Sensitive data and applications are stored on your on-premise servers. Once you decide to migrate those to Cloud, you need to pay attention on planning the pre-migration phase. Assess the required computing resources before executing the migration to avoid huge costs and delay in the process. Exceeding planned budget, longer process duration, loss in productivity, lower efficiency, unexpected down time etc are the most common problems you may face if you don’t carefully plan your migration.

Cloud migration is a very complex process and it requires detailed planning and strategy simulation. Common Issues like security gaps or unexpected rise in costs can occur during the migration process which can be identified and eliminated or narrowed with a well devised plan. Special care is required while migration to ensure there is no data loss during the process. Strategy as to how the migration process has to be segmented, which types of applications to be migrated and on what priority, then duration of the migration process, deadlines to be met so that there is no disruption in the functioning of your enterprise activities etc are the fundamentals which are addressed during pre-migration phase.

You can confidently align with Nuvento Cloud Consultants to ensure your migration strategy is devised in a secure manner and Migration is completed within the set budget and timeframe. The main objective of this Guide is to let you understand the complexities involved in Cloud Migration Process so that you can plan your migration carefully and secure your precious data and applications stored in on-premise servers.

Some Statistics to show why planning is mandatory for Cloud Migration:

Research from Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and 451 Research shows that more than 50% of cloud migrations overdo budget, overdo migration windows, and/or cause unanticipated enterprise disruptions. (Ref. Source: https://www.servercentral.com/blog/cloud-migration-plan/).

Organization readiness for adopting cloud practices is a key deciding factor which only experts can help you with. This involves a plethora of criteria with weightages which must be considered during the pre-migration phase.

Cloud Migration Planning in Detail

Phase 1: Understanding the existing system

Your enterprise should think in depth about the existing system and for what reasons you would want cloud. What benefits you get from the cloud is the main thought factor before migration. The existing system in itself is a study material which needs to be analysed.

So, identify your cloud migration needs. An infrastructure assessment can help you with this. You can find out what all you want to move to the cloud, then what are the RPO/RTOs (Recovery Time Objective or Recovery Point Objective) of each application, compliance necessities and owners of all applications, then data and applications stay in which all places, capacity utilized by these, mode of connection to your network, dependencies/relationships between application and component of infrastructure etc.

• Precisely identify What kind of applications are there in your enterprise and if they are in a movable state. Make a list of those applications, some might be already there on cloud without your knowledge. Assign priorities to each based on RTO/RPO.
• Who owns/manages each application is to be understood, also identify access needs. Assigning ownership is an activity which cannot be unheeded so as to avoid breaks in migration process. Once these people are identified collaboration is easier to make the project successful.
• A look back into your old infrastructure would open up your eyes further towards the importance of prioritizing applications which are running on almost expired hardware. Noting the servers, location and capacity of servers, shape/size of servers etc comes handy in this analysis. Cost estimates of idle servers would startle you for sure. These findings would help you plan and utilize your cloud capacity to the fullest. An expert cloud consultant would help you plan correctly, and we ensure you run within your budget.
• The complex architecture of your applications should be understood again. Some might be connected for high availability/redundancy and this knowledge would help you migrate with lesser downtime.

Phase 2: Security needs

Road map to a secure cloud migration is never complete without a well thought out Security Program/Architecture. Many factors are taken into consideration such as data protection and regulatory compliance, then developing policies, standards and guidelines. You can choose a Cloud Service provider based on security ratings. These guidelines would help you:

• Design a high-level architecture with strong integration between on-premise and cloud resources. This would indicate the level of interconnectivity and dataflow. Also conduct threat modelling at each node.
• Defining functional architecture is the next step, in this you choose types of integration, secure modes for data and traffic flow, identity and access management, key management, endpoint security, encryptions, and protocols. This would help to decide the type and placement of control systems, roles/responsibilities and risks involved. This comprehensive report has to be approved with required revisions in order to align with business goals.
• Next is about operational support architecture. This would help in devising best practices and policies for each function. This includes change management, configuration management, SIEM and DLP implementation, disaster recovery etc.

Phase 3: Selecting a cloud solution and provider

This is based on various factors like understanding your specific business needs and comparing the expertise of your cloud providers. While migrating applications and workloads to cloud, we determine the configurations needed, your work in it and support you get from the provider based on the exact environment you choose, and services provided by the provider.

Choose the cloud solution provider based on these criteria:

• Standards and Certifications.
• Related Technologies and Service Roadmap
• Data Governance, Security and Enterprise Policies.
• Defined partnerships and Service Dependencies
• Performance and Dependability 
• Service contracts, SLAs and Commercials
• Support systems, vendor lock-in and exit plan details
• Company profile and Enterprise health

Phase 4: Choosing a strategy 

This is a crucial phase and a clearly defined strategy would align your business and IT objectives together and help in cost control. Some famous strategies include Lift and Shift, Refactoring, Re-platforming and many more.

Phase 5: Creating a checklist 

You can successfully move to the cloud by following this checklist.

Phase 6: Doing a test migration 

Contact us to Plan a test migration

If you are looking at migrating to a multi cloud or hybrid cloud architecture, we will provide the required strategy to make the process less challenging. It would connect your traditional dedicated servers, public clouds and private clouds all together for one application. You can also choose multiple clouds from different providers for multiple applications based on your enterprise needs.