Effective implementation of cloud migration requires meticulous planning, risk mitigation strategies, and a multi-faceted approach to handle the resource-intensive nature of migrations. According to a survey carried out by Accenture, a significant proportion of companies (approximately two-thirds) that have adopted cloud technology have failed to achieve the complete realization of their expected outcomes. One of the key reasons for this disparity is an absence of a comprehensive roadmap that should be the foundation of any migration.
Organizations are missing out on the significant value that cloud migration can bring due to inefficient planning resulting in unexpected costs and delays. A primary causal factor is the inadequacy of companies in addressing critical aspects, including but not limited to, timelines, expenses, downtimes, risk mitigation measures, and security breach protocols, during the cloud migration process.
Diametrically opposed are organizations that excise far too much time planning and not enough on an executable feet-on-the-ground migration plan, leading to audit paralysis and no action.
Although companies are transitioning more workloads to the public cloud, mismanagement in coordinating the migration process is taking a toll. The data indicates that these inefficiencies are causing companies to exceed their planned migration expenses by an average of 14 percent annually, and approximately 38 percent of businesses have encountered delays of more than one-quarter in their migration timeline.
Decoding the reasons behind the Migration Meltdown
Let us examine a few instances that elucidate how an ill-conceived approach can result in migration failures.
Lack of Planning
A cloud migration that is not built on a strong business case in favor of Cloud Migration is bound for failure. Without a comprehensive catalog of the advantages migration will provide, there is no grounded reason for a Cloud Migration. After all, not all organizations need to shift to the cloud.
Inadequate planning can result in underestimating the complexity of the migration, leading to delays, cost overruns, and even cloud sprawl. Without clear insight into current systems, it becomes difficult to determine what workloads are suitable for migration. The absence of a well-defined migration strategy can lead to confusion, miscommunications, extended work timelines, and software downtimes, ultimately leaving the company to incur financial losses.
Overlooking the Human Element
The scale of technology pervasion may have reduced human intervention, but not removed it completely. The migration process should take into account the human aspect as well.
Users need to be guided to help them adjust to the updated software and modified business processes. Without a comprehensive model to handle user education and training, the post-migration changes can be hard-hitting and counteractive to business growth.
Not Testing Thoroughly
Meticulous testing should be conducted throughout the digital transfer process to avert potential issues concerning performance, database errors, and website/application crashes.
More severe issues like data loss, security breaches and unforeseen server/application/website crashes can occur in the absence of an exhaustive testing plan. Only by putting in place a holistic cloud migration strategy, can migration ecosystems safeguard the data and software quality and as well as compliance with security regulations.
Security Policies
Lapses in security protocol implementation during the crossover from on-premise to cloud environments can lead to blind spots, API vulnerabilities, and moderate to severe data loss depending on the type of breakdown.
As with the planning and testing strategies, it is imperative to establish a robust security framework to supervise the fortification of the cloud migration process prior to its execution.
A comprehensive approach to ensuring the integrity of the migration process involves designating a team of dedicated personnel to oversee the migration, implementing multi-factor authentication, deploying cloud-wide logging, and developing contingency plans to address any potential security breaches.
Lack of recovery/backup
“Your backups need backups”
Before embarking on the actual execution of the migration process, backups and granular recovery methods should be activated as a failsafe to mitigate the risk of any potential loss of workloads during the transfer process.
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The art of Cloud Migration is not set in stone. It is highly contingent on industry nuances, individual business requirements, and an organization’s present and future growth trajectories. Mearas’s team of experts helps companies accelerate their migration and cloud adoption endeavors.
Our methodologies, tools, and experienced professionals work collaboratively with your team to ensure faster and more reliable completion of your migration journey. To start your migration journey, get in touch with our cloud migration experts.