As a CEO, one of the most daring decisions you may face these days can best be summarized by plagiarizing Mr. William Shakespeare: “To migrate, or not to migrate. That is the question.”
And if your high school AP Honors English-Lit studies are a bit hazy, Mr. Shakespeare was clearly referencing the internal back-and-forth your technical leadership team will wrestle with over the thought of cloud migration…probably.
In any event, whether you want to move to the cloud to save money, or to modernize your platform, or keep pace with customer demand, it’s critical (and really, I can’t stress this enough) you have a thoughtful cloud migration strategy guided by industry best practices to keep you on the right path…if only to serve as a reminder that you’re doing the sensible thing!
But first…
The Benefits of Cloud Migration
For some readers, this might be your first foray into cloud migration services; for others, you’ve no doubt heard this story (or one very similar) before and are struggling to make forward progress towards a cloud solution. But the fact remains that in order to stay competitive, your organization has made the decision to take a leap of faith and jump into a cloud platform to give your business its best chance at gaining market share.
So, let’s review just some of the reasons why this particular move makes a strong business case…
Scalability
I’ve spoken to countless CEOs over the years and the primary feature they love most about their cloud migration is the intrinsic scalability. With cloud technology, you can put to pasture the constant worry about your IT infrastructure supporting more customers. You can easily add new customers and get them running FAST. Likely within a few days or even hours.
Flexibility
Quite often ‘flexibility’ is spoken in the same breath as ‘scalability’ as if the two are interchangeable. And while they are to a degree, the answer is a bit more nuanced. With a cloud platform, your IT team no longer has to install applications manually or via a remote network, because the magic happens on the backend. This is cloud flexibility.
Reduced Costs
This one is a no-brainer. SMBs all across the globe are trying to cut costs in order to remain profitable while keeping pace with their growing storage needs. Cloud migration reduces both operating expenses and capital expenses, which evens out and improves cashflow predictability.
Awesome Storage
The argument could be made that this could be lumped in with reduced costs, because cloud-based services offer vast amounts of extremely secure data storage for a pittance compared to on-premise storage. Plus, you can shrink or expand your storage based upon usage, which comes in handy for seasonal traffic.
Again, these are just some of the reasons why a decision to migrate to the cloud makes sense in this day and age. Now, let’s explore…
Cloud Migration Best Practices
I hate to break it to you, but when it comes to migration strategies there’s no such thing as, “A Practical Guide to Cloud Migration.” And if there was, I’d caution you from reading it. Because the truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all method to guarantee success. Every business does it just a little bit different. In fact, not long ago I wrote a blog about what you need to consider before moving to the cloud.
But, some of those points ring true here as well.
Know Which Systems are Cyclical
Every business has busy seasons and slow seasons, in terms of revenue, new sales, and new customer acquisition. These busy seasons also mean that some of your systems are utilized more than normal. You have to determine which seasons are cyclical in order to tell which systems can move to the cloud, and which are fine left alone.
Determine How Much Processing and Memory Utilization These Systems Need
If you’re like most CEOs, cutting down on unnecessary expenditures are always on the forefront of your mind. So, migrating to the cloud seems like a fiduciary no-brainer. However, this move can be deceptively sold because it can actually end up costing you more.
How?
Well, most cloud providers use two measures to charge you for service: memory and processing. The adage ‘memory is cheap’ is no longer applicable in the cloud world. In fact, the opposite is now true – it’s memory that can cost you an arm and a leg. So be sure you know how much processing and utilization you’re consuming and make a decision.
Understand How Much Data You’re Moving and Storing Between Systems
Even though cloud storage is inexpensive, moving this data between systems can add up. Cloud services also charge by how much data is moved through their pipe. If multiple regions are engaged, this costs money. Moving data can be costly because of a myriad of aspects. Pay attention to these aspects when considering moving your software development to the cloud.
Choose your Vendor Wisely
So. Many. Options. They run the gamut from public cloud providers to private clouds to hybrid cloud environments. But whichever vendor you eventually settle on, you want to ensure they can facilitate the migration process without breaking the bank. It’s important to consider the compatibility of your current software…can it play nicely with your new cloud solution? If not, what sort of modifications will you need to make? You just want to make sure that once the migration is finalized, everything works as billed. Also, if there’s a new application that streamlines your previous programs, don’t be afraid to build it into your plan.
Prioritize Security Above Everything Else
If you’re migrating to the cloud, cybersecurity should be printed in all caps at the top of your priority list and written in Sharpie. However, equally important is that your vendor understand your specific business objectives and the reasons why you want to migrate to the cloud. If this synergy is lacking, your partnership will fizzle and ultimately fail to empower the business in the cloud. Make no mistake, aligning your business goals with your vendor’s services are a critical part of your migration strategy. Luckily all major public and private cloud providers offer turnkey access to web application firewalls (WAFs), managed detection and response (MDR) services, and denial of service (DoS) mitigation services. Ensuring you provision only the security services you need, and making sure they are configured to work effectively and seamlessly with your existing solutions is a critical step that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Migrate in Drips and Drabs
Migrating to the cloud is a big deal. Don’t overwhelm yourself, your team, or your sanity by thinking you need to do it in one fell swoop.
Many technical leaders will establish a tier system and evaluate their applications accordingly. Determine which apps:
- Have a high technical value
- Are mission critical but may need to be modernized
- Are no longer used or necessary and can be eliminated
Not to state the obvious here, but the applications in the first two camps should be prioritized. But, when it comes to the actual migration, it really comes down to personal preference. Some prefer to start with the easy applications first. It’s a simple way to acclimate them to the cloud environment with very few challenges. Conversely, some tech leaders prefer to jump head first into the more complex applications, thinking that it gives their team a head start on the work that promises to the most difficult.
The main thing to remember is don’t go for a ‘boil the ocean’ strategy, no matter how much your developers want to just start over and rebuild from the ground-up.
Ensure Your Team is Trained
In my experience, most companies face cloud migration challenges due to a lack of training. Too often, businesses see the potential, overarching benefits of cloud migration but underestimate how those changes will affect their employees. This leads to individuals not being prepared and needing more time to complete daily tasks. So, make sure to allot enough time to ret-train your team well in advance so the migration goes off without a hitch. This results in a smooth and optimized transition to cloud computing and less stress, heartache, and heartburn for you and your team.
If all this insight is causing your head to spin, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Modularis has been flawlessly handling cloud migrations for our clients for some time now. If you’d like to get a second opinion on your cloud migration strategy, give us a buzz or check out our tech 360 service offering. It’s a fast and efficient way to de-risk your cloud migration effort.