What Are Cloud Migration Strategies?

A cloud migration strategy is when a business plans its migration from on-premises servers to a cloud-based server. Businesses will also implement strategies when they transfer from one cloud provider to another. Regardless, the aim is to complete the transition and also identify/address possible roadblocks. 

When implementing a cloud migration strategy, companies should look at their digital assets. They don’t need to move all of them, but it does involve migrating at least some. Things like IT resources and applications are often part of a cloud migration strategy. 

Businesses must migrate to a cloud system for scalability and modernization, though some have a mix of on-premises and SaaS.

The six Rs and seven Rs are commonly used by businesses migrating their cloud. The six Rs are Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Re-architect, Retire, and Retain.

The seven Rs uses the above but also includes Relocate. What you choose will vary depending on your company’s needs.

When choosing your cloud migration strategy, you need to think about various factors. These include: 

• Goals: Ask yourself why you want to migrate to a cloud-based server in the first place. Similarly, you should also ask why you’re planning to migrate from one provider to another. The migration needs to align with your broader business goals. 
• Application Portfolio: You’ll need to consider all of your applications and their complexity, as well as how much adjustment is needed in cloud architecture. This will form part of your timescale planning. 
• Budget: You must identify how much money you’re willing to invest in your cloud migration, and you also need to consider the return on investment (ROI).
• Timeline: Think about how fast you need to complete the migration, but take your time. Set clear timeframes; a rule of thumb is to double how long you think you need.

These are the primary cloud migration planning phases: 

• Planning: The preliminary process involves looking at your goals and your current infrastructure before setting timescales and looking for service providers. 
• Migration: This involves going transferring your assets to the cloud.
• Optimization: After migrating, you need to optimize your applications and infrastructures for the cloud.

Things to consider when migrating are risks associated with data and security, along with cost and expertise; you can luckily mitigate these by thinking about them well in advance. Here are some things to implement: 

• Data backup and recovery
• Downtime planning and contingency plans
• Encryption, access control, and other security measures
• Budgeting and expense-tracking 
• Identifying cloud consultants that have previously performed your type of migration