The sheer amount of digital assets it takes to run a company today is dizzying. Accounting for every application, word doc, presentation, or piece of internal data, even small and medium-sized businesses can rack up assets in the tens of thousands. That’s a lot to keep track of when migrating your business and all its assets to the cloud.
The truth is cloud migration requires a well-thought-out strategy and the right resources to ensure the move goes smoothly. Here are some ways your SMB can guarantee an easy cloud migration.
Why Migrate to the Cloud?
For SMBs, migrating to the cloud makes a lot of sense. It makes scaling your business a whole lot easier, it reduces your IT costs, and it improves organization within your company. The functional benefits are clear, but indirectly, migrating to the cloud can help your business keep up and, ideally, outpace the competition. It’s been estimated that businesses can save up to 20% on their IT services by switching to the cloud.
On top of that, businesses can also save a lot more money – and space – by eliminating the hardware necessary to host your own data. When you consider cooling costs, maintenance, IT, and more into the equation, migrating your business to the cloud is a no-brainer.
Your Go-To Cloud Migration Strategies
There have been a lot of cloud migration strategies over the years, all using R-centric acronyms. In fact, they have more Rs than a pirate giving a TED talk. It began with Gartner’s 5Rs Model, which has now progressed to the AWS 7Rs model. The Rs in question refer to different strategies in the cloud migration world. Some require simple movement of data from one system to another, while others can be far more complex for companies looking to make significant updates to their infrastructure. Here is a breakdown of the current AWS 7Rs model:
- Rehost – This process is one of the simplest to perform and a great option for SMBs that might not be familiar with cloud services. It involves moving your entire IT infrastructure as-is to an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
- Replatform – This process moves data from one source to an upgraded platform to enhance scalability and flexibility. This process is great for companies looking to modernize their current platform.
- Refactor – This process involves rebuilding your platform from the ground up to leverage new technologies. While more costly and complex, this process helps to keep platforms at the cutting edge of technology.
- Repurchase – Repurchasing converts your internally managed platform to one handled by a third-party managed service provider (MSP). This process helps to reduce internal IT overhead costs and redirect them to other areas.
- Relocate – Relocating involves moving data from an on-premises data center to a cloud version of the same platform. This process is done with little to no downtime, making it an excellent option for businesses that need 24/7 access to the platform.
- Retire – This process simply eliminates outdated applications from your platform as a first step before migrating toward a cloud-based platform.
- Retain – The opposite of Retire. Retaining keeps business-critical applications on their current framework while migrating others to the Cloud.
How to Choose Which Cloud Migration Strategy is Right for Your SMB
Ok, so that’s a lot of Rs. The next question you’re probably asking is which R is right for my SMB? Well, that depends on your current infrastructure and your future business goals. So, here is a step-by-step process you can follow to figure out which migration strategy is right for you.
Understand Your Current Infrastructure
Understanding your current IT structure is the first step in defining your next steps. Focus on which systems might need to go or which need to stay. Are some outdated? Will some take extra care when migrating to the Cloud? By doing a full audit of your IT infrastructure, you can gain a better understanding of how you should prepare moving forward.
What Are Your Goals?
What are you looking to achieve from your cloud migration? Better connectivity? Scalability? Enhanced security? It all depends on the current stage of your SMB and what you’re hoping to see in the future. Making a list of clear-cut goals you’re aiming for will help make choosing the right cloud migration strategy a whole lot easier.
Public? Private? Hybrid?
Depending on your business, your security needs might differ from those of the other SMBs. If you’re dealing with highly sensitive data, you may need to choose a private cloud model for extra security. But if not, a public cloud model might be more than adequate for your needs. However if you’re looking for extra flexibility, choosing a hybrid cloud model might work best for you.
There are additional solutions that can help keep your data safe by providing zero-trust authentication for every user. Cisco Duo allows for unparalleled access control using powerful multi-factor authentication to ensure your data never falls into the wrong hands.
Test, Test, and Test Again
Cloud migration is a technically demanding process that you don’t want to rush. Once you’ve chosen the right cloud model for your SMB and the migration is complete, you want to make sure everything is in working order before going on with business as usual. Create an action plan for strong testing and validation of all systems to ensure the migration goes without a hitch.
And Don’t Forget to Backup
At this stage, everything should be in working order, but it’s never a bad idea to be safe. Create a plan to do a routine backup of all your data so that in the event anything goes wrong, you can be safe knowing your data is secure and salvageable.
To add an extra layer of safety for your data, tools like Cisco Umbrella’s secure internet gateway add enhanced security for your data while also providing data loss prevention to ensure your most important files and applications stay intact.
If you’re planning on migrating your business to the cloud, the team at Cisco is always here to help you choose the right model for your business. We can help consult or offer solutions to make the process a whole lot easier. Check out our offerings today.
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