On premise to cloud migration strategy

For many companies, the shift from on-premises infrastructure to cloud computing has been a game changer.

Indeed cloud offers scalability, reliability and cost efficiencies that traditional on-premises systems simply can’t match.

Moving from a physical storefront to an online marketplace is like moving from on-premises to the cloud.

Cloud has many advantages. But you need a tailored plan to make the transition smooth.

Plan must address security, technology, data, talent and support needs across multiple teams.

Successful on premise to cloud migration strategy involve workload identification and assessment, design of the target cloud architecture, migration of data and applications, and testing and validation of the migration.

Critical considerations are security, privacy, compliance, network and application architectures, and stress testing.

It’s important to have a clear understanding of the costs and benefits of migrating and a plan for managing and maintaining the cloud environment.

But with careful planning and execution, it could open up new opportunities to help your business succeed in the digital era.

In this article, we will look at the things that you need to consider and create a checklist for yourself.

On premise to cloud migration checklist

1. Evaluation

In order to determine which workloads are suitable for migration to the cloud, it is important to conduct an assessment of the current on-premises infrastructure, including hardware, software and applications.

Such an assessment should include an evaluation of existing on-premises IT processes, policies and procedures to align with the migration strategy.

Evaluation helps to identify the gap between the current state and the desired state, and provides a clear understanding.

2. Cloud preparation

Review the cloud preparation of the business and find any potential barriers or gaps that need to be addressed before proceeding with the migration.

Includes reviewing your current network infrastructure, security protocols and IT staff skills and knowledge, as well as identifying any additional resources required to support the migration.

By carrying out a thorough assessment of your cloud readiness, you can identify potential challenges and develop a plan to address them to ensure a successful migration.

3. Cloud architecture design

Once evaluation and cloud preparation are complete, the next step is to design a cloud architecture that meets specific needs.

Research and select the best cloud provider, determine the best cloud deployment model (public, private or hybrid) and identify the specific services and technologies required to support the migration.

A well-designed cloud architecture ensures that your on-premises infrastructure, applications and data are optimized for the cloud and meet your requirements for scalability, security and performance.

4. Data migration

Crucial step in the process of moving to the cloud, it involves transfer of data from on premise infrastructure to cloud.

Successful data migration requires a comprehensive data migration plan that covers all the necessary steps, including data extraction, data transformation, data loading, data validation and data transfer.

Privacy and security are key considerations during this process, as migrating sensitive data requires robust security measures to protect the data from unwanted access or compromise.

Minimise downtime and data loss with a well-planned data migration plan that ensures on-premises data is accurately and securely transferred to the cloud.

5. Application migration

Once the data is migrated, continue to migrate the applications. This step involves testing and validating the applications in the cloud environment.

Identify and resolve any compatibility issues that may arise.

Make the necessary changes to the applications so that they can operate effectively in the cloud environment.

Important because this ensure that mission-critical applications are operational and ready to use in the new cloud environment.

To ensure that applications work seamlessly in the cloud and to minimise potential disruption to business operations, it is important to have a thorough stress testing and validation plan in place.

6. Testing and validation

Test and validation are an essential element in ensuring the success of the migration process.

You need to thoroughly test the entire system, including the cloud infrastructure, data and applications, to confirm that they work as expected and that all data and configurations are accurate.

Identify any potential issues or bugs so they can be fixed before the migration is complete

Ensure that there is no loss of data or disruption to business operations during the migration process and that systems and data are successfully transferred to the cloud.

To ensure that the system continues to perform optimally and to identify any problems that may arise in the future, regular checks and validations are carried out after the migration.

7. Go-live and maintenance

Once migrated, complete the transition to your new cloud environment and go live by performing maintenance downtime, informing your customers, and switching connections from on-premises to the cloud environment.

Next step should be is update documents, train your IT staff and set up processes for continuous maintenance and support.

So your IT people have the necessary knowledge and skills to manage and maintain the cloud environment, and that the cloud infrastructure has the right support to run smoothly and consistently.

Having well-documented maintenance and support processes helps to ensure that any issues that may arise in the future can be quickly identified and resolved.

8. Cost management

Key aspect to consider when migrating to the cloud. Important to have a clear understanding of the costs associated with both the migration process and the ongoing management of the cloud environment.

Should develop a cost management plan that includes monitoring and analyzing cloud costs, identify cost optimization opportunities, and implement cost-saving measures.

Find areas where cost can be reduced, such as by using reserved instances or auto-scaling, and monitoring cloud usage to ensure that resources are being used efficiently.

Manage costs, ensure migration and ongoing use of cloud environment is financially viable and sustainable.

9. Performance monitoring

Verify that the cloud infrastructure meets the performance expectations. This should be a part of your stress testing steps and should also be a part of after migration.

Monitor the availability, responsiveness and scalability of the cloud infrastructure and the applications that run on it.

Identifying and addressing performance issues is an important part of this process, helping to ensure systems are operating at optimum capacity and that any problems are resolved in a timely manner.

Regular performance monitoring also enables potential scalability issues to be identified and addressed in advance, helping systems to cope with increased load as the business expands.

Furthermore, performance monitoring provides valuable information that can be used to optimize the cloud infrastructure for both cost and performance.

10. Continual Improvement

Migration to the cloud is not a one-off event – it is an ongoing process that needs to be constantly evaluated and improved.

To ensure that you meet the changing needs of your organization, it is important that you continually evaluate and update your cloud infrastructure and processes.

Track cloud infrastructure performance, identify and resolve problems, and implement changes to keep infrastructure running at optimal capacity.

This involves regularly reviewing IT processes, policies and procedures and making any necessary updates to match current and future business needs.

Through continuous monitoring and improvement of the cloud infrastructure and processes, you can be assured that the cloud is always operating at peak efficiency and is meeting the needs of the business.