A recent Deloitte survey found that the most federal cloud migrations have not been successful and that employees are not appreciating the benefits of the shift. The ultimate goal for businesses and service providers is for cloud migration to be undetectable with almost instant results. Zero disruption, maximum productivity.
One of the main hurdles for successful cloud migration is the fear of keeping the lights on whilst driving IT innovation. Once you’ve created systems that are essential for your business, they need to keep functioning.
However, future growth and development require innovation to be a crucial part of the mix. More often than not, innovation ends up at the bottom of the list in terms of budget and urgency due to the havoc it could potentially cause.
One way to drive innovation is through the migration of the cloud – with a saving in IT budget and added scalability, businesses now have this option to drive a more efficient workforce.
The question is how can the success rate of cloud migrations improve?
MAKING CLOUD TRANSITIONS SMOOTHER AND MORE UNDERSTANDABLE
Before determining how to go about the implementation of the cloud, businesses should ensure all employees and potentially their own clients are made aware of what moving to the cloud means for them. Before doing so, you need a clear strategy for migrating your data and applications – something that shockingly less than one in three organisations moving to the cloud can say they have.
By educating those who would potentially be affected by cloud technology, end-users will be able to utilise the cloud to achieve maximum benefits rather than hinder productivity through the inability to navigate technology to suit their demands.
IT decision makers need to address the added benefits cloud computing can offer businesses for all employees and not exclusively those working in IT. They should address opportunities such as; remote working, flexible working hours and BYOD strategies and a better work/life balance. By doing so, the idea that cloud computing is only relevant to those on a technical level is removed and a modernised IT setup can be embraced by all workers.
AVOID DATA DUPLICATION
Transferring data between systems is never a simple task. The complexity of data migration jobs often results in delays and can cause all business productivity to grind to a halt. These mistakes can often lead to costly downtime, decreased end-user productivity and the loss of important data.
In order to prevent the risk of data duplication, data should be cleaned up before moving it over – make sure you de-duplicate and fix any data integrity problems before they are replicated in the new system.
There is a popular misconception of just how complex and challenging data migration really is. Each data migration project requires specialists that can find the root cause of data discrepancies and then fix them. By opting for a managed service provider, you are enabling the migration to be as smooth and efficient as capable with any issues being sorted then and there.
LEVERAGE AUTOMATION
Many data migration projects often fail due to human error and system downtime. While traditional ETL tools may seem appealing from the outset, they won’t allow you to maximise uptime and maintain interconnected processes, such as the automatic update of customer address data in your ERP based on changes recorded in your CRM.
Instead, look for an integration platform that supports process-based integration. By doing so, this will allow you to keep both old and new systems live and updated, without the risk of downtime or transaction loss.
CONTINUAL BACKUPS
Many businesses presume that all SaaS providers offer DRaaS as a standard with their services – this isn’t the case with effective and reliable DRaaS. Before businesses make their move to the cloud they should ask themselves 1. How are we backing up data currently? and 2. Is DRaaS offered in my services? By determining whether additional DRaaS is required, businesses can then focus on the next decision to make which is; automatic or manual?
The most efficient and accident proof method of backing up data is of course, through automatic back-ups. This can be determined by your managed service provider and should be considered a priority for a fool-proof migration to the cloud.
COMPLIANCE
Depending on what industry you work for, there are certain compliances that must be met. As a business owner, you have the responsibility to comply with these ever-changing standards and moving to the cloud does not transfer that responsibility to the managed service provider. Businesses still need to take full responsibility for this aspect of both IT and conduct with all employees.
Atlas Cloud was the first UK managed service provider to obtain the ISO 27001 accreditation, are a CIF member, are featured on G-Cloud 9 and also execute bank grade security.
MIGRATION STARTS WITH YOU
Migrating data takes time. Businesses do not need to wait to be close to the target in order to start the migration process. By this, we mean you can begin the process to migration with a clear up of your business data. By doing so, you will be minimising the risk of duplication.
One way of doing this is by examining each individual member of staff’s files and determining where duplicates are and what the most up-to-date version is of this file is – and then use this version in the process of migrating.
For a successful cloud migration, businesses need to evaluate their own ability to make the transition as smooth as possible whilst highlighting the areas that need improvement.
If you would like more information on how to do this, do not hesitate to contact us.
