FAQ About Cloud Data Migration

The concept of cloud operations and cloud migration isn't new, yet it still comes with several thoughts of doubt and uncertainty for many businesses. The mere thought of moving data into the cloud is enough to bring up numerous questions, many of which feature extremely positive responses.

In this article, we look at some of the most frequently asked questions regarding cloud computing and cloud data migration and provide the best answers to each inquiry. All the insight into data migration you need is in this article; you only need to tailor it to suit your specific industry.

What benefits do I gain from moving to the cloud?

Cloud data migration comes with a myriad of benefits for every organization. No matter your niche or the products and services you render, the simple act of moving to the cloud gives you the advantages below.

Elasticity with a pay-per-use system: If you're looking to scale and increase your computing on-demand with ease, you should consider moving to the cloud. It provides you with an elastic environmental model that is usage-based, allowing you to reduce the hardware resources you need.

Reduced operational costs: With cloud data migration, there's no need for a hardware upgrade, the use of equipment or electricity, or any form of system maintenance. Since you're storing much data online, there's no need to invest in a data center space, which means you won't need to pay rent or hire staff to run and maintain your data systems. The lack of capital expenditures means you have more resources to tackle other aspects of your business for more growth.

How secure is data stored in the cloud?

With the same budget, you're set to gain more security with your data stored in the cloud than when it is stored in an on-premise system. All internal and external attacks are stopped in their tracks with the data cloud computing system. The monitoring process is continuous and consistent, meaning there's a low chance of any threat making it past your radar. A multifaceted cloud system with integrations highlights attacks and gives you notifications before you're attacked. This allows you to put up your firewalls in time.

What common mistake do companies make that I must avoid?

Before you choose a cloud vendor, your company and all its stakeholders need to clearly outline the company's long-term vision. Knowing this allows you to choose the fitting technologies with the future in mind. Some cloud computing technologies might be too pricey for your vision in the long term, even though they'll fulfill their purpose during your starting years. To prevent a situation where you're paying too much for mediocre service, follow the advice below:

1. Conduct a short prototyping project for some time before committing.
2. During these prototyping sessions, take your systems through different stress conditions and note the challenges faced by your departments over time.
3. Categorize the issues under pricing, performance, scalability, configuration, support, and customization.

How do we plan the migration strategy?

To make your migration onto the cloud easy, swift, and highly efficient, you'll need to first align and manage all areas of focus. Doing this will involve the services of a metadata consultant, who acts as your doctor. They aim to gather all business requirements, validate any hypotheses, and determine the stakeholders involved and the technologies used. The consultant also looks at all your current data issues to know the best cloud service solution you need.

The next step involves mapping out your cloud migration strategy route. This refers to how your data will be created, uploaded, compiled, and stored in the cloud. This stage involves taking inventory of all data, short PoCs, a pilot data migration, and many more before finally transitioning to a cloud provider. It takes a while and will require some amount of back and forth, but it brings a lot of efficiency to your organization when done properly.