In the age of artificial intelligence(AI) and the internet of things (IoT), it more than makes sense for the workload and some of the work to be shared on the cloud. Cloud migration has been successfully done by most businesses who do it gradually but ensuring that they are getting the best services for an efficient operational system. However, cloud migration is not suitable for everyone, both professionally and personally.

The reason behind the success of the cloud is mostly due to the fact that cloud platforms are readily available, easy to scale, reliable and present those interested with a chance of selecting the best possible forms of using the cloud. The benefits of using a cloud environment seem to make up for where these platforms are lacking.

What Are the Advantages of Cloud Migration?

There are a lot of potential benefits for cloud migration. Each company or individual needs a self-assessment before deciding to go with cloud migration. Moving to the cloud can come as a solution to most of the issues faced by your organization. Some of the notable benefits of migrating to the cloud include:

Easy sharing.

Scalable service provision.

Data redundancy and replication, which protects backups.

Easily usable and readily accessible.

Disaster recovery.

Allows easy collaboration on tasks.

Can be cost-saving as well as space-saving.

Enables task automation.

Provides security in its services.

Cloud Service Models to Select

There are a lot of cloud storage services. Before you decide to migrate to the cloud, get acquainted with the most popular ones:

Cloud Service Type - Definition Its Services Popular Examples

What it Takes Care of

IaaS – best for those who don’t mind hosting in 3-rd party data centres.

Infrastructure Google Compute Engine, AWS, Alibaba Cloud, and Azure. Storage, CDN, Virtualization, Compute, Networking PaaS- for portable applications, provides full, invisible infrastructure environment.

Platform AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, Heroku, Engine Yard

Application Platform, Development, Database, Integration SaaS – subscribe for centrally hosted productivity software. Software Office 365, Google Apps, Salesforce, NetSuite

Security, CRM, Tools, Business Management

Basic Cloud Options: Public, Private and Hybrid

After selecting your most suitable cloud model, the next step would be to find the cloud type you prefer. You can select from either:

Public: all resources get hosted on a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS);

Private: create your own cloud, customize it using a platform such as VMware’s vCloud or OpenStack;

Hybrid: allows your resources to be spread across both private and public cloud types.

Let’s try to answer the question – why is cloud migration important? The answer might simply be in understanding that hybrid cloud type might be the best solution for your business. Offering the best of both worlds, it’s easy to pick and choose and it presents a set of mixed on-demand reliability, a form of security, and undeniably noticeable reduced operational costs.

A practical example of when and where a hybrid cloud scale would be appropriate would be in a business web app that’s fast-gaining momentum and users. The business needs to keep up with the momentum and keep the resources fully functioning. During those periods when the web app is experiencing peak usage, maximum resources must be released and the opposite when few people are using the app in order to save costs. A public cloud easily provides this aspect. The data on the web app can be highly confidential and needs protection. This is when a private cloud is needed to store data or files off the premises. Thus, in this instance, a hybrid cloud type is the perfect solution. More businesses have realized the strategy of double application or the usage of a hybrid solution within acceptable means and thus have resorted to adopting a multi-cloud strategy or are thinking of implementing it somehow.

More and more businesses are now favouring cloud storage. Some are even resorting to completely working on the cloud. There are a lot of cloud platforms that provide excellent services. Find one that works best for your company or organization. In case you are not really aware of cloud platforms, you can go online and read more articles that discuss this in detail.

Prepare for Cloud Migration – Proper Assessment

Having understood the cloud type and model that is best suited for your business, the next step is to assess whether or not your applications are now cloud-ready. During the assessment, you should be on the lookout for:

Integration Complexity

To fully answer the question: “What are the benefits of using cloud computing?” The first process involves understanding that each app comes with its own integration points that include the SMTP servers, payment gateways, third-party vendors and external storage. Identify the authentication challenges and unexpected connectivity issues that you might face with the selected app. Identification of all integration points becomes a necessity because of these unforeseen challenges. When looking to migrate a considerably high number of applications from your data centre, the integration becomes even more complex. Identify and feasibly solve these beforehand and you will be good to go.

Application design complexity

In a system that is already working, customers become comfortable. It will be quite a challenge to migrate to the cloud if your customers aren’t interested in reworking the new applications and favour the current traditional model. Check the app’s scalability by design and that it follows a distributed architectural system for a successful migration. You can use tools such as Cloudamize and PaaSLane in assessing your cloud app’s readiness. Get acquainted with AWS’s Migration Hub service to discover and assess the app’s readiness for cloud migration.

Host operating system

Compare the new OS to the current one. Once you migrate to the cloud, your apps must be able to continue running on the specific OS. If your apps will not be compatible with the OS on the cloud provider, find a workable substitute OS or go with number 2 or 3 cloud provider on your list (by now, you should have a list of at least the top ten cloud providers you might like to migrate to). First, do thorough research to find cloud providers that provide the 32-bit OS against those with 64-bit OS. Then also check if there are any additional subscription requirements, then make your decision.

Application database

Migrating your data is not an easy task. Carefulness must be applied. Use only reliable migration resources that have been proven as reliable. Create a backup in case of rollbacks and unexpected sudden activities that you aren’t prepared for. Most cloud providers offer a full package including their own migration resources. If such services are applicable, go with the offer.

Network

Do you use multicast? If your business prefers to keep on multicasting, you will have to check for the cloud provider that doesn’t compromise on multicasting as there are quite a handful at the moment.

Not convinced to migrate to the Cloud?

If you think that cloud migration might not be for you, then keep using the traditional app. To improve its efficiency and increase performance, consider using FileWhopper. With FileWhopper, you can share any files, no size limit. Upload your data via FileWhopper and get the price calculated for you and only pay for what you use, no strings attached. This service is excellent especially for companies that work with different contracts and each contract can be completed and the work uploaded and sent as a link!

Proof of Concept

Before actually migrating your entire workload to the cloud, create a proof of concept (POC) first. Although POCs don’t always anticipate all possible rollbacks to expect, they give you a clearer picture than all other factors discussed thus far. Your POC should take into consideration, but not be limited to, the following:

Reliability.

Performance comparison against the current app.

Perceived network challenges that need to be solved.

Complexity levels involved in app migration to the cloud.

Support evaluation of the chosen cloud provider.

Carefully Make Your Decision

Are there any risks of migrating to a cloud? Of course, just like with every system, cloud migration has some cons that might make life unbearable once your business migrates to cloud storage. These disadvantages include:

Vendor lock-in – the cloud platform lock-in makes it difficult to leave or move between platforms once settled in on one. This might come across as forced services or a form of imprisonment.

Noisy neighbours when working through shared resources with those individuals who lack boundaries.

Each cloud environment comes with its own compliance requirements that must always be met. This makes storage and retrieval of sensitive data somewhat challenging.

Might come with unhappy customers who were already happy and well-adjusted to your current system and find the changeover tedious.

When using cloud applications online, the internet speed is a huge factor and thus, there might be some latency experienced as a result.

Some of the current methods used by the organization can not be migrated to the cloud as it has its own functionality. Such activities bring about commotion and disorganization within the company.

Debugging performance issues might lead to loss of transparency and control if your hardware is controlled by an external source.

The list of pitfalls to avoid when migrating to the cloud is so long, it needs its own article. For now, you have to be smart about your selection and only go with a cloud environment that works well for you, your way. Everything around cloud storage cannot be understood in one read, but research more and make an informed decision.