- Cloud computing provides organisations with tools, storage, security, software, and services to accelerate business objectives.
- To take advantage of it, organisations often need to migrate their core systems, databases, and applications to the cloud.
Cloud migration involves the transition of applications, data, infrastructure, security protocols, and other elements to a computing environment. Companies often shift data, apps, and workloads from local servers to the public cloud, also moving between cloud providers. Post-migration, systems may stay unchanged or undergo continuous optimisation and modernisation, with the process also allowing a shift back to on-premises setups.
Major motivations for cloud migration include cost reduction and infrastructure optimisation. It facilitates a shift from capex to opex, minimising the need for costly on-premises equipment. Cloud migration enhances performance, uptime, and workload modernisation, while avoiding hefty legacy licensing fees. It also bolsters data security and global regulatory compliance.
Organisations can choose from different types of cloud migrations, depending on their goals and objectives. Each migration strategy has its own set of considerations, including the nature of the data and applications being moved, the costs involved, the cloud provider’s services, and the impact on the organisation’s operations and users.
1.Full data centre exit
A complete data centre exit involves transferring all applications, services, and data from one or more data centres to a public cloud platform. For larger organisations, this extensive migration can be a lengthy endeavour, necessitating extensive planning, testing, and implementation that may span over a year. This type of migration involves moving all on-premises data and operations to the cloud, completely shutting down the local data centre.
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2. Migrating from one cloud to another
Also known as cloud-to-cloud migration, this process involves transferring data and applications from one cloud provider to another, often to take advantage of cost savings, better performance, or other benefits.
An entity might opt to transition between cloud providers due to several factors, such as evolving service level agreements, enhanced security measures, or to leverage advanced AI and machine learning capabilities. Leading cloud providers generally offer a range of tools, services, and partnerships with third-party vendors to facilitate the migration between different public cloud platforms.
3. Migrating specific applications or datasets
Rather than exiting their entire data centre, companies might choose to shift select software, services, or data to the cloud for improved efficiency and manageability. Common applications moved to public clouds include business intelligence tools, data analytics platforms, CRM systems, as well as machine learning, artificial intelligence applications, and associated datasets. This can be done to modernise certain aspects of an organisation’s IT infrastructure or to leverage cloud-specific features for particular applications.
4. Migrating specific workloads
More targeted migrations can consist of just a specific type of workload, which are resources running in the cloud that consume some type of resource, such as computing power or storage capacity. Examples include development environments, document creation and management, distributed databases, 3D modelling, or video encoding. This type of migration focuses on moving particular workloads to the cloud that are best suited for cloud computing, such as those with variable demand or those that require rapid scaling capabilities.
