Top 5 Cloud Migration Strategies You Need to Know

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A cloud migration strategy is a plan a company can adopt to move some or all data and systems into the cloud. A strategy is very crucial because it can help a company to identify and validate the most efficient way to migrate its data and systems.

In my previous article, I have shared why most companies are moving to the cloud. The cloud has introduced some new business capabilities through cost-effectiveness, performance, and accessibility but without the right migration strategy, you will not benefit from it when you move your data and system to the cloud.

This article aims to give you a better understanding of the top 5 cloud migration strategies that can be applied when smoothly moving your data and system to the cloud.

Top 5 Cloud Migration Strategies

There are several migration strategies you can apply when moving to the cloud. The right strategy to apply will depend on the system's requirements and your long-term plans.

1. Rehosting

The first migration strategy is just simply moving your existing data and systems to the cloud with no change. This means you will move the same software, same operating system and the same data that run on the old environment(on-site server) to the cloud provider. 

 Sometimes this strategy is called "Lift and Shift" as you just moving from point a to point b without making any changes. The advantage of this strategy is it has lower risk when migrating to the cloud. But the downside is that it may not typically offer very much benefit in the long run.

"Cordant Group rehosted its IT operations on AWS and saved upto 50% infrastructure costs"- simform.com

Note: This is a very common first step for many companies migrating to the cloud.

2. Replatform

This strategy gives you the advantage of using some of the cloud services provided by the cloud provider. Instead of just lifting your data and system over the cloud, you can start to use existing cloud services offered by the cloud vendor.

For example, the cloud provider can offer a fully-managed database service that allows a company to manage its database and can potentially save costs on fault-tolerant and maintenance.

3. Repurchase

This strategy gives you an option to purchase something that is already in the cloud instead of moving your system to the cloud. You can abandon an existing system and shop for new cloud services from a cloud vendor. Sometimes, this migration strategy is called "Drop and Shop"

For example, a company can decide to license some user accounts or a new customer relationship management system that is already in the cloud. Salesforce is an example of these types of systems.

4. Rearchitect

If you wanted to get really ambitious, you can totally rearchitect by redesigning and rebuilding your systems on the cloud. You can use all of the various services that a cloud provider has to create what some people call a cloud-native version.

This just means that you are using methods that best take advantage of what a cloud provider has to offer. This process takes a lot of time and is only considered when you decide that your existing systems don’t meet current business needs. 

This method tends to yield the best return in the long run. For example, a company can leverage cloud capabilities that are not available in existing environments such as serverless computing and cloud auto-scaling.

Note: This migration strategy is also the most complex and risky.

5. Retire

The last migration strategy is called Retire, here a company can evaluate their systems to figure out which of the system is not being used at all.

And if this is the case, a company can simply turn them off since there's a cost to keeping that system running. Sometimes this is called sunsetting a system or an application.

Final Thoughts

In this article, you have learned what is Cloud migration strategy, why migration strategies are essential before implementation and different migration strategies you can apply to move to the cloud.

You have to know that cloud migration can be complex and risky. Implementing a cloud migration strategy can come up with its own challenges, such as cost management, vendor lock-in, data security and compliance.

These challenges can be handled if you select the right migration strategy based on your data and systems.

If you learned something new or enjoyed reading this article, please share it so that others can see it. Until then, see you in the next post!

You can also find me on Twitter @Davis_McDavid.

And you can read more articles like this here.

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