Cloud migration becomes a necessity in business development. This is relevant not only to the IT area. There are many kinds of businesses that already use cloud computing in their IT operations. Every business needs to store data, count expenses, plan logistics or perform other operations online. Cloud migration allows to make all these processes faster and optimize the work of the whole system. The best way to move to the cloud is by referring to one of cloud migration companies. 

Types of cloud migration

There are three common ways to execute cloud migration. Before starting the migration process, cloud migration companies choose the approach suitable for you. Your software consists of three following layers: operating system (OS), database (DB) and the application itself. You can move them with or without changes. It depends on the application state. Thus, you might move to the cloud by one of the following ways:

  1. Lift-and-shift. This approach also is called “moving as is” because you don’t change almost anything, just copy your software from local hardware and paste to the cloud environment. You might ask if it’s so simple, why do you need a consulting company in this case? Well, there are some details. For uninterrupted work of your system, you should pay attention to the continuous dataflow. Data will come to the system while it is moving to the new environment. Dataflow is split into two streams – one goes to the local copy and another to the cloud. So, it is crucial to merge the application with two dataflows in the right way.
  2. Technical migration. This way of migration means changes in the OS and BD. The application stays without big changes. On-prem OS and BD are usually replaced by their cloud analogs. This layer can be provided independently or as the interim step before the next step.
  3. Application migration. This approach includes changes in all three layers. It is used when software couldn’t be moved without changes. Usually, in this case, the application, OS and BD versions are old or incompatible for cloud. Sometimes this is the only right way of the cloud migration. It can take more time and resources but as a result, you’ll have a powerful, optimized, cloud-native system.

As you can see, cloud migration is a complex process that can be peculiar sometimes. It is very important to work without pauses while your software is moving to the cloud. You should pay attention to a lot of details to implement cloud computing without losses. The best way to do it is by hiring a cloud consulting partner which will take care of all the processes.

How does the cloud migration strategy look like?

Basic cloud strategy includes the following steps:

  1. Choosing the Managed Service Provider (MSP). Maybe, the most important step. Experienced MSP can make all the processes almost invisible to you and you’ll see only the result. In the same way, unscrupulous MSP can fail the work completely.
  2. Building a plan. On this step, you and your MSP make the migration strategy that suits your company. A lot of companies perceive building such a strategy as an unnecessary step, but a good plan will protect you from a lot of mistakes in the future.
  3. Choosing the cloud provider. There are two biggest cloud providers – Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. Both have own features and it is important to find a suitable one.
  4. Making software refactoring. This step means preparations before moving the software to the cloud. On this stage, application, OS and BD can be modified for the new environment.
  5. Building CI/CD pipeline and allocating resources. This is the final step where MSP implements Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) to increase system efficiency. Also, on this step, MSP allocates resources for future scaling. This makes your project flexible.

Conclusion: why do you need cloud migration consulting?

Moving to the cloud is a complex process with a bunch of details and features you have to deal with. Thus said, you need a reliable MSP with wide experience in this area. A trustworthy MSP will make a strategy with you, discuss all the details and wishes, and make migration as convenient as it can be.