Cloud Migration: Here is what you need to know

With migrating to the cloud comes many upsides and possibilities. Scalable workloads, faster deployments, time and cost-efficient security management, and various other ways to make sure your solution remains optimized – to mention a few. But it’s not always easy to hash out the framework of what your migration should look like, so let’s have a look at what you should know, during and after engaging in a migration project for a successful future in the cloud.

What is a ‘Cloud Migration Journey’?

Cloud migration is a structured process that facilitates the migration of digital assets (data, workloads, IT resources and applications) to the cloud infrastructure. It is a cost-effective process that negates the maintenance of an on-premises infrastructure. Migrating to the cloud is a cost-effective step that increases overall efficiency, speed and agility, while gathering all your resources, so that they can be accessible in a single click.

How do businesses approach the prospect of Cloud Migration?

The most crucial aspect of Cloud Migration is to pick a Cloud Service Provider that fits your company’s needs, such as Amazon Web Services, along with a competent Cloud Partner, who is well-versed in your platform of choice and can assist in setting your strategy, as well as executing important steps of the migration in collaboration with you. AWS is the largest cloud provider and helps businesses innovate faster. Being the preferred choice of leading businesses, migrating to the AWS cloud can fast-track an organization’s digital transformation, and pave the way for success.

The foundation of cloud migration is fundamentally based on seven factors known as the 7 ‘R’s, Re-architect, Replatform, Repurchase, Rehost, Relocate, Retain and Retire.

Picking the right AWS Partner as mentioned above is crucial, to decide what the best way forward is for your existing solution. Partners that specialize in migrating business critical workloads to AWS have processes in line with best practices in place, to ensure smoothness, function and efficiency for your cloud migration journey. These processes and practices will help you tremendously in laying out a proper foundation to revamp your IT infrastructure as well as grow your business at a steady pace.

Let’s look at a brief overview of all the phases of an efficient cloud migration journey:

Phase 1: Migration Preparation and Business Planning

The migration journey begins with a comprehensive assessment to gauge a business’ readiness to operate through the cloud. As mentioned above, this is where it’s important to pick the right cloud partner. In this phase, the desired business outcomes are identified and evaluated for further improvement, which includes considering your organizational capabilities as well as workforce skill-set and work culture. The preparation and planning phase will cater to all the specific needs of the organization.

Phase 2: Discovery and Planning

The discovery phase aims to evaluate your current situation, identifying both infrastructural and application aspects, functions and dependencies.. In Phase 2, a comprehensive migration plan is refined and finalized, by addressing the gaps in migration readiness of your environment and organization. Your cloud partner should have the right experience and expertise to navigate around or face any challenges during your journey to the cloud, should you be uncertain of what’s in the scope of your migration.

Phase 3: Architectural Design and migration structure

After deciding what, when and how to migrate, a comprehensive migration plan is created for each application and the workload that needs migrating. By starting with a few applications as ‘proof-of-concept’, you and your chosen partner can determine how the strategy and the selected tools work within the environment. Your AWS partner will be assisting you in tackling any obstacles that were discovered in Phase 1.

Phase 4: Migrating and Validating Applications

Businesses can also revamp their existing infrastructure solution by migrating their applications to AWS. Each application might need a unique approach in this process. In this phase, the process of migration begins once all the required parameters are considered and accounted for. The assessment and strategic planning performed in previous phases are now utilized for an efficient and smooth implementation, and the migrated applications will be validated and verified to determine that the migration was successful.

Phase 5: Operate And Re-invent

In Phase 5, the AWS partner will collaborate and co-ordinate with you to ensure the project is delivered successfully. While all the mentioned phases and strategies are commonly applied, challenges may pop-up post migration. Your partner can (should) be assisting in applying layers of optimization to your environment, to ensure that your costs remain as low as possible over time, performance isn’t lacking – and your environment remains secure and compliant according to company needs and requirements.