Moving to the cloud is an increasingly popular option for businesses looking for a secure, cost-efficient way to store and access their data. If your organization has yet to move its hosting services to the cloud, you are missing out on many benefits. It’s important to know some cloud migration mistakes to avoid when making the transition. This article will examine some of the most common mistakes people make when moving to the cloud and how you can ensure a smooth transition.
1. Lacking a Clear Cloud Migration Strategy
One of the biggest cloud migration mistakes you can make is failing to develop a clear migration strategy. A cloud migration strategy is an entity’s plan to relocate its infrastructure, applications, and data from on-premises architecture to the cloud. Without a plan, you’re likely to run into problems that could have been easily avoided.
Here are some things to keep in mind to develop a clear cloud migration strategy:
- Define your goals. What do you hope to accomplish through cloud migration? Once you know this, you can develop a plan to help you achieve your goals.
- Consider your workload. Not all workloads are suitable for the cloud. Determine which ones can be migrated and which ones should remain on-premises.
- Choose the right provider. Not all cloud providers are created equal. Do your research and select one that meets your specific needs.
- Create a timeline. Migrating to the cloud is not a quick or easy process. Plan when you want to start and finish your migration to avoid disruptions to your business operations.
2. Migrating Everything at Once
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when moving to the cloud is trying to migrate everything at once. This is a recipe for disaster and will likely lead to data loss, application downtime, and frustrated users.
Instead, take a phased approach to migration. Start with non-critical applications and data first. This will allow you to work out any challenges in your process and better understand the cloud platform before migrating mission-critical applications and data.
Not only will this phased approach help prevent major headaches, but it will also allow you to realize the benefits of the cloud sooner.
3. Ignoring Security and Compliance
Ignoring security and compliance is another big mistake many organizations make when moving to the cloud. The cloud is not inherently secure, and organizations must take steps to ensure their data and applications are secure. Additionally, before performing cloud migration, the organization must conduct a cyber-security risk assessment, identify potential threats, and evaluate the cloud provider’s capability.
Organizations that constantly ignore security and compliance warnings expose their data and applications to more risks. Some common cloud security threats include misconfigurations, insider threats, lack of IAM, poor regulatory requirements, insecure APIs, and lack of visibility.
However, there are some essential measures entities can implement to enhance security compliance. Some include encrypting all data (both in transit and at rest), utilizing multi-factor authentication, implementing required security control measures, and isolating individual workloads. Again, supporting the team in the entire process is highly recommendable for reducing some cloud migration mistakes.
4. Unrealistic Projection of Cloud Migration Costs
Cloud migration is a complex process. Many businesses believe they will save money by migrating to the cloud, but the reality is often quite different.
Many factors can contribute to increased costs, such as data migration, application re-platforming, and more infrastructure costs. Data migration alone can be very costly and, if not done correctly, lead to data loss or corruption.
To avoid these pitfalls, it is crucial to carefully plan and budget for your cloud migration project from the outset. Consider all potential costs, including data migration, application re-platforming, and increased infrastructure needs. Doing so can prevent any nasty surprises down the road and ensure your project stays on budget.
5. Lacking Effective Training or Expertise
When making the switch to cloud computing, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you’re doing and why. Otherwise, you could end up making some costly mistakes, such as lacking effective training or expertise.
If you don’t have someone on your team who is knowledgeable about cloud computing, consider investing in training. Many resources are available to help you get up to speed on the basics of cloud computing and how it can benefit your business. Once you understand the basics well, you can start exploring more advanced concepts and strategies.
If you try to take on too much too soon, you could end up overwhelmed and make mistakes that could cost you time and money. It’s important to take things slowly at first and build your knowledge base before moving too quickly.
6. Forgetting to Test
Once you have successfully migrated to the cloud, you should not expect everything to work out as initially intended. It’s important to test your applications and workloads. Otherwise, you could end up with major performance issues.
You can test your applications in the cloud in a few different ways. One is to use a tool like Apache JMeter to load-test your application before you move it. This will help you identify any potential performance bottlenecks.
Another way to test is to use a tool like CloudWatch to monitor your application’s performance once it’s in the cloud. This can help you troubleshoot any issues and ensure that your application performs as expected.
Finally, it’s also a good idea to run some real-world tests on your application before you go live with it in the cloud. This could involve a staging environment or simply using a small subset of users to test the application.
7. No Assessment of IT and Business Performance
Another common mistake companies make when moving to the cloud is failing to assess their IT and business performance. Without a clear understanding of their systems’ performance, it can be hard to know whether or not the move to the cloud is improving things.
There are different ways to assess performance, but one of the most important is through benchmarking. This involves creating a baseline performance measurement against which future measurements can be compared. Another key element of assessing performance is creating KPIs (key performance indicators). These are metrics that help organizations track progress and identify areas for improvement.
Finally, it’s important to solicit feedback from users about their experience with the new system. This can be done through surveys, interviews, or focus groups. By gathering this feedback, organizations can better understand how well the system meets their needs.
Conclusion
Cloud migration can be a complicated process for those who are less knowledgeable about it and even more challenging when vast amounts of data are involved. Trying to accomplish this process without the necessary expertise is bound to fail.
Having identified the common cloud migration mistakes most companies make, consider collaborating with a partner like Softlanding to make your cloud migration much easier. Our company offers the best and most affordable services if you want help moving to Azure. Working closely with a companion who understands the ins and outs of cloud migration can help in every aspect.
Upon finalizing the migration process, we will further assist you in navigating cloud architecture challenges and give you the additional support necessary to adapt to the cloud environment. Save yourself the trouble and struggles of cloud migration. Contact Softlanding today for a free consultation on your future mistake-free cloud migration!
Written By:
softlanding
Softlanding is a long-established IT services provider of transformation, professional services and managed IT services that helps organizations boost innovation and drive business value. We are a multi-award-winning Microsoft Gold Partner with 13 Gold Competencies and we use our experience and expertise to be a trusted advisor to our clients. Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, we have staff and offices in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary to serve clients across Canada.
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