Migrating the applications to the cloud includes specific systematic steps. Indeed, the process of moving workloads and applications to the Cloud is a very complex process involving resource-intensive undertakings. So, to make this transition successful, proper planning and appropriate decisions at each step play a crucial role. Below are some of the steps discussed that are essential to make this cloud migration a successful one.
Steps for Successfully Migrating the Applications to the Cloud:
1. Establish a Well-defined Business Case during Migrating the Applications:
Before migrating the applications to the Cloud, businesses should chalk out a plan for every migrated application’s return on investment (ROI).
Though often cloud technologies are thought to be expensive, they are “loaded” with the inclusion of various expenses of the cloud provider, such as electricity, maintenance, staff, and real estate. Therefore, before calculating the ROI associated with cloud migration, it is essential to draw a similar picture of the existing legacy infrastructure or servers.
Some vital considerations are essential while preparing the migration business plan. They include
- The reason for moving to the Cloud, and
- Consider whether every application requires moving to the Cloud or not.
Importantly, businesses should know the critical purpose of moving their applications to the Cloud. They have to know which is the priority, like saving costs on capital. Or to scale the application faster? Or to mitigate the risks accompanying the legacy infrastructure or servers?
Cloud migration involves significant investment in terms of resources and time. Hence, all stakeholders need to participate in calculating the desired outcome to increase their rate of return. As such, it requires a particular process essential to measure post-migration results.
2. Choose the Suitable Cloud Migration Partner
Organizations can save a lot of effort, money, and time by selecting the right cloud migration partner. Hence, organizations should choose the cloud migration partner before selecting anything else, as they also help plan the remaining steps.
Especially for small businesses selecting the right partner during migrating the applications to the cloud is critical. Each partner will be unique in providing the necessary resources and skills, so one should choose one that best aligns with organizational requirements.
Some of the requirements that require consideration while looking for a cloud partner include the following:
Verify Vendor Certifications: Check the partner’s vendor certification level. And whether they have certification in cloud technology.
Check for Well-defined Clauses in SLA: While signing the SLAs, check whether all the clauses are well-defined. Also, see that the contracts are clear to help provide viable solutions to the company.
Go for Reference Checks: Find the number of digital transformations the partner has successfully executed. If yes, try to take the reference accounts from the same industry background or clients with similar application environments or infrastructure similar to yours.
Know Portfolio Upgrades: Know whether the partner is adding and upgrading their cloud services offerings constantly with the best emerging trends and practices to stay competitive in the market, as they impact the organization’s performance.
Check for Vendor Expertise: Organizations should know whether the partners are having experience to carry on the process that your organization needs. Are they capable of performing sophisticated and complex problems consistently? Do they have expertise in working with multi-cloud skills? Check their previous projects of migrating the applications to the cloud.
Identify Proven Methodology: Organizations should look at whether the partner can provide them with documented methodology and a roadmap for the entire process and applications involved in the cloud migration. The cloud migration partners should also be in a position to showcase their previous sample projects. One should also know whether these partners have solution architects in their team to design the entire migration process.
3. Do a Thorough Assessment of the Present Technology Environment
Before the process of migrating the applications to the cloud begins, an audit needs to be done for the current environment to plan the transition priorities.
Applications:
List the number of applications in use, and select mission-critical ones. It is better for some Apps owned by the company or with heavy modifications to stay over the current platforms. But applications that have cloud-based and on-premises versions can migrate easily with minimal user training.
Resources:
Check for the availability of necessary in-house resources that support cloud migration. If yes, do a thorough check of the team’s technical skills to ensure that they are sufficient to carry on the necessary applications. Lastly, check the vendor’s capabilities in the cloud migration to achieve a better transition.
Costs:
Calculate the total cost spent on maintaining the existing environment. That includes maintenance, licensing, and other considerations such as real estate, power, and hardware upgrades.
Infrastructure:
Identify the number and age of the available assets, including both software and hardware. Do they are still having support from the manufacturer? Does the existing hardware being used have sufficient performance capabilities to support future software upgrades?
4. Prioritize Applications
While migrating the applications to the cloud, organizations should prioritize applications with the least risk and greatest reward. Applications with the flexibility to be re-platformed are preferred targets. It is better first to migrate noncritical applications as there are less risky. Some applications, such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and Email, are the most uncomplicated applications that can move to the Cloud.
And, it is better to migrate advanced database software like the cloud-native at the later stages. Because if the migration platform, such as Microsoft Azure, has any setbacks, they can be rectified at the initial stages, mitigating emergency setbacks.
Another vital thing to consider during migration is that ensure dependencies compatibility between applications and systems.
5. Choose the Appropriate Cloud Migration Approach
There are various methods of migrating the applications to the cloud. Among them, the prominent three in practice are rehosting, rebuilding, or redesigning.
Redesigning: In this method, some services that are currently hosted on particular servers are moved to containerized cloud services.
Rebuilding: Here, the operating system can build a new infrastructure in the cloud environment for transferring the existing roles.
Rehosting: This is the common practice of cloud migration where a “lift and shift” choice is available. With this option, it is possible to copy the current environment using the migration tools.
6. Select a Cloud Service Model
There are different types of cloud models. So, while moving to cloud technologies, select a cloud model that suits a business model with unique circumstance offerings.
Software as a Service (SaaS): In this model, the cloud provider is responsible for hosting and managing cloud-based applications. Examples include Slack, Gmail, Dropbox, and Salesforce.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): The client takes care of the applications, while the cloud provider is responsible for maintaining the server. Example: Hosted SQL.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The cloud provider maintains the hardware while the client retains the server’s operating system. Examples include Azure virtual machines and AWS EC2.
Private Cloud: In this model, the client maintains both networking and hardware with some additional cloud benefits.
7. Choose the Right Cloud Provider while Migrating the Applications
Choosing the right cloud provider depends on the application type being sent to the Cloud. For instance, Microsoft Azure might be the right choice when migrating Microsoft-based applications as it provides more compatibility and effective licensing options.
During the selection process choosing the right cloud type, such as private Cloud, public Cloud, or hybrid Cloud, also plays a significance.
Even one needs to consider the provider’s experience and support level. One should know the experience level in terms of years and the migration support they can provide.
Small businesses generally consider public cloud providers such as Google, Microsoft, or AWS during migrating the applications to the cloud as they offer high flexibility with cost-effective options. However, they lack sufficient end-user control, and there are chances for businesses to lock to a specific vendor.
Private cloud services are accessible to one client alone, so they are much suited for operating highly regulated organizations such as healthcare companies or banks. However, only an exclusive third-party provider can carry the maintenance of the private Cloud, requiring greater control over the data. Hence, it requires a more significant upfront investment with higher ongoing costs.
Also, some other considerations which need to be taken care of include the following.
Security:
It is common for all providers to include IT security in their list of offerings, with some providing it exclusively at an additional price. However, one must check whether the organization’s requirements align with what the vendor offers.
Compliance:
If your business requires obligating regulatory compliance such as GDPR or HIPAA, in such cases, one has to select the cloud platform that supports achieving the required standards.
Service Levels:
While signing the contract, all the providers provide an SLA. So, before signing the document, the organization needs a detailed review of the agreement to select the best option.
Cost:
While selecting the provider, one has to review all the considerations provided in the cloud pricing, which includes usage pricing, upfront costs, and discounts, if any.
8. Documentation of Cloud Migration Plan
Many businesses, particularly small-sized firms, rely on the migration partner for crafting a detailed migration plan, where the providers will offer a more valid roadmap. That includes the order of transferring the applications, metrics to know whether the transfer was successful, a well-defined activity timeline, a clear division of processes that will change due to this migration, and necessary training for the end-user.
In general, many successful migrations follow a typical eight-step process that includes communicating with users, backing the local deployment, transferring and synchronizing the data, and installing or moving the cloud infrastructure. After completing these steps, testing and validating the instances follow, preparing the documentation, monitoring, and formulating a supportive plan for the ongoing migration. Lastly, prepare a contingency plan in case of any deviations identified from the pre-plan.
9. Execution of Migration Plan
After completing the plan and keeping all the resources ready, one has to start migrating applications to the Cloud. However, before the migration starts, some essential things require re-consideration. They include the following.
Backing-up Servers and Data:
The migrating data to be backed up, especially at multiple cloud locations. Because in the event of any mishap, it acts as a rescue to recover the lost data.
Prepare the Cloud Environment:
The preparation of cloud infrastructure includes connecting and testing all computing and database components.
Migration of Data and Applications:
This involves a step-by-step, complicated process where each application, database, and server are tested before migrating. It is imperative to document all the steps of the procedure.
Validate and Test:
Migrating the applications to the cloud is said to be complete only after the completion of testing for the functionality of applications. Lastly, checking the data is also a critical procedure that needs inclusion to validate their security and intactness.
Communicate:
Communicating with the team and user plays a vital role in migrating to the Cloud successfully.
The Final Step in Migrating the Applications to the Cloud:
Finally, after successfully migrating the applications to the cloud, some essential steps needs completion to ensure the smooth flow of the transition.
At first, it is vital, either directly by the organization or the cloud partner, to employ cloud monitoring tools. To identify and rectify in case of any technical or performance issues. A robust system that ensures reporting and tracking of a problem is essential to complement the monitoring process.
Secondly, one should create a post-cutover dashboard to track essential metrics such as user satisfaction, costs, and application performance. This dashboard helps create a valuable communication network while updating the stakeholder’s performance.
Finally, a continuous update of the plan for the ongoing process needs to be done to ensure consistent improvement, as all the systems involved require continual improvement.