A Blueprint for Successful Cloud Migration

6 types of cloud migration model

While a strength of the cloud is a broad uniformity and consistent user experience, there are multiple types of cloud migration, and no business journey along the roadmap will be identical. Identifying the right route for your business is key to adopting and following the right strategy.

• Lift-and-shift (rehosting): The fastest approach model to a migration effort is known as a lift-and-shift approach (a.k.a. rehosting). This takes a wholesale method to moving applications and data from the data center or server into the cloud, with minimal changes or immediate benefit beyond the speed of the effort, and ending dependence on costly data centers.
• Shifting to SaaS: For firms seeking greater value, shifting to SaaS is a more methodical and beneficial approach. Each original application that can benefit from SaaS is migrated, leaving those that are too complex where they were. Typically, this is done with common commoditized applications like email, office and back-office applications. Those with vertical-specific complexity or unique modifications won’t be good candidates.
• App refactoring: For those applications, app refactoring – replicating the app in a modern cloud environment – is the next approach. These apps can be improved and updated in the cloud to take advantage of open source services and the benefits of a powerful platform. Refactoring can take time, sometimes years depending on the complexity of the applications, but they set the company up for a more productive and agile future. 
• Replatforming: The replatforming approach, a modular design to make future improvements easier, replaces all existing code with cloud native solutions to deliver the best cloud performance. Cloud apps can be moved around best-of-breed services including open source offerings, across Amazon AWS, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure, depending on which provides the greatest benefits.
• Retaining and retiring: Finally, retaining focuses on applications that you might want to keep in their existing platform, while retiring is best suited for applications that have little business value or their features can be taken over by a more modern application.

9 common cloud migration challenges

Any migration effort comes with a number of challenges, some that face all companies, some that are specific, depending on their existing IT, infrastructure or operating model. Planning ahead to mitigate or avoid each challenge can reduce the complexity of a strategy and roadmap.

• Building a solid/plan strategy: A cloud migration strategy is likely more complex than previous IT strategies your business has had to develop. It needs to be based on an accurate map of your existing IT, applications, data and users. The strategy must build in fallback positions in case of a failure, and clearly highlight what success looks like. 
• Have the right pilot in place: Many firms try a pilot project first before fully committing to a cloud migration. The logical approach is to migrate an app and data that are simple to transfer without having a critical business impact, helping the business gain knowledge before the main event.
• Dumping legacy applications to go all-in on cloud: Cloud native companies have always had the “no baggage” advantage. That might make this approach appealing to those with issues with legacy or old applications. However, taking it could mean a long crossover period while data is moved and added to the new cloud applications, and complications if things don’t work out. 
• Choosing the best approach for a migration: The various methods of performing a cloud migration come with their own benefits and challenges. These need to be carefully considered, with professional advice sought if the business lacks experienced cloud resources and knowledge.
• Having the right people for each task: Businesses are fluid organizations, especially post-COVID. Having the right skills in place to manage each step of a migration can be a major challenge and cloud expertise is a valuable commodity, so skills challenges and shortages need to be factored into any strategy.
• Cost controls in the cloud era: If a cloud migration is successful, cost savings should be plentiful and measurable, but if it goes wrong with delays and failures, costs can build up rapidly. Planning for these costs and not overextending the technical teams within the business are a key part of meeting strategic challenges. Also, consider the costs of cloud repatriation if the experience turns out to be overwhelmingly negative.
• Choose the most flexible cloud options: Cloud service providers typically have sliding scales of charges or tiers to help manage costs. Firms with volatile performance or suddenly experiencing hypergrowth may find themselves using the cloud inefficiently or with a nasty case of bill shock that should be factored in.
• Maintaining cloud security: Most cloud providers offer security built-in, but that might not include features like end-to-end encryption, identity validation and concepts like zero trust which help ensure greater security. To ensure your team is equipped with the right knowledge and tools, visit the Cloud Security Hub.
• Solve resistance issues within the business: Business leaders and decision makers may have read scare stories about the cloud, and users might not be prepared to leave their old applications behind. Whatever the challenge, explain the benefits and show proven success stories to highlight how the cloud will position the business for a better future and improve the value of work.

10 steps to successful cloud migration

A cloud migration can be a long and complex project for the best-prepared of businesses. For others, it can look like a mountain to climb with uncertain rewards at the top. Whatever the approach, follow these steps throughout the process to maximize the change of success.

1. Ask: ”Why are we doing this”?

The first step any business should ask before it does anything is to define the ultimate purpose of the exercise. With cloud migration, answers should include what are the benefits? Who benefits? When will we see them? And how does this position the company for a better future?

2. Establish what the business needs

A cloud migration could be as simple as a raft of user accounts and a series of migrated applications with their associated data, but be as precise as possible to create a baseline of what the strategy needs to succeed in its migration and to prepare for future growth.

3. Evaluate the costs

Most costs will be factored into any strategic tasks, and when the numbers from Step 2 come in from various vendors. But alongside the best and middle case, consider all the worst case scenario costs to get a true scale of how high your overall expenses could reach.

Learn more: How to Calculate the Cost of Cloud Migration

4. Find the right cloud environment for your applications

Not all clouds are created equal, and there may be providers better suited to supporting your industry or applications. There might also be requirements over data sovereignty you need to observe, while larger businesses may prefer a multi-cloud approach to avoid vendor lock-in.

5. Choose the right service model

With everything-as-a-service becoming the order of the day for business, choosing the right one – and the right cloud partner – is a key step to success. From Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS), along with Network as a Service (NaaS) for good measure, they create a range of options that deliver various benefits and obstacles depending on the nature of the company.

Learn more: IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS: How to Choose What's Best for You

6. Build a solid data migration plan

Data migration is practically its own science, with the business needing a stream of current, well-formatted and valid data to migrate to the new service. Data may need to be processed or cleaned prior to migration and subject to new data quality and governance rules.

7. Migrate applications, restore data and test, test, test

Moving the applications and relinking them with data can take several steps on their own depending on the application complexity, but once complete, the new cloud service needs to be tested extensively before being unleashed on the userbase.

8. Gain early user feedback

While there may be manuals, FAQs and guidance, walk users through any new features or changes from the old application. Find out what they like and dislike about their new cloud, and take on board suggestions for improvement. 

9. Conduct strong security tests

Only when the system is live can it be truly checked for vulnerabilities, access weaknesses and the risk of data leaks. Thorough penetration testing should also be performed to keep bad actors out of the system.

10. Remember the cloud is an ongoing journey

Finally, your migration doesn’t end on the last page of the strategy. Cloud provides features and value far into the future – these benefits should be a part of longer-term strategies to ensure your organization is best placed to take advantage in both business and technical terms.

Final thoughts

The cloud is undeniable – a major step up from the legacy IT of monolithic apps updated every few years, and endless cycles of hardware upgrades. Cloud provides performance and value for the smallest to the largest of businesses. All it takes is clarity of purpose, the application of sound business logic and winning over doubters to make the cloud a success in any business.

Even a simple cloud solution and migration today could reap massive benefits in the future as factories, distributors, supply chain and service providers all turn to the cloud. Applications will soon be able to take advantage of leaps in artificial intelligence to provide deeper analytics. Mixed media and virtual or augmented reality will improve training and guidance, whatever the topic, while 5G and IoT will transform factories and global hubs, making them all part of the same dashboard, and further improving the depth and detail businesses can draw on from their data. 

Further Reading

• The Cloud Security Buyers Guide
• The State of Cloud Security in 2021
• IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS: How to Choose What's Best for You