9 Steps to Ensure Success in Cloud Migration

9 Steps to Ensure Success in Cloud Migration

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We believe that the cloud is the future of all business infrastructure. Cloud migration has become one of the biggest prospects and challenges for any modern organisation. Here are nine steps to ensure you successfully migrate your business to the cloud.  

1 Define Business Purpose

Your business purpose is the reason that your company was originally founded. It sets you apart from other companies and ensures that you remain on task to achieve what it was created to do.

Ensuring that your business purpose is well-defined when migrating to the cloud ensures that none of the essence of your company is lost when making the move over.  It allows you to ensure that your business is still focused on the core tenets it was founded on, even with a new infrastructure.

2 Set Migration Objectives

Understanding why your company wants to move over to the cloud and having a clear vision of what to expect to achieve post-migration is vital in ensuring that the process is successful and beneficial to your company in the long term.

By identifying your specific goals and objectives, your company can know exactly what it wants to achieve. That way, you can ensure that you’re making the right decisions to carry out your vision.

Setting measurable objectives will also help you measure the success of your migration strategy. Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) in the measurable areas that you expect to improve performance in when migrating to the cloud will help you ensure that the process is beneficial for your company.

3 Select Cloud Provider and Migration Partner

There are many cloud providers available to your company, and choosing the right one may seem tough. The best way of knowing what you need is by getting in touch with a migration provider like Extech Cloud.

We’ll be able to guide you through the entire migration process and beyond to ensure that your business achieves exactly what you desire from the cloud, stress-free.

4 Choose Cloud Environment and Deployment Model

There are four types of cloud environments that are generally available for businesses to choose from:

• Public Cloud: Public cloud servers are shared between organisations, meaning that they’re cheaper and more affordable for any business. However, a public cloud server is generally less customisable and provides fewer security features.
• Private Cloud: Private cloud servers are dedicated to your organisation and are highly secure and customisable to your needs. These kinds of servers can be costly to maintain and have security limitations for your organisation.
• Hybrid Cloud: This is the combination of both public and private cloud infrastructure, giving you the security benefits of a private cloud but the flexibility of a public cloud.
• Multi-Cloud: The least common of the four, a multi-cloud infrastructure is when an organisation uses multiple cloud providers at a time.

There are also three deployment models to choose from:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): IaaS is when a provider gives you the infrastructure (servers, storage, etc.) of a cloud deployment, and lets your organisation handle the rest.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): PaaS is when a provider gives you applications and other native inclusions as part of their service.
• Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS providers will handle everything for your organisation and look after your organisation holistically.

With so many options, finding the right choice for your business is easy! Just get in touch with us, and we’ll be able to walk you through the best steps for your organisation.

5 Decide on Migration Method

The next step is identifying exactly how you’ll migrate over to the cloud. This is crucial, as it will define the process that your business will undertake.

Doing so will require evaluation and planning, but there are several options available to you at this stage. Your cloud partner will be able to help you work out which migration method is best for your organisation and assist you in the thorough evaluation and planning process to ensure success.

6 Create a Data Migration Plan

Your data migration plan is essential to being able to migrate effectively. Your data migration plan effectively decides how your data will be migrated, and there’s a host of different options to choose from, some of which include:

• Bidirectional Sync: This is the merging of your cloud server with your on-premise servers, enabling them to work together.
• Upwards Sync: With this plan, you’ll create a clone of your on-premise servers in the cloud, then switch servers once the build is complete.

7 Migrate

Once everything has been decided, you can undertake your migration plan and finally transfer your infrastructure to the cloud.

Ensuring you follow these steps is crucial, as your migration may be unsuccessful if you don’t strictly adhere to a plan and the specific objectives that you’ve laid out.

8 Test Cloud Deployment Against Migration Objectives

After having migrated your business to the cloud, test your cloud deployment against your migration objectives and KPIs. It is vital to ensure that the benefits you were expecting from the migration are being achieved, or if further adjustments need to be made.

9 Optimise for Security and Cost

Continuing to test and adjust as your business moves forward is important for the longevity of your business’s success. As you move forward, you can optimise various parts of your business to ensure that your costs remain low, and your security posture is strong.

How Extech Cloud Can Help

Migrating to the cloud can be tedious and difficult, so a solid plan and a helping hand can help take the strain of the process away. If you’re thinking of moving to the cloud, we’re here to help.

The Extech Cloud experts will guide you through the whole process of cloud migration, and act as your partner to ensure that your migration is successful. From your migration strategy to the minutiae of your cloud environment, model, and deployment method we have your back.

Contact the Extech Cloud team today to find out more and speak with a cloud specialist.