Are you dragging your feet when it comes to the cloud? Is it the idea of migrating that’s making you second guess whether the cloud is actually worth the trouble? Before you give up on the cloud for good, check out these 5 steps for a painless cloud migration.
Over the past decade, the cloud has rapidly become one of the most integral technologies in modern society. Both for private consumers and business purposes, the cloud has offered a range of benefits, from convenient access to data to cost-savings in hardware reduction.
Put simply – the cloud has changed the nature of IT, and business as a whole.
That’s why it’s a safe bet that you’re already using it – but if you aren’t, what are you waiting for?
Are you worried about the migration?
What is the cloud?
Before we talk about migration, let’s make sure we’re on the same about what the cloud really is.
In a nutshell, the cloud is a network of technologies that allows access to computing resources, such as storage, processing power, and more. That’s where the data is – in these data centers all around the world. Which data center your data is in depends on what cloud service provider you’re working with.
Why bother with the cloud?
For the same reasons that thousands of other businesses around the world have already adopted cloud computing:
- Computing Power: The cloud has the ability to activate tens of thousands of CPUs. This unparalleled power can quickly perform deep analytics of your data, and process nearly any ad-hoc queries that you require.
- Reliable Costs: The cloud services subscription model offers the strategic advantage of low-cost, low-risk opt-in combined with a simple, predictable monthly fee.
- Easy Scalability: Cloud services have the unique strategic characteristic of being able to stretch or shrink to suit your current level of demand. This is especially useful for businesses of scale or companies that go through seasons of activity.
- Real-Time Collaboration: With cloud technology, your staff doesn’t have to wait for each other to be done with their part of the document or project in order to tackle their own aspect. They can all work on the same project at the same time to maximize productivity.
- Remote Work Capability: This cloud feature allows you and your employees to work remotely as need be, which will give your business members the flexibility they desire to have a more balanced home/work life.
Why hesitate to move to the cloud?
In a word?
Migration.
There are any number of fears related to cloud migration…
During the transition, you could lose some key files for good with no backup or redundancies to replace it.
The migration, already expensive, takes longer than you expected and adds what you thought was avoidable downtime to your staff’s work life.
Once it finally gets installed and launched, you find out the platform is overly complicated and difficult to learn, leading to more downtime for your staff.
Does that mean you should forget about the cloud and what it could do for you?
Of course not.
It just means you have to plan your migration carefully…
The 5 steps for a painless cloud migration:
Evaluate your infrastructure.
Do you plan on moving completely to the cloud, or maintaining a hybrid environment?
Some businesses don’t both to migrate all their server-side architecture to the cloud – regardless of whether you do or not, you have to take stock of your servers, and associated software, to ensure it is all compatible with the new cloud environment you are planning.
Plan carefully.
Be sure to specifically lay out how you plan to virtualize your back end. This will largely depend on your size…
- Small businesses – It would make sense to leave certain aspects like email and apps on-site, especially if they don’t require too much storage.
- Larger businesses – For your line of business apps and dozens of accounts associated with your email client, you can likely afford the cloud storage needed to host these aspects offsite.
Determine your budget before – not after.
The best way to figure out which cloud service you want to go with is to know how much you can spend. The price tag will help you sort out options.
And don’t worry, a small budget won’t limit your options too much. A key benefit of the cloud is its scalability. In most cases, you can start small on a great cloud service, and scale up and pay more later as you need it.
Be sure to keep this scalability in mind from the start – do you anticipate needing to scale up by a considerable degree, within a year at the soonest? Make sure your cloud service of choice can handle where your business will be in 5 years.
Will you be secure?
Depending on the industry in which you operate, you may have more pressing security concerns than other businesses.
In order to maintain data security, or even to comply with certain regulations, you may need to keep some of your data on site.
Keep this priority in mind when determining whether you need a hybrid cloud environment or not. With a combination of onsite storage for secure data and a cloud platform for everything else, you can get the best of both worlds.
Do you need help?
Lastly, before you start, you should figure out if you can handle the migration on your own.
There’s no shame in needing help. Especially when it’s a matter of migrating all your apps, data and other IT assets to a totally new environment.
However, if you have the time, knowledge and skills to handle it on your own, that will certainly be more cost-effective. But don’t forget – better safe (and a little more expensive) than sorry.
As you can see, the prospect of migrating to the cloud doesn’t have to scare you away completely. With the right knowledge and planning, you can mitigate the common challenges that come with shifting to a cloud-based IT environment.
Like this article? Check out the following blogs on the cloud to learn more:
How Can You Save Money With The Cloud?
