Businesses around the world are transitioning to cloud migration solutions to advance their business operations and services. According to Global News Wire, the global cloud migration services market was valued at USD 92.4 Billion in 2021 and is projected to generate revenue of USD 340.7 Billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 24.30%.
Migrating to the cloud offers various benefits to businesses, such as enhanced security, reduced maintenance costs, and greater agility and flexibility. But, prior to migration, it is essential to have a clear understanding of when and how to transfer business data to the cloud. For some, the outcome may not meet expectations, leading to potential performance issues and significant challenges.
Therefore, moving from on-premise systems to the cloud can be difficult and full of challenges, but it’s possible to avoid mistakes and have a successful transition with the help of robust migration strategies.
In this article, we will cover the benefits of cloud migration and various strategies that can be employed to successfully migrate to the cloud.
Benefits of cloud migration
- Cloud provides better scalability than traditional methods where companies had to purchase and set up physical servers. Migrating data to the public cloud will enable businesses to support larger workloads and users.
- Migrating to the cloud can help companies save a lot on IT operations and use the extra resources to focus on innovation, such as improving existing products or developing new ones.
- Cloud can enhance the user experience and application performance that fulfills the modern needs of customers. Moreover, it minimizes network latency and can operate in geographic locations that are closer to end users.
- Cloud provides a better digital experience with more flexibility and tools as the data and services can be accessed from anywhere.
- Cloud delivers backup and recovery solutions that entail reduced upfront investment and time.
Top 6 cloud migration strategies
Cloud migration can be successfully accomplished using one of the six well-known approaches, commonly referred to as the 6 R’s of cloud migration.
1. Rehosting –
Rehosting, also known as lift-and-shift is where companies redeploy their existing data and applications to the cloud server. There are two ways of performing reposting, few companies like to automate with tools, such as CloudEndure Migration and AWS VM Import/Export, while others choose to take a manual approach to understand how to integrate their legacy systems into the new cloud platform.
2. Replatforming –
This strategy enables optimizing and making a few adjustments to cloud infrastructure to modify its performance and enjoy the benefits. The utilization of a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model allows for the core architecture of applications to remain the same while facilitating the optimization of cloud-based tools.
3. Repurchasing –
This strategy involves evaluating whether it is more beneficial to continue using the existing software in the cloud or to switch to a new software application or service that is more suitable for cloud environments. Additionally, transitioning from a heavily customized legacy solution to a new platform also entails providing training to your team about the new system.
4. Refactoring/Rearchitecturing –
In this cloud migration strategy, the application is rebuilt from the ground up with the help of cloud-native features. This strategy is utilized by companies that aim to leverage cloud capabilities but encounter impediments in their existing infrastructure. This is done when a company feels like its existing infrastructure is not meeting the current market requirements. Refactoring can be expensive but is beneficial for businesses to stay in the competition.
5. Retiring –
Retiring takes place when a company finds its application no longer useful after moving to the cloud.
When organizations decide to migrate to the cloud, it is essential to have a well-planned retirement strategy to ensure that the process is smooth and successful. Retirement of application requires a planned process where different factors are assessed to make it happen. In the end, this cloud migration strategy saves the company a lot of money and resources that can be used in existing or new applications.
6. Retaining –
Companies sometimes find it difficult to migrate data and services to the cloud due to various reasons, such as budget, technique, strategy, and more. Therefore, the retaining strategy in cloud migration is used to identify and retain applications or systems that are critical to business operations and are not retired during the cloud migration. In such cases, companies should delay the cloud migration and do it when they have all the resources and the right strategy in hand.
Conclusion
Cloud migration is becoming the future of business digital infrastructure. To enjoy the benefits of cloud migration, businesses need to consider the complex process that not only requires time and money but also a strong cloud migration strategy.
Do you wish to start your cloud journey but don’t where to start?
Jellyfish Technologies can help you kickstart your cloud journey by providing expert guidance and support at every step of the way. Our team of experienced cloud professionals can help you assess your requirements, select the right cloud platform, and migrate your applications and data to the cloud securely and efficiently.
