As companies grow, their existing infrastructure may struggle to keep up, making cloud migration a necessary step. In some cases, overhauling digital systems proves more cost-efficient in the long run. Because of this, many businesses eventually face the challenge of migrating to the cloud.
Cloud migration strategies involve moving digital assets like data, workloads, and applications to a cloud-based infrastructure. The best approach depends on whether a company’s current setup is on-premise or already cloud-based. While migration enables scalability, planning the transition can be time-consuming and complex.
Optimal strategies vary based on resources, budgets, and goals, but following key steps can simplify the process. In this post, I’ll cover cloud migration strategies, their pros and cons, and best practices to help organizations choose the right approach based on their infrastructure and business needs.
Getting Started: Why and When Cloud Migration is Essential
Firstly, it is important to mention that a cloud migration approach might not be the most suitable solution for all businesses. While cloud migration offers numerous benefits, some businesses may find it unsuitable due to specific operational, regulatory, or financial constraints. For instance, companies that heavily rely on legacy applications that lack cloud compatibility, businesses in the trading and telecom industries that require ultra-low-latency networks, and governmental organizations that require complete data and system control might benefit more from running on-premise servers. On the other hand, growing businesses that require a scalable platform at a reasonable cost can benefit from a cloud migration plan. Moreover, if such companies are already operating on a cloud-based platform, it is not uncommon for them to find cloud migration optimization strategies to run things more efficiently and effectively.
Some of the most essential reasons that incline businesses to consider cloud migration strategies are:
- Cost savings: Reduce infrastructure expenses and pay only for resources used.
- Scalability & flexibility: Scale resources up or down based on demand.
- Security & compliance: Cloud providers offer built-in security measures and regulatory compliance.
- Business continuity & disaster recovery: Improve uptime and reliability with cloud-based backups.
- Improved performance: Cloud providers offer high-speed computing and optimized workloads.
All things considered, cloud migration planning can come with certain headaches and challenges, including potential downtime, compatibility concerns, and data security risks. Because of this, it’s essential to have a well-structured cloud migration strategy that includes thorough assessment, risk mitigation, and phased implementation.
Key Considerations Before Migrating to the Cloud
Before coming up with a cloud migration plan, it is important to evaluate the current state of your system, goals, and budget thoroughly to ensure you implement the correct cloud migration strategy. Below are some of the most important things you should consider.
- Assess your IT environment: Identify which applications, databases, and workloads need migration. Determine dependencies and potential risks. A specific cloud migration strategy can look flawless for one organization but prove futile for your business model because of certain application and workload limitations.
- Choose the right cloud provider: AWS and Google Cloud are some of the most famous go-to choices for cloud migration hosting. However, many prefer alternatives to AWS due to Amazon’s cost ambiguity and poor customer service. Moreover, many startups and new-found businesses prefer cost-effective cloud providers like Vultr and Cloudzy.
- Security and compliance requirements: Certain Cloud vulnerabilities can be dealbreakers for industries that handle sensitive data. Because of this, some businesses must ensure compliance with industry regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001 to protect sensitive data.
- Budget planning: It should be a no-brainer that budget plays an important role here. Evaluate different cloud migration strategies to determine whether it’s best to migrate everything, or keep a hybrid system.
- Business continuity and planning downtimes: Once you pick a cloud migration strategy, it’s best to plan a cloud transformation roadmap to avoid unexpected operational disruptions.
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Cloud Migration Strategies (The 6 R’s Framework)
As one of the most widely adopted cloud migration strategy frameworks, the ‘6 R’s Strategy’ has stood the test of time and proved its effectiveness in helping various businesses choose the right cloud migration plan. It was initially introduced by Amazon Web Services as a more pragmatic approach to Gartner’s ‘5 R’s Strategy.’
The 6 R’s cloud migration strategies categorize all cloud transformation roadmaps into six distinct categories:
1. Rehosting (Lift & Shift)
As a fairly straightforward cloud migration approach, rehosting refers to moving all the existing applications and platforms from on-premise to a cloud infrastructure. It is often the quickest cloud migration strategy, but doesn’t fully leverage all the benefits of cloud migration.
- Pros: Fastest cloud migration example with minimal effort.
- Cons: Doesn’t utilize cloud-native capabilities.
Best for: Organizations needing a quick migration without refactoring.
2. Replatforming (Lift, Tinker, & Shift)
Next up, re-platforming is a cloud migration strategy that includes moving all applications to cloud servers with some minor optimizations to improve performance without going through a full re-do. It’s a middle ground between rehosting and refactoring.
- Pros: Improves performance while retaining familiarity.
- Cons: Requires some modifications, can lead to minimal downtimes.
Best for: Businesses wanting cloud benefits with minimal development effort.
3. Repurchasing (Moving to SaaS)
This approach involved moving to a different product, often a cloud-native solution. Typically, businesses move to Software-as-a-Service platforms when repurchasing. Workday, for example, is a popular SaaS platform for HR and finance teams that many educational and financial institutions have taken advantage of.
- Pros: Eliminates infrastructure management.
- Cons: loss of customization, potential data migration issues, and requires new security measures, like implementing SSPM.
Best for: Businesses looking for cost-effective and scalable solutions that require minimal infrastructure maintenance.
4. Refactoring (Re-architecting)
Sometimes, businesses have to make significant changes in features, scale, and performance of certain applications in a way that the previous framework cannot handle. The optimal cloud migration strategy in such cases is to re-imagine how applications are architected and developed using cloud-native features.
- Pros: Maximizes cloud benefits like auto-scaling and cost optimization.
- Cons: Time-consuming and costly.
Best for: Organizations needing highly scalable, customizable, and flexible applications.
5. Retiring (Decommissioning)
It is not uncommon for businesses to find out that some of their IT portfolio is no longer useful. During the infrastructure evaluation phase, If the number of unused applications you detect is noticeable, you might want to retire unwanted and redundant frameworks for cloud migration optimization.
- Pros: Reduces costs and complexity.
- Cons: Requires careful analysis to avoid disruptions.
Best for: Businesses with obsolete legacy applications.
6. Retaining (Hybrid Cloud Approach)
Last but certainly not least, retaining is a popular cloud migration approach for companies that need to keep certain applications or frameworks on-premise. This could be for security reasons, regulatory compliance, reliability, or cost-effectiveness.
- Pros: Provides gradual migration and compliance control.
- Cons: Can be complex to manage.
Best for: Companies with strict security or regulatory requirements.
Cloud Migration Strategies: Best Practices for a Smooth Transition
A successful cloud migration process requires a structured approach. Although time-consuming, it’s always a safer bet to ensure your cloud migration steps are catered to according to your specific business model, lest you face data corruption, security issues, or unnecessary downtimes. These are some of the most important boxes you need to check:
- Conduct a thorough cloud-readiness assessment to determine which applications and workloads are ready for your cloud migrating plan.
- Compare different cloud providers based on their features, pricing, and security implementations. We have thoroughly reviewed services provided by companies like Hostinger, Cloudways, and Vultr. In some cases, opting for a pay-as-you-go VPS provider can be much more cost-efficient.
- Ensure you implement the correct security tools and compliance policing to protect your data. Identity Access Management (IAM) tools, for instance, are among some of the most essential cybersecurity software platforms for businesses with cloud-based infrastructures.
- Regardless of your choice among the types of cloud migration strategies, it’s best to perform pilot migrations to identify potential issues before a full-scale move.
- Use auto-scaling, reserved instances, and monitoring tools to manage cloud expenses effectively.
- Lastly, once the migration phase is over, continuously monitor and optimize. Track performance and adjust resources as needed.
Final Thoughts on Choosing the Right Cloud Migration Strategy
Public cloud migration to services like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud can be an overwhelming obstacle to tackle. However, by assessing your organization’s size, business objectives, and existing IT infrastructure, you can choose an optimal cloud migration strategy that minimizes disruptions and provides a smooth transition.
To ensure a smooth migration, carefully assess your workloads, choose the right cloud provider, and implement best practices for security, cost optimization, and performance monitoring. Our cloud hosting services are highly scalable, with 99.95% uptime, available in more than 15+ global locations, starting at $4.95 only.
FAQ
Cloud migration meaning: What is public cloud migration?
Public cloud migration refers to moving data, applications, and workloads from on-premise infrastructure or private cloud environments to a public cloud service like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. It offers scalability, cost-efficiency, and flexibility by leveraging a cloud provider’s infrastructure. Public cloud migration is ideal for businesses looking for lower upfront costs, improved disaster recovery, and the ability to scale resources dynamically as needed.
What are the 6 R’s of cloud migration planning?
The 6 R’s of cloud migration is a framework that categorizes cloud migration strategies:
- Rehosting (Lift & Shift)
- Replatforming (Lift, Tinker & Shift)
- Repurchasing (Move to SaaS)
- Refactoring (Re-architecting)
- Retiring (Decommissioning)
- Retaining (Hybrid Cloud)
Which of the 6R cloud migration strategies is more important?
The importance of each 6R cloud migration strategy depends on your organization’s needs. Rehosting (Lift & Shift) is ideal for a fast and straightforward migration, while Refactoring (Re-architecting) is crucial for businesses seeking maximum cloud benefits like scalability and cost optimization. However, the best approach for each organization will vary, with Replatforming offering a good middle ground for companies needing improvements without full redevelopment.
