that were kept in mind for cloud migration.
- Be sure to include automated cloud migration: When you automate cloud migration, it can address the consumption, productivity, and skill gaps. The automation can reduce manual efforts and involves core areas such as installing, patching code, and managing cloud services.
When businesses automate the migration, they can achieve minimal disruption during migration, and the business’s current goals are achieved.
Conclusion
Cloud computing started in the early 2000s when service-oriented architectures made offloading data and processing possible. As time passed, organizations started implementing cloud migrations to improve efficiency and minimize maintenance costs.
However, every cloud migration needs an effective strategy so that the businesses can run smoothly. If cloud migration becomes more burdensome than beneficial, you need to change your strategy. You can also hire professional cloud migration service providers and establish a successful cloud migration for digital transformation.
