You have to keep your head in the cloud if you want your company to succeed online. The best thing to happen to the internet is cloud computing. According to Gartner, public cloud service expenditures are projected to hit $304.9 billion in 2021, from $257.5 billion in 2020. Data center migration to cloud systems boasts benefits like cost savings, high levels of security, and instant accessibility.

While there are challenges even in the cloud, you know what they say: every cloud has a silver lining. Find out how to minimize risks and the best practices to follow.

Hurdles you may face

The good thing about technology is that it is dynamic and constantly being improved upon and updated. However, this presents a set of challenges as well. Data center migration challenges are usually due to flaws in execution plans or problems with existing data, and not with migration itself. Did you know that although 98% of companies are running their own on-premises hardware servers right now, this is rapidly changing due to the current industry scenario?

Sounds like a plan

A poor implementation plan sets up the entire migration process to fail. Start by assessing what data, equipment, apps, and programs you have. Find out the cloud service’s storage and capabilities and if they are compatible with your data.

Tech infrastructure requirements will change along with the migration, either requiring more or less power, so factor this in as well. Create a framework based on priority and then a schedule for moving.

Don’t lose it, use it

Possible data loss, though minimal, comes in the form of corrupted, partial, or missing files. Your team will need to create backups for all programs, applications, and data beforehand. This ensures data integrity after migration.  With your data safely backed up, you will be able to retrieve it or restore it to its original state later.

In data we trust

Ensure the company you are planning to work with are cloud data specialists. They should be affordable, efficient, and provide the latest services.

Check if they operate from their own premises or whether they are utilizing services from yet another provider. This will give you insight into how your own company’s data will be transferred, secured, and stored.

Best practices for your cloud journey

Always follow the leader! When it comes to data center migration, you will want to copy smart ideas to make sure that your process is smooth sailing from the get go.

Play detective

Investigate and map out your assets thoroughly. List out and detail every possible database and resource you need to move (hardware, software, apps, programs, OS, and more). Create a layout to hand over to the data center migration company because they will not know which of your data you need to move.

Get scheming

Implement a plan. A carefully executed data center migration plan lays out the framework and timeline to research what data you have currently, and break it down into sections. You and your team will need to work with an execution schedule to understand what data needs to be uploaded when, chronologically. Ideally, you will not move all your data at the same time, but in sections over time.

1. Create checklists and delegate responsibilities to employees. These include compiling a database of your assets, assigning priority status to workloads, scheduling uploads, monitoring the migration status, checking that everything transferred correctly, and, finally, updating and optimizing data.
2. Migrate data on a priority basis. All data points have varying levels of importance within your organization.
3. Optimize workloads to ensure business continuity even while migrating.

Leave it to the experts

Outsource the process to experienced and reliable companies and developer teams. Your company’s data deserves to be in qualified and secure hands. Look for individuals and businesses with expertise in cloud migration services. An ideal company should be equipped with robust cloud data migration tools, be affordable, and, most of all, be experts in cloud data management.

Stay relevant

Your work does not stop once you’ve migrated your data to the cloud! You need to continuously optimize and monitor your data even after migration to ensure it runs at optimal speeds, efficiency, and connectivity.

The best thing about data center migration is that the challenges are few, and are typically attributed to existing issues with data or with a terrible plan. Counter the challenges by using the best practices we listed.

Ready to move your data to the cloud? Find out how Aspire Systems can facilitate your company’s data center migration.

Abstract

Data center migration is seeing an uptick in users utilizing it, partly due to the pandemic. With the data center migration to the cloud model, companies can enjoy benefits like savings in costs, layers of data security, faster moving process, and virtually instantaneous accessibility.

We list out the (few) challenges associated with data center migration. These hurdles are usually attributed to flaws in the implementation plan, or with existing problems in the data, applications, and programs.

The best practices that we share solve all of the challenges, while allowing companies to make their migration process seamless. During migration, many workloads will need to run, so this has to be addressed ahead of time. Find out how to make data center migration work for you, so that your company can scale up quickly and save money and time.

Recommended Blogs:

Pros and Cons of Lift and Shift Migration

Top business changing benefits of Cloud migration

Cloud Assessment Checklist: A Complete guide to succeed in your Cloud journey

4 Things to consider before migrating your Database to Cloud