Top 5 Cloud Migration Best Practices

Migrating to the cloud can be a complex process. When the going gets tough, businesses can lose their footing midway, forgetting why they initiated the shift to the cloud in the first place. That’s why it’s critical to have cloud migration best practices front and center before starting the project. 

The Benefits of Cloud Migration

In one survey of over 500 IT decision-makers, over half of respondents said their company plans to migrate to the cloud by around 2022. What’s behind the adoption curve? 

• Cost Savings: Moving to the cloud can improve productivity, lower investment in hardware, and reduce operational costs. Cloud computing is also easily scalable, so you’ll only ever pay for what you need to use month-to-month. 
• Focus Your IT Team: Outsourcing critical infrastructure removes many of the time-consuming tasks your internal team will face so they can focus on improving applications with more value to your business. 
• Improved Agility: With virtualization and cloud-based applications, you can rapidly adjust your processes and change your approach in response to the evolving marketplace. 
• Flexible Work Policies: Cloud computing makes it easier for your employees to work wherever they happen to be, meaning you can retain skilled employees who prefer remote working opportunities. 

Streamline Your Move With These Cloud Migration Best Practices 

To enjoy the benefits of using cloud services, you’ll have to be aware of the common issues companies may face on a migration journey. You need to take active steps to minimize disruptions to your business and ensure data security and compliance with industry regulations every step of the way. 

Here are some of the best practices to keep in mind while planning your migration strategy.

1. Start Small

Planning a total lift and shift to move all your data centers and applications to the cloud is a considerable undertaking. Not only will it require a firm grasp of how your business processes will change while operating in cloud environments, but you’ll also need employee training and adoption for it to work seamlessly.  

It’s often wise to identify some key areas that could use optimization during your migration planning and start there. This will help you focus your efforts and identify gaps in your strategy so you can fine-tune your plan along the way. 

2. Prepare Your Governance Framework

Data security is crucial to successful cloud migration, and your company should define the best practices before it’s in use. Cloud governance frameworks should also assign system administrators and monitor how third-party vendors and applications interact with your data. 

You should limit access to data wherever possible and train your staff on best practices early and often. 

3. Monitor Your Network

When employees and vendors have remote access to sensitive company data, it’s crucial to create a system that allows you to track who is accessing data and what they are doing with it. Network monitoring can also identify threats early and close security risks before you have a costly data breach. 

Monitoring cloud usage can also save you money. The average company is overspending on cloud costs by about 35%. The best way to avoid wasted spending is to have a centralized platform to monitor precisely how much your company is using each month, and trim the fat wherever possible. 

Cloud vendors allow companies to refine their cloud use each month, so it’s always simple to scale up or scale back as needed. 

4. Automate Repetitive Tasks

Cloud migration involves a lot of repeated tasks, and automation can improve efficiency and accuracy every step of the way. Using bots for tasks like moving databases from on-site servers to the cloud or building infrastructure as code and deploying applications without downtime. 

Automation can be phased out once your migration is successful. IT experts can help you find automation tools and implement the best ones for your firm. 

5. Consult With Managed Service Providers

There are countless ways cloud adoption strategies can go wrong, and almost all of them come down to a lack of experience. An MSP can help you establish the best solution for your company, whether building a private cloud, using a public cloud service, or taking a hybrid cloud approach. 

Prevent Migration Failure With Our Cloud Migration Best Practices

Migrating to the cloud is less of a technological change and more of an institutional transformation. Adopting cloud technologies is much more than just ridding yourself of on-prem servers; it will change the way you do business. 

Work with an experienced partner that has helped businesses like yours with cloud migration best practices, understands the operational challenges you will face and guide you through insight.

Learn more about how Netsurit makes migrating to, monitoring, and managing a cloud environment completely seamless.