Cloud migration: the 4 best-known strategies for a successful transition to the cloud

Across all industries, an increasing number of organizations are choosing to migrate their data storage to the cloud. The corona pandemic has further highlighted the importance of this. Many organizations had to find an answer to the growing amount of data traffic from remote workers. This resulted in a trend towards cloud migration and the widespread implementation of a cloud-based infrastructure. What are the most common strategies for a cloud migration?

A future-proof work environment

Cloud migration is one of today’s hot topics. This refers to the transfer of IT organizations’ infrastructure from private servers and internal data center facilities to a cloud architecture. It involves a process whereby digital services, databases, IT assets and applications are migrated from the enterprise to the cloud. It’s usually performed on a cloud infrastructure provided by cloud service providers such as AWS, Google Cloud or Azure.

Since the corona pandemic made hybrid working the new norm, many organizations have moved rapidly to cloud migration. The benefits are obvious: it’s flexible, easily scalable, boosts the cost-effectiveness of IT, and improves the end-user experience (including remote) by applying advanced technologies.

There’s no standard cloud migration plan

A successful transition to the cloud requires a well-considered cloud migration strategy. In fact, the path to the cloud is different for every organization because no standard migration plan is applicable. Each dataset and application may require a different approach to cloud migration. As a result, organizations must first analyze their goals and determine what suits them. The following four approaches are among the best-known migration strategies:

• Rehosting

  Rehosting is a suitable option for organizations seeking a minimal impact on daily operations. It simply involves migrating on-premises business applications to a cloud solution. While this is the fastest migration strategy, it can be costly and lead to inefficiencies due to post-rehosting issues. These include poor configuration, or the lack of a scalable legacy.

• Repurchasing

  With repurchasing, you can opt to move all business applications to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, without physically moving systems. It provides access to a wide range of cloud solutions, but as an organization you do lose your data sovereignty.

• Replatforming

  Replatforming is like rehosting, but it includes the modification and updating of specific components of an application. This allows the application to function optimally in the cloud. It creates cloud features such as scalability and a better user experience. It can, however, also lead to complexity in the integration process.

• Refactoring

  Refactoring involves completely rebuilding current business applications and converting them to a cloud technology. While refactoring offers the most future-proof, flexible solution, it’s an expensive and time-consuming process. It can also lead to vendor lock-in.

The migration process: keeping an eye on all elements

In addition to the migration strategy, other factors play a role in cloud migration. A cloud migration involves many changes, such as new systems, processes, even leadership. It is therefore important to ensure that an expert team of cloud experts can support staff effectively.

In addition, finances play a major role in the migration process. Migration strategies can vary enormously in cost, so it’s crucial to control project expenditure. Strict end-to-end planning is required to manage the entire process, for all aspects of the cloud migration.

A successful cloud migration

The cloud migration is a multifaceted process that impacts on an organization, its technology, and its workforce. While this presents challenges, those challenges are not insurmountable. The solution lies in recognizing potential risks and having the right knowledge in place to address them. With a sound strategy and expert guidance, any company can achieve a successful cloud migration.

Does your organization need cloud consultancy? Sentia offers custom cloud solutions with a unique 5D model for a smooth digital transformation.