Migrating your business applications and data to the cloud can offer great benefits that many companies are eager to take advantage of. However, the process of migrating to the cloud, or, to a new cloud provider isn’t easy.
Migrating to a new cloud provider is a process that needs serious planning because if it’s not done properly, it can lead to complications for your business. There are many different decisions that you need to make about your migration, so here are some of the points you need to consider when migrating to a new cloud provider.
What are You Migrating?
One of the first questions is, what applications or data are you going to be migrating to the new provider?
Some applications are better suited to the cloud than others, and likewise, different providers have different strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to know which applications are going to be migrated, and which are going to stay where they are.
The same is true of data, there is certain data that you want to access through the cloud, but some data might not be suitable for a migration. Once you know which applications and data are going to be migrated you can make better decisions about the rest of the process.
Choose Your Level of Integration
There are different levels of integration, which are known as a shallow integration and a deep integration. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks:
Shallow Cloud Integration: During a shallow cloud integration, you make limited or no changes to applications – just enough to get the applications running on the cloud. A shallow integration, is quicker and less complicated but doesn’t allow you to gain as much advantage from the cloud.
Deep Cloud Integration: While migrating, you modify applications to take advantage of the cloud’s capabilities. This option allows you to make the most of cloud computing, but also makes the migration much more complex.
Are You Going to Use a Single Cloud or Go Multi-Cloud?
As previously mentioned, different cloud providers have different strengths and weaknesses. One provider might offer great server speed, while another offers top-quality security. While you can always improve your level of security with a company like mcafee.com, you can combine the best parts of different providers by going multi-cloud.
A single cloud migration is simpler, but using multiple clouds means that you’re not locked into a single provider and you can take advantage of different providers’ strengths.
Establish Performance Baselines
In order to see the improvements from your new cloud provider, you need to know how your system is currently performing in key areas. Establish the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter most to your business, and establish how well you’re currently performing in those areas.
Once you’ve got your performance baselines, you can easily measure the improvements you are making with your new cloud provider. There are lots of different KPIs that you can use within user experience, application performance, infrastructure, and business engagement. The more you know about current performance levels, the easier it is to evaluate your new provider.
