Whether you have a small or large team, hybrid working is somewhat vital these days. Moving to the cloud has become inevitable for its benefits. However, moving to the cloud is not as simple as pushing a button; many businesses still often fail to achieve their expected ROI from cloud migration.
According to a 2019 report from Cloud Security Alliance, 90% of CIOs experienced failed or disrupted data migration projects due to the complexity of moving from on-premises to the cloud environment.
Only 25% of those surveyed in the same study met their deadlines for migrations, with the average project taking 12 months.
Why does cloud migration fail? How can you avoid it? This article will share those cloud migration mistakes you need to avoid and things to think about for a smooth transition to the cloud.
Migrating applications and workloads to the cloud blindly will hurt your business a lot. Not only is it costly and disruptive, but it will be causing issues such as performance bottlenecks, work interruptions, security vulnerabilities, as well as eating away your business resources in the long run.
There are many aspects to consider when creating a robust cloud migration plan. But the most important is to examine your current infrastructure.
See how you work now and think about what parts of your infrastructure should move to the cloud.
Take your time to fully understand all the applications and workloads, which ones will interact with each other, or if any parts of your infrastructure will need to be integrated with other services.
Make sure you are thorough with this process, as any missteps can cause havoc during migration.
Don’t forget to note down your current performance to target for improvements after the migration.
Although you may assume cloud environments are all the same, such as a subscription platform to store your data without the hassle of investing in hardware. Or the platform that allows you to access your data anywhere in the world. In reality, each cloud environment is set up in different ways, each having other functions and capabilities. To avoid problems and unexpected delays in your migration process, you should take your time and research which cloud environments fit your needs. Try to get familiar with your new cloud environments after you start migrating.
You should not rush a cloud migration. Cloud migration can go wrong if you blindly move all your assets to the cloud just to make your business ‘cloud only’ as soon as possible. Though your cloud vendors work hard to make the switch as smooth as possible, migration still requires a lot of work. You still need a lot of time and effort to re-educate your staff at every level.
The best options for you are to have a gradual migration instead of one fell swoop, especially if it involves complex architecture. Set targets, and plan what will be done at certain times, so the migration doesn’t get out of hand and all the data you want is carried over properly.
Not everything has to be moved at once, or even at all. Not every app or process is a candidate for the cloud; some workloads just aren’t a good fit or are incredibly tricky to migrate.
You should kick off your migration planning by analyzing your current usage and determining which applications are worth reallocating and which function best on-premises.
It’s okay to start small and begin with your low-risk app or workloads first, and gradually move the critical apps later will make it much easier to work on and lower your risk of halting your operations for a long time.
Not thoroughly testing is obviously a recipe for a cloud migration disaster. It is a highly vital step along the migration process.
You must know that testing in a cloud environment is not the same as testing in a traditional setting. Don’t assume that applications and programs that ran perfectly fine on a conventional dedicated server will run the same on the cloud.
You should run testing at every stage of your migration process to spot any potential issues as early as possible.
Several points and factors come into account that can create instability and breakdowns, like legacy systems, aging hardware, and performance needs and tolerance.
Testing will save you time and effort to have a smooth migration without any unexpected problems in your migration process.
Cloud migration is a transformative project. It can totally revolutionize the way your business creates products, delivers services, or connects with customers. But all these benefits did not come independently by only transforming the process; you also need to change the people.
Ensure that your employees are on the same page and get to grips with updated software, operational shifts, and new processes when seeking technical support. The best cloud providers offer team training sessions or video tutorials. Allocating the training time should be included in your migration timeline.
Your IT teams will need to adapt to a new way of doing things and find innovative ways to support users and add value to the business.
Involve people early on, explain the benefits of the migration, and how their day-to-day operation will change.
It is beneficial for you to set up feedback channels to address their concerns and queries and avoid issues stacking up.
How can you execute a successful cloud migration?
Cloud migration is not just a technical problem; it is a business initiative. To avoid the pitfalls outlined above and achieve a successful cloud transformation, you must create and operationalize a comprehensive migration plan that encompasses your organization’s needs.
Failure to properly plan can slow down migration, miss dependencies, and cause outages.
At AXO Technologies, we develop comprehensive migration plans that fit your needs and make the most sense from your business objectives. Our experts customize your migration for the processes, people, and technologies within your organization.
Are you looking for more information on how AXO Technologies can accelerate your cloud migration journey? Click here for more details.
