Cloud Migration

Cloud migration is the process of moving digital business operations into the cloud. Cloud migration is sort of like a physical move, except it involves moving data, applications, and IT processes from some data centers to other data centers, instead of packing up and moving physical goods. Much like a move from a smaller office to a larger one, cloud migration requires quite a lot of preparation and advance work, but usually it ends up being worth the effort, resulting in cost savings and greater flexibility.

Most often, “cloud migration” describes the move from on-premises or legacy infrastructure to the cloud. However, the term can also apply to a migration from one cloud to another cloud.
What are the main benefits of migrating to the cloud?

• Scalability: Cloud computing can scale up to support larger workloads and greater numbers of users far more easily than on-premises infrastructure, which requires companies to purchase and set up additional physical servers, networking equipment, or software licenses.
• Cost: Companies that move to the cloud often vastly reduce the amount they spend on IT operations, since the cloud providers handle maintenance and upgrades. Instead of keeping things up and running, companies can focus more resources on their biggest business needs – developing new products or improving existing ones.
• Performance: For some businesses, moving to the cloud can enable them to improve performance and the overall user experience for their customers. If their application or website is hosted in cloud data centers instead of in various on-premises servers, then data will not have to travel as far to reach the users, reducing latency.
• Flexibility: Users, whether they’re employees or customers, can access the cloud services and data they need from anywhere. This makes it easier for a business to expand into new territories, offer their services to international audiences, and let their employees work flexibly.

What are the main challenges of migrating to the cloud?

Migrating large databases: Often, databases will need to move to a different platform altogether in order to function in the cloud. Moving a database is difficult, especially if there are large amounts of data involved. Some cloud providers actually offer physical data transfer methods, such as loading data onto a hardware appliance and then shipping the appliance to the cloud provider, for massive databases that would take too long to transfer via the Internet. Data can also be transferred over the Internet. Regardless of the method, data migration often takes significant time.

• Data integrity: After data is transferred, the next step is making sure data is intact and secure, and is not leaked during the process.
• Continued operation: A business needs to ensure that its current systems remain operational and available throughout the migration. They will need to have some overlap between on-premises and cloud to ensure continuous service; for instance, it’s necessary to make a copy of all data in the cloud before shutting down an existing database. Businesses typically need to move a little bit at a time instead of all at once.