When a company thinks of migrating its on-premise systems to the cloud, it needs to do extensive planning beforehand and consider cloud migration strategy planning for the success of this undertaking. There are indeed a plethora of benefits to cloud migration, not all systems may need to be moved.
A thorough analysis of your systems and requirements will help in identifying your priorities, including the specific workloads and data types that require migration. If you lack a proper team and resources, consider partnering with a reliable software development company that can guide you through the cloud migration process.
This article sheds some light on the seven Rs of cloud migration strategies, highlighting options that can be a suitable option for your project. We also discuss the benefits, challenges, and best practices for cloud migration.
1. What is a Cloud Migration Strategy?
The process of relocating the entire application environment along with its data and computing infrastructure from on-premises systems to the desired cloud infrastructure is called Cloud Migration. The plan you prepare to guide the team through this process is known as a cloud migration strategy.
There are many reasons why businesses opt for migration, including adopting a modern IT infrastructure, cost optimization, easy accessibility, and scalability. They mostly prefer to use popular public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
2. Advantages Of Cloud Migration
Some of the advantages that make businesses move to the cloud include:
2.1 Cost-Effectiveness
Effective cloud migration can save you a lot of money. Because managed services from cloud providers cost less, leading to simplified maintenance operations and reduced overheads. Businesses can focus their resources on core competencies when their IT department is running cost-effectively.
2.2 Scalability
Businesses must adapt to the evolving demands of the market and their customers. Therefore, they need the ability to scale quickly. This is only cost-effective when your app is hosted on a public cloud platform. Doing this on-premises can be expensive and labor-intensive. But with the cloud, it’s effortless, as there’s no need to set up servers or buy network equipment and software licenses.
2.3 Security
Migrating to the cloud can also strengthen your app’s security. Although security is a shared responsibility in a cloud model, the provider offers a wide range of security features and implements updates automatically on your app when you opt for the cloud. Companies do not have to take any action regarding these security measures.
2.4 Accessibility
One of the primary reasons companies move to the cloud is accessibility. With a cloud-based application, you can access the data from anywhere and on any device, as long as you have an internet connection and the necessary access authorization. Thanks to the cloud, companies no longer experience machine downtime, data loss, or any interruptions in their operations.
2.5 Performance
When an app no longer faces downtime or interruptions in its operations, its performance improves significantly. This results in an enhanced end-user experience. Moving to the cloud also reduces network latency, and allows the app to run in remote locations and scale up easily, which ultimately provides better app performance.
3. Step-By-Step Cloud Migration Process
The road to a complete cloud migration goes through five phases, spanning everything from brainstorming your requirements to optimizing the cloud operations. Let’s discuss them one by one.
3.1 Prepare
Businesses have to define their objectives and project requirements in this phase of cloud migration. This involves analyzing the current IT infrastructure to identify the skill gaps as well as the technologies and other resources required to successfully migrate to the cloud.
You must also compare the current total cost of ownership with the expected TCO in the cloud to learn whether the migration is a feasible option for you or not. You can predict future expenses by considering factors like operating systems, computing resources, storage utilization, instance types, and specific prerequisites regarding networking and performance requirements.
Additionally determine the factors such as app interoperability, legacy data, app data, and more that are essential to govern a successful cloud migration.
3.2 Plan
After considering your requirements and key factors for cloud migration, it’s time to design a detailed plan. It acts as your guide, outlining which components and workloads of the app will be prioritized for the migration. It specifies the sequence of migration along with the implementation of security measures and testing of the functionalities in the new cloud-based app. Other requirements, such as data cleaning and updating are also specified in the plan.
In short, a step-by-step process on how to execute cloud migration is dictated in this phase. You must also identify the potential risks and pitfalls along the way and prepare for them in advance.
3.3 Migrate
In this phase, start moving the app and its data from on-premises to the cloud platforms, as outlined in the plan. So, make sure to test everything in the new environment before migration.
There are various types of migration methods, like refactoring, lift-and-shift, and more. You may have already decided upon a method during the preparation phase. Ensure that everything goes as per the plan and if you encounter any issue along the way, then follow the standard operating procedure determined beforehand to address potential problems.
When executing the plan, take your time and avoid trying to do everything all at once. Make sure that you have effectively completed the first step before progressing to the next one. During migration, you have to sync the changes made to the source data. On top of that, you have to update everything after the initial action.
3.4 Operate
After successfully migrating all the workloads to the cloud, it’s time to make them operational again. Once they start working, closely monitor every activity, track performance, and assess the security of the app and its data in the new cloud environment. Also, ensure that your services function in adherence to the essential regulatory compliances such as GDPR and HIPAA.
3.5 Optimize
By monitoring the security and performance of cloud-based apps in real time, companies understand whether and where they need to improve. In this phase, they refine their cloud-based operations, implement performance and security-enhancing features, as well as identify new instances to save operational costs.
The main purpose of this phase is to streamline the cloud operations to provide greater business value. If you find that your workloads are unnecessarily utilizing the resources, then you have to find ways to enhance their efficiency. Moreover, this will be an ongoing process, with changing market trends and business requirements, you have to adapt and improve continuously.
4. Seven R’s of Cloud Migration Strategies
There are seven different ways to migrate your existing app to the cloud infrastructure. This section explores them briefly through an analytical viewpoint.
4.1 Rehost
In the Rehost migration strategy, the offerings of the cloud infrastructure as a service are leveraged to transfer their workloads to the cloud environments. It allows the companies to move an application along with all their dependencies from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud.
In this cloud migration process, the enterprise can transfer all of its app data and workflows to the cloud infrastructure that can fulfill its requirements, including computing, storage, and networking needs.
Although it’s shifted, the structure and operation of the workloads wouldn’t change. Rehosting is one of the easiest cloud migration strategies to execute. It’s an ideal option for companies that don’t have in-house expertise.
Pros:
- Accelerates the migration process.
- Minimize disruptions to your business.
- Quite helpful in transferring legacy workloads.
- Highly reliable migration strategy.
Cons:
- Limited cloud-native capabilities.
- Restricted technical and operational capabilities.
- Few optimization options.
- More costly compared to other approaches.
Use cases:
- To migrate on-premise virtual machine to AWS.
- To transfer Oracle databases to AWS.
- Reduce homogeneous SAP migration cutover time.
- Choosing a migration tool for rehosting databases.
- Rehost on-premises workloads on AWS.
4.2 Replatform
In replatform migration, you make changes to a legacy system to enable it to operate in a cloud environment without completely rewriting its architecture. This process optimizes certain parts of your app stack without incurring substantial costs, allowing it to benefit from cloud architecture.
It serves as a middle way between rehosting and refactoring approaches. Replatform offers cloud features like auto-scalability and supports Agile DevOps. Replatforming is run on previously rehosted workloads and applications or for on-premises apps.
Pros:
- Optimize apps for the cloud to make them efficient and cost-effective.
- Utilizing cloud features can increase the ROI.
Cons:
- Complex and time-consuming.
- Need to rewrite a few parts of the code.
- Some changes can be costly.
- Less availability during migration.
Use cases:
- To migrate your legacy systems and apps to modern cloud servers without making any substantial code changes.
- To save time and money when moving to a fully managed service.
- To improve performance by leveraging cloud benefits for a legacy system without complex modifications.
4.3 Refactor
When you want an existing app to work on the cloud, you adopt a Refactoring approach to implement the necessary changes. Refactor migration is, in many aspects, a complete opposite of the Rehost migration. In this process, you have to write a new code to ensure compatibility with the cloud-based server.
To instill cloud-native capabilities in an existing app, developers need to re-architect the workloads, making refactoring one of the most complex forms of migration. Rearchitecting the app requires breaking a monolithic app into several microservices as well as automating a few development and deployment processes.
It’s a costly and resource-intensive option but also has long-term benefits. Refactor supports some advanced features, such as distributed load balancing, auto-scaling, and serverless computing.
Pros:
- A refactored application takes the maximum benefits of cloud features.
- Increased efficiency and performance.
- Cost-effective in the long run.
- Comes with advanced cloud-native features.
- Provides personalized automation.
Cons:
- A complex and time-consuming approach.
- Developers may need training if they lack prior experience.
- Requires huge initial investment.
Use cases:
- For complex apps with high usability that require performance optimization.
- Apps that require refactoring because of a threat landscape or changing regulatory compliance.
4.4 Repurchase
The strategy of replacing an on-premise legacy software with a new SaaS solution is called Repurchasing. It’s a typical move made where an organization transitions from a traditional licensing model to a SaaS model. In this case, they purchase the SaaS solution and its data from the vendor and no longer maintain their in-house app.
The repurchase migration uses the pay-per-use model. Organizations are often recommended to use operational expenditures (OpEx) instead of capital expenditures (CapEx) to effectively handle their costs and forecast the cash flow.
Pros:
- Replace outdated systems with the latest solutions.
- Simplifies procurement process.
- Reduces requirements of in-house skills.
- Faster migration process.
Cons:
- Lacks total control over the system.
- Involves potential commercial risks.
- This may lead to integration and dependency issues.
Use cases:
- To transition from a traditional license to the SaaS model.
- To replace a custom app with a third-party equivalent.
4.5 Retire
When an app is no longer useful, the only logical thing to do is to discontinue the app. The process of terminating or downsizing the existing application is called retiring. It involves archiving and cleaning up the data. This process is recommended when your business-critical workloads are functioning on outdated legacy systems. This calls for shutting down the servers for the existing app and adopting a modern cloud-native environment.
Pros:
- Requires minimal time, and effort.
- Eliminates unnecessary IT expenses.
Cons:
- Retiring an app also means looking for a new SaaS solution or developing one from scratch. This needs more time and money.
- Premature retirement of workloads makes your app incompatible.
Use cases:
- To retire redundant workloads and legacy applications that no longer provide business value.
- To eliminate maintenance and hosting costs associated with the app.
- To reduce the security risks by retiring the app with outdated version supports.
4.6 Relocate
In this kind of migration, you can move your workloads without buying new resources or writing new pieces of code. The relocating migration allows you to transfer servers from on-premise platforms to their cloud versions without affecting the performance of your application.
During relocation, the users stay connected to the app, which helps reduce downtime and disruption. Moreover, you don’t need to train your staff, as implementing this approach doesn’t require any significant modifications or configurations in the workload architecture. This also means you won’t have to invest in more hardware or resources, helping to reduce your costs as well.
Pros:
- Faster migration.
- Reduces costs.
- Leverages existing tools and expertise.
Cons:
- Tough to upgrade.
- Impossible to scale down.
- In some instances, it is costly.
- Limited cloud capabilities.
Use cases:
- To relocate the apps running on local Kubernetes distributions and VMware servers.
4.7 Retain
The organization decides to retain a service or workload when it’s decided to migrate it in the future. Until that migration occurs, the workload will function in the existing system. The reasons for retaining the workload may include its reliance on another app to function that hasn’t yet been migrated to the cloud or because it offers no immediate business value but is expected to be valuable in the future.
Pros:
- Reduces cloud waste.
- Identifies the business value of the services.
- Minimizes disruption.
Cons:
- This may discourage the adoption of modern and more efficient cloud services.
- Needs a hybrid environment to work which makes the matter complex.
- Presents data integration issues.
Use cases:
- When migrating one or more apps.
- To exercise control over resources.
- To work in a hybrid environment.
- For data compliance and security.
5. Common Cloud Migration Challenges
Cloud migration can be an overwhelming process, you might face some challenges along the way. Although migration projects are unique to the specific companies, there are quite a few challenges that are common among them. These include:
5.1 Downtime
When transferring your app and data to the cloud, you need to temporarily take your in-house servers offline. However, such an outage can negatively impact your app performance. Without a proper backup or effective resource allocation, you risk losing customers.
5.2 Cost Management
Sometimes companies tend to overspend on cloud migration. So, do proper research on your part and get rough estimates from multiple sources that align with your requirements. This will help you in getting an idea of the actual cost of cloud migration. Also, ensure that you are only migrating necessary workloads. There’s no use in transferring services that will remain idle in the cloud.
5.3 Security and Data Loss
Your data will be susceptible to various types of risks, including the potential for security breaches or accidental leaks when it is in transit. You can mitigate these security risks by using app encryption, privileged access management, and other cloud security controls.
5.4 Compatibility
Before migrating everything to the cloud, you have to test whether your app and its data are compatible with the chosen cloud platform. Customized and legacy apps are created for specific systems and network infrastructures. So, transferring them to the cloud would negatively impact performance.
So, test beforehand whether the platform is compatible with the app services. Neglecting might lead to a failed migration project and disrupt business operations.
5.5 Skills and Training
Not all developers at your company may have experience working with the cloud. So, they might need to be trained for the same.
5.6 Vendor Lock-in
Whether you are migrating an existing app to the cloud or building one from scratch, switching vendors or public cloud providers can be challenging. To avoid such a scenario, prefer to use vendor-agnostic resources. If your project requires vendor-specific features, then try to get some leverage in negotiation and explore alternatives in case the collaboration doesn’t work. This way, your project won’t be entirely dependent on a single vendor.
6. Factors Influencing the Cloud Migration Strategy
To map out an effective cloud migration strategy, it’s essential to first find out the factors that influence it. Here, we discuss some important factors that contribute to the development of a detailed migration plan.
6.1 Business Objectives
The goal of a business is the main driving force behind its strategic moves, including cloud migration. The entire process of migration should be aligned with the primary objective, such as cost reduction, increased accessibility, or more.
6.2 Scalability & Flexibility
While drafting a cloud migration strategy, scalability and flexibility are very important factors to consider. For example, AWS offers services including Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, which allows you to scale immediately in response to changing requirements. This helps businesses handle workload fluctuations and supports future growth.
6.3 Workload Requirements
The cloud migration strategy must align with your business objectives as well as the workload requirements of your applications. For example, some apps require high availability, whereas others prioritize high performance. So, you have to pick a suitable cloud platform that fits the workload requirements of your application.
6.4 Costs
There are costs associated with each project, which depend on your specific requirements. Nonetheless, you have to spend money on services from the cloud provider, training for your developers, migrating the resources, and more. Generally, the more tasks you have to perform during cloud migration and the more complex they are, the higher will be your project cost. In many instances, the cost remains to be one of the top factors that determine the approach and resources to use for the project.
6.5 Security and Compliance
When you are moving your app and data from one platform to a new one, you have to be very careful about its security. Compliance with the relevant regulations is mandatory, but addressing privacy requirements is equally important. Security vulnerabilities can largely impact both cloud migration and ongoing operations. Therefore, it is important to implement necessary security measures to ensure the safety of the application and its data during migration.
6.6 Staff Skills and Training
The migration strategy will be largely affected if your staff has no prior experience working with relevant technologies involved in migrating the on-premise app to cloud environments. In this case, it is essential to bring in an expert who could train your staff and then move on with the migration plan.
7. Top 10 Cloud Migration Strategy Best Practices
Building a cloud migration strategy is one thing and implementing it successfully is another. You need to leverage cloud migration best practices to ensure its success. Let’s walk through a few of them.
7.1 Defining Objectives
The stakeholders along with the project managers, must determine the project objectives and communicate them clearly to the team. This includes documenting a transparent and extensive business plan with detailed timelines and milestones. Documenting goals is important for clarity. You must also identify the KPIs for your goals, which helps you measure the progress of the migration.
7.2 Identify Migration Priorities
Identify your priority requirements and plan to migrate them first. For that, determine your business priorities and identify which workloads serve them well. You also have to consider the complexities and security aspects of each workload.
Once you complete the analysis, it’s time to start migrating one service or component of the application at a time. It helps handle the risks and reduce the disruption.
Migrating critical components first is essential to get your cloud-based app started running and delivering value. It will also help test if there is any problem with the core app operations when functioning on the cloud platform.
7.3 Use Pricing Calculators
All cloud service providers offer pricing calculators that help estimate the overall costs associated with cloud migration and optimization projects. You can leverage these calculators to get informed on the project costs beforehand, so you don’t get any surprises during the process. The main purpose of this practice is to provide companies with an overview of the costing structure and eliminate the hidden costs from such cloud migration projects.
7.4 Prepare a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
Your app and data are particularly vulnerable during migration. So, it’s essential to have a disaster recovery plan in place. Before transferring data, you must take proper backups and have some recovery solutions to address potential outages and disruptions. Having a DRP doesn’t simply mean having a way to get back the data you lost. It’s also about foolproofing the app and data so that it doesn’t get lost and can withstand any attack or issues that come in the way.
7.5 Train All Employees
Cloud services and functionalities differ significantly from traditional on-premises systems. If your developers lack prior experience working with the cloud technologies then you have to provide proper training from the experts. Such training will help them get started with cloud technologies, but they are never a one-time thing because the IT sector keeps evolving rapidly. So ongoing education is necessary to ensure that your systems remain up-to-date.
7.6 Avoid Vendor Lock-in
It’s important to avoid getting stuck with a vendor that does not frequently upgrade its resources. Hence, it is necessary to use vendor-agnostic resources or find a cloud provider whose offerings and experience align with your business and project needs. Another option is to work with multiple cloud vendors so that your project can take advantage of varied technical features. In such a case, your project can continue smoothly, even if the collaboration with one vendor ends abruptly.
7.7 Document Everything
Cloud migration is both a technical and a business process. Therefore, you need to make thorough documentation at every stage of the project. From goals, and strategies to cost analysis and tests, everything must be included in the documentation. It also acts as a source of truth to avoid any miscommunication or confusion. Along with this, it serves as a guide for anyone seeking to understand and optimize the cloud migration strategy.
7.8 Test and Measure the Success of the Migration Strategy
Once you migrate all the workloads to the cloud environment, it’s essential to test whether they function up to expectations or not. Use KPIs to measure the success of the migration. Once you ensure that all migrated components operate effectively on the cloud environment and you can safely decommission your old setup, then you can consider the migration successful. If you find any issues during testing, you have to either improve the cloud migration strategy or optimize the services, depending on the specific problems identified.
7.9 Monitoring Performance and Security
When you are relocating to the cloud, it’s critical to monitor the performance and security of the migration process. You can use various tools to strengthen security and monitor every activity. Moreover, they help streamline the entire workflow, increasing the overall efficiency of the process.
7.10 Automate the Migration Process
Automating the migration process has many benefits, such as minimizing errors, increasing speed and efficiency, simplifying the entire process, reducing costs, and optimizing operations. You can leverage middleware tools to streamline the automation.
8. Conclusion
Cloud migration is a very challenging task. You have to properly analyze your cloud requirements and identify potential barriers to create a strategic plan that could help you achieve your goals. Organizations pick a suitable approach to cloud migration depending on their budget, the characteristics of systems, and the level of disruption to existing systems. Although there are many benefits of moving your application to the cloud, there are some serious risks involved along with some new expenses such as training and maintenance.
FAQs
What is lift and shift cloud migration?
Lift and Shift cloud migration, popularly known as rehosting, involves shifting an existing app and its data from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud with minimal modifications.
Why is cloud migration needed?
Businesses choose cloud migration because of high availability, easy scalability, increased efficiency in IT operations, and reduced infrastructure costs.
Is cloud migration easy?
Similar to relocating from a small office to a larger one, cloud migration also requires careful planning, preparation, and strategic execution to reap the benefits of the cloud, such as high flexibility and cost savings.
What is the difference between Rehost and Replatform?
Rehosting means moving your existing app to the cloud with some modifications and upgrades to facilitate the migration and cloud hosting. On the other hand, replatform means migrating the app with minimal modifications and still retaining the benefits of the cloud.
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