What’s Involved in the Cloud Migration Process?

Cloud environments are more common than ever before, allowing for easier access to information at any time. By taking historical data and bringing it into a virtual atmosphere with newer, real-time data, businesses are making strides in an era of digital transformation. The task of working with the right cloud provider to help migrate previously existing data into a public or private cloud, or even a hybrid environment, is key to any organization’s success in data management. Here’s what you need to know about cloud migration.

What Is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the process of moving on-premises applications, data, and infrastructure to a virtual cloud platform. The cloud migration process helps to make resources available on-demand without requiring active management by the user that employs it. In this context, the “cloud” refers to multiple availability models involving the private, public, or hybrid cloud. Cloud technology essentially creates a new benchmark for modern IT operations by shifting computing costs, allowing for resources to be increased or decreased, emphasizing scalability intertwined with accessibility.

Cloud environments have given businesses the systems through which data can be collected, taking the next dedicated stage to create value. The cloud has given the infrastructure and stable foundation for organizations to build on, but this forward progress in predictive and behavioral analysis is vital for industry leaders. The enhanced benefits of the cloud are now resetting the pacing for handling workload and optimizing output. By bridging the gap between historical databases and creating a self-healing environment, companies are creating a secure platform to perform IT processes.

Different Paths of Cloud Migration

Cloud migration could involve moving all of your systems to a digital platform or keeping some form of on-premises technology in a hybrid environment. Many applications can be migrated to the cloud while others need to be reengineered to take full advantage of the scalability and flexibility within these cloud services. When considering cloud migration options, it’s important to remember there’s no one-size-fits-all approach that can be applied across an entire application portfolio. Business users need to consider their timeline for cloud adoption and the degree of migration effort being undertaken.

Analysts recognize the essential five ways to achieve cloud migration, better known as the five R’s: rehost, refactor, revise, rearchitect, and rebuild. The rehost option, also known as “lift and shift,” is a quick way to industrialize applications by exploiting cloud capabilities. The refactor option extends rehost by leveraging applicable native cloud services from a provider. The revise or rearchitect options reorganize and restructure applications to adopt services for elastic scalability. The rebuild option is chosen when it’s determined the effort and challenge required to rearchitect applications is too high as part of a larger engagement strategy.

Benefits of Migration

Regardless of the type of cloud or the method of cloud deployment, this migration technology is a tremendous asset to integrate business tools and pair with other technologies for a safe and seamless transfer of data. Cloud migration reduces IT costs by eliminating the purchase, management, and maintenance expenses of on-premises systems. A cloud strategy team has an easier time than ever finding a scalable option that adjusts according to organizational and storage needs. This saves businesses on downtime while being able to handle spikes in workload.

A cloud transition is affording a new level of support in business continuity, minimizing downtime and loss of productivity with secure data backup. This is allowing greater collaboration efficiency by letting systems communicate and share information easily from global access points, making a large migration project that much easier thanks to the controls in place for proper cloud strategy. With enhanced security and continuous support, the migration journey is easier than ever for businesses to tackle.