Summary
The cloud can offer agility, cost savings, scalability, and enhanced security. Having a well-structured cloud migration plan will be the cornerstone to making your cloud migration seamless.
To maximize agility, optimize costs, and drive innovation, today’s organizations must take full advantage of cloud computing. For most businesses, that means charting a course to move many of their traditional on-premises workloads to a more modern, cloud-friendly infrastructure. It also calls for the use of innovative management tools to optimize hybrid cloud resources for increased efficiency, security, and agility.
A well-structured cloud migration plan ensures a smooth, secure, and cost-effective transition from on-premises systems to the cloud. Without a good migration plan, businesses may face cost overruns, data loss, or potential security gaps.
What Is a Cloud Migration Plan?
A cloud migration plan is a structured framework that outlines the steps and strategies needed to move applications, data, and workloads from an on-premises infrastructure to a cloud or hybrid environment. A good cloud migration plan minimizes any disruption to business operations, ensures adequate security and compliance, and optimizes the performance and cost-effectiveness of the resulting infrastructure. It should also delineate the organization’s approach to future-proofing its infrastructure for long-term savings and agility.
An effective cloud migration plan should articulate the measurable objectives, budget, and timeline for the transition. Start with an assessment of current systems and desired outcomes, then develop a strategy and timeline, including a post-implementation plan for ongoing optimization.
Benefits of a Cloud Migration Plan
A well-thought-out cloud migration plan dramatically improves the likelihood that your project will go smoothly. By thinking ahead and considering the various factors that contribute to success, you can ensure that all the pieces are in place when the time comes to execute on your cloud migration project.
A well-planned cloud migration offers numerous advantages, including:
- Cost savings: By moving to the cloud, businesses can eliminate the need for expensive on-premises hardware, freeing up capital for other purposes.
- Improved scalability: Organizations can quickly and easily add capacity or scale back resources based on current demand. This allows for greater responsiveness during seasonal peaks or sudden spikes in business activity.
- Enhanced security: Most cloud providers offer built-in security tools and 24×7 monitoring, plus compliance features that simplify adherence to regulations, even as they change over time.
- Increased business agility: The cloud allows for rapid deployment of applications and services, giving businesses the flexibility to add new capabilities and services quickly and efficiently.
- Disaster recovery and business continuity: Cloud platforms offer built-in data backup and recovery services and often provide failover capabilities for seamless continuity in the event of local or regional disruptions.
How to Create a Cloud Migration Plan
A good cloud migration plan starts with clear objectives and an assessment of the status quo. Survey your organization’s existing infrastructure, applications, and data. Work with stakeholders to identify primary business objectives and technical requirements, then determine the key performance indicators that will define success or failure for your cloud migration project.
Next, decide which cloud model is the best fit to address your needs:
- Public cloud is highly scalable and cost-effective but is shared with multiple tenants. That may raise issues around data security and compliance, especially in the case of highly sensitive information.
- Private cloud offers greater control and security, but it also requires a higher level of investment and ongoing maintenance.
- Hybrid cloud combines public cloud and private cloud, allowing companies to allocate resources to each environment based on their needs. Hybrid cloud can also incorporate on-premises systems, offering the ultimate in flexibility.
You should also clarify your overall strategy, selecting one or more approaches from the “7 Rs of cloud migration”:
- Rehosting (also known as “lift and shift”) involves moving an organization’s existing applications to the cloud with minimal modifications.
- Refactoring involves significant modifications to existing applications that enable them to take full advantage of cloud-native services.
- Replatforming requires minor changes to optimize applications for the cloud.
- Repurchasing entails moving to a SaaS solution that replaces existing applications.
- Retiring refers to the elimination of outdated applications.
- Retaining involves keeping some workloads on premises while rolling out a hybrid cloud strategy.
- Relocating involves moving infrastructure to the cloud using virtual machines or containerization but without changing workloads.
Stages in a Cloud Migration Plan
Your cloud migration plan should include a timetable that has the following stages:
- Establish a test environment and allow for adequate time to validate performance, security, and compliance.
- Implement robust security measures, including encryption, access controls, and compliance monitoring.
- Migrate your data, being careful to minimize downtime and ensure data integrity. Consider performing a phased migration to reduce risk and minimize disruptions to business operations.
- Execute your test plan and when ready, transition to your newly migrated systems.
- Monitor performance and optimize resources. Consider implementing automation features for added efficiency.
Common Cloud Migration Challenges
One of the biggest concerns in cloud migration is the risk of extended downtime and business disruptions. To mitigate this risk, businesses should consider a phased migration approach and schedule migration activity during off-peak hours.
Data security and compliance are also key factors. Moving data to the cloud may introduce new vulnerabilities, so organizations should leverage cloud-native security tools and implement encryption to safeguard their sensitive information.
One of the biggest concerns, though, involves the risk of introducing data silos. This can be especially problematic in hybrid cloud deployments. Inconsistencies between on-premises and cloud environments, particularly for storage architectures, can lead to a fragmented view of corporate data. That, in turn, creates inefficiencies and limits visibility to information and insights.
Tools and Resources for Cloud Migration
The right hybrid cloud tools eliminate data silos, simplify management, and automate optimization. Pure Storage offers a common data plane for cloud migration, disaster recovery, and hybrid development and deployment. That translates to a consistent experience across multiple cloud environments and on premises, leveraging efficient replication capabilities, Pure Cloud Block Store™, and Portworx®.
Pure Storage Evergreen architecture adds further value with a future-proof approach to storage that optimizes cloud and hybrid cloud environments. The Evergreen® subscription portfolio offers unrivaled choice and delivers the ultimate in flexibility, agility, and innovation.
Why Choose Pure Storage?
For businesses seeking a seamless cloud migration experience and future-proof architecture, Pure Storage offers innovative solutions for optimized performance, bulletproof security, and outstanding cost efficiency. To learn more about Pure Storage hybrid cloud solutions, schedule a meeting with one of our experts today.
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