Considering Cloud Migration? Here’s What You Need to Know
If you’ve decided to move your company to the cloud, you’re already making strides for the future of your business. In Q1 of 2021, over $42 billion was spent by various companies around the world to improve their cloud infrastructure.
From security to increased productivity, more companies are seeing the massive benefits of optimized cloud storage.
However, before you start your transfer, here are 7 things you’ll want to consider.
1. What Is Cloud Migration
First, it’s important to understand what cloud migration is and how it will work for your business. Previously, businesses had a mix of tangible printed materials and digital assets.
Transferring everything to one location on the cloud isn’t just about having it all in one place. You may have to duplicate content to optimize it for your specific data needs.
Your company may also need to change how its current IT systems work to revolve around the new cloud software.
2. Develop a Strategy
Because of the intricacies involved when migrating to the cloud, you’ll want to prepare with your staff to create a strategic plan. Smaller businesses with fewer assets will have an easier time making the transition as opposed to large corporations.
The bigger your company, the more planning, and people will need to be involved. The plan should prepare for the necessary follow-through because many times, businesses will only get about halfway through the tedious process and call it a day.
This can lead to missing files, lack of optimization, and a significant waste of company time. You won’t be able to see the full benefits unless your plan is solidified to the end.
3. Decide on a Cloud Service
Choosing the right cloud service is going to make all the difference as you plan out how your company will make the migration. It’s important to make security the number one priority.
Your business has sensitive information, including employee details and client payment methods. To ensure safety, the company you select will need to have the necessary security measures in place to avoid hackers breaking into the cloud.
4. Train Your Team
There will need to be an appropriate team to put your plan of migration into action. However, it’s a company-wide change that will impact every employee you have. You’ll want to provide proper training for every member of your staff.
Not only will you be having to think about the way your employees handle documents and projects in the future, but you’ll also need to consider how the newly implemented cloud will also impact current projects moving forward.
5. Have a Way to Track Success
For you and your company to see the full range of benefits from migrating to the cloud, you’ll want a way to track and measure success.
Setting milestones and having the necessary KPIs in place will allow you to see how far along the process is and what areas of your business may need alterations, new staff members, or different workflows.
6. Put Your Plan Into Action
You can plan all you want, but until you start taking action, you won’t see any progress. Before setting anything into motion, make sure every single piece of vital information is properly backed up.
There are instances where servers may crash or things won’t fully transfer. In this case, you’re prepared for the worst by having the necessary backups of everything for your business.
7. Check for Glitches Along the Way
Remember those necessary KPIs and measures for tracking success? This is where they’ll come into play. As you continue to move closer to completing the migration, you’ll want to be on alert for any glitches that happen along the way.
There may be instances you didn’t see coming. You’ll need to work closely with your cloud and IT company to ensure these issues are addressed early on to avoid major cloud migration pitfalls in the future.
