BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

7 Pitfalls To Avoid For Seamless Cloud Migration

Migration to the cloud requires a well-structured strategy because it impacts the enterprise in its entirety. Cloud migration entails the interplay of management and technology challenges in addition to the realignment of staff and technology.

An important aspect of digital transformation is cloud migration which entails moving data, applications, and other business elements to a cloud environment. Migration from a local data centre offers benefits such as agility*, flexibility, self-service provisioning, redundancy, scalability, and more.


The cloud migration process

Organisations intending to migrate to the cloud must establish what their migration goals are. It is important to understand that not all business elements can be migrated. Hence, the organisation needs to follow a logical process involving the following steps.

  • Identify the elements that can be migrated.
  • Take a stock of the elements that will be migrated. Check their interdependence on other aspects of the business.
  • Assess the impact of migration of the specific elements.
  • Develop a roadmap for the migration of the specified elements.
  • Rearchitect the systems to leverage the benefits offered by cloud services.
  • Choose the best cloud service for the organisation based on its features and costs.

Businesses have options of different cloud services to choose from, such as:

  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
  • Multi-cloud

Although the process seems straightforward, businesses make certain mistakes while migrating. The impact of these mistakes may override the benefits offered by cloud migration. Here are some of the pitfalls to avoid during cloud migration.

1. Compliance challenges

When data is transferred from internal storage to the external storage offered by the cloud, the business needs to ensure that data is stored such that it adheres to the relevant laws and regulations.

2. Security issues

The cloud environment is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Such attacks can infringe on confidential data which could lead to irreparable damage. Therefore, it is vital that the business ensures that cybersecurity measures are taken while migrating.

3. Identifying the right apps for migration

Many organisations are unaware of the fact that not all apps and data can be migrated to the cloud. When they try to migrate all their business elements, they face difficulties in leveraging the benefits of the cloud.

4. Improper planning

Cloud migration is a complex process and must be carefully planned. Improper planning will lead to disruptions in the business that may be hard to manage.

5. Inadequate staff training

Migration to the cloud realigns the operations and management of the apps or data. The staff who have been working on legacy systems will find it difficult to adapt to the cloud environment if they have not been adequately trained in working in the cloud environment.

6. Inaccurate cost estimates

Cloud migration has several implicit costs associated with it in addition to the explicit cost elements. These include expenses such as vendor support expenses, application re-engineering, configuration changes, staff training, delivery optimisation expenses, and more.

7. Lack of knowledge

Many organisations lack the technical knowledge about cloud migration. Inadequate knowledge makes it difficult to estimate costs, selection of the right cloud services, choice of relevant features, etc.

Awareness of these pitfalls helps businesses to strategize the migration of their enterprise in a manner that overcomes these bottlenecks.


Pointers for a seamless cloud migration

  • Conduct market research to assess how different types of enterprise applications, in organisations similar to yours, fare on the cloud. This will enable you to gauge if cloud migration is suitable for your business.
  • Build a framework for enterprise migration clearly defining the roles of all stakeholders in the process. 
  • Identify the individual responsible for the migration.
  • Organise relevant documentation, setups, and processes systematically.
  • Cloud migration has cost implications that cannot be ignored so select a service provider diligently.
  • Ensure that you choose cloud services that meet the needs of your business.

Make sure that you assess the risks and take cybersecurity measures to prevent cyberattacks.


Final Thoughts

Cloud computing is one of the most essential elements for organisations that are on their digital transformation journey. This is the reason that they are turning to the cloud to provide them with a competitive edge, facilitate innovation, and save time and costs. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the worldwide end-user spend on public cloud services is forecast to grow from $494.7 billion in 2022 to a whopping $ 600 billion in 2023! However, for seamless migration to the cloud, businesses need to circumvent the pitfalls that may impact the migration negatively.

* For organizations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed on organizational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like a living organism, will be imperative for business excellence going forward. A comprehensive, yet modular suite of services is doing exactly that. Equipping organizations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organizations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.


Recent Posts