7 key steps to a successful cloud migration

Even to those of you with many years of experience, the prospect of a cloud migration journey can feel like stepping into uncharted territory. After all, a certain leap of faith is required to leave behind an existing IT set-up that has worked well for many years, and business is complicated enough without undergoing the digital equivalent of moving house. However, ever-expanding customer expectations and the numerous advantages offered by the cloud model add to the mounting pressure to embrace the future. The questions are: Where do you start? What steps should you take first?

If this sense of uncertainty sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many organizations face similar challenges as they contemplate migrating to the cloud. In this article, we'll unravel the complexities of cloud migration and outline the key steps to crafting a successful strategy, guiding you through each stage of the journey with practical insights and actionable advice.

7 Steps to Successful Migration

At the outset of a migration process, it’s easy to get distracted by the array of choices on offer and the temptation can be to dive straight into the technical aspects of cloud adoption without first conducting a thorough assessment of their existing infrastructure and business objectives. As always, the solution is to start at the beginning and take things one step a time.

Here are 7 crucial stages in any successful migration process:

1. Assessment and Planning

First off, don’t do anything without thoroughly evaluating your existing IT setup, including infrastructure, applications, and data. Identify what needs to be migrated to the cloud and set clear goals, priorities, and timelines for the migration process. Consider factors like:

1. Workload dependencies
2. Security requirements, and
3. Compliance considerations.

2. Choose the Right Cloud Provider

The next logical step is to select a cloud provider, and it's crucial to select one that aligns with your business needs as, despite many similarities, there are certain important differences. Look at aspects like performance, cost, reliability, security, and compliance when comparing, and explore different service models (like IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and deployment options (public, private, hybrid) to find the best fit for your organisation's requirements.

3. Design the Migration Strategy

There are many pitfalls awaiting an unwary migrator, so take the time to develop a comprehensive plan that outlines how you'll migrate your applications, data, and workloads to the cloud. This strategy should detail the approach, methodology, and timeline for the migration process. Consider factors such as migration wave planning, data transfer methods, and risk mitigation strategies as you design your strategy.

4. Prepare Your Environment

Before you can put your plan into action, you’ll need to get your existing environment and applications ready for migration by ensuring they meet the necessary requirements. This might involve:

1. Upgrading software
2. Optimizing performance
3. Resolving dependencies, and
4. Verifying data integrity to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud.

5. Let’s Migrate!

When the big day arrives, it’s important to separate your migration into two distinct phases to make the process clean and manageable:

1. Data Migration: The first step is to transfer your data from your on-premises environment to the cloud using the most suitable migration method. Take factors like data volume, latency requirements, and security considerations into account when choosing the migration approach. Maintain data consistency, integrity, and security throughout the migration process.
2. Application Migration: Once the data has transferred successfully, you can begin to move your applications to the cloud, making sure they're compatible, performant, and fully functional. This could involve different approaches like rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, or rebuilding applications to leverage cloud-native features and services effectively.

6. Testing and Validation

Once they’re up in the cloud, thoroughly test all migrated applications and data to ensure they operate as expected in the cloud environment. Validate aspects like performance, security, scalability, and reliability to minimize disruptions during the migration process. Don’t forget that it’s not enough to just dump things into the cloud and click the ‘start’ button: rigorous testing and validation are crucial for a successful transition.

7. Go Live and Monitor

Once testing is complete, deploy your applications and workloads in the cloud environment. Can you relax yet? Not quite! Make sure to keep a close eye on performance, security, and cost metrics to quickly identify and address any issues that may arise. Implement robust monitoring and alerting systems to proactively manage your cloud resources and ensure optimal performance.

Post-Migration Optimization

So, what comes next? Apart from having a small party and congratulating yourselves on a job well done, the next step is simply to keep calm and carry on making it better!

• Use the tools available to continuously optimize your cloud environment for better performance, cost-effectiveness and security.
• Follow best practices, implement automation, and adopt governance policies to maximize the benefits of cloud migration.
• Regularly review and refine your cloud architecture and strategy to adapt to evolving business needs and technological advancements.

One last point to remember is that you’re not alone! The internet is packed with articles and tutorials on optimising every step of the process. The major cloud providers have a wealth of material freely available, so be sure to make the best use of it.

Further Reading

1. Cloud migration checklist: 7 Expert tips for success [Insight]
2. What is Cloud Migration? An overview of the process and benefits of migrating to AWS cloud services. [AWS]
3. How to migrate and modernize A guide to planning and implementing a successful migration to Azure. [Microsoft]
4. Your guide to a successful and cost-effective cloud migration A PDF detailing the steps small and medium businesses can take to migrate to Google Cloud. [Google/PDF]

Getting help from the experts

Obviously, we’re a little tiny bit biased here at PCG, but we’re convinced that it makes a lot of sense to seek expert guidance to guarantee a smooth migration to the cloud and to make sure that the benefits you get are every bit as good as you hoped. The transition to any new technology can be a daunting process and competitive edge only comes from getting things right, so why not take advantage of the wealth of our experience and let us help you start your journey in the best way possible?