Cloud migration involves moving your organization’s applications, IT resources, and on-premise data fully or partially into a cloud environment. A cloud environment scales effortlessly to accommodate the growing number of users and workload. Shifting to the cloud usually cuts the total cost of ownership by eliminating the need for comprehensive on-premise infrastructure and maintenance. While transitioning to the cloud can be invaluable for your business, it isn’t without challenges. Discussed below are the top five cloud migration challenges.
Maintaining data security
Moving your business operations to the numerous data security challenges and risks, including:
Data leakage: Transferring, storing, and processing data in the cloud can introduce vulnerabilities, resulting in data leakage and the possibility of data breaches
Unauthorized data access: Moving sensitive information to the cloud can expose it to unauthenticated access by unauthorized personnel in the industry and hackers
Misconfigurations: Accidental or unintentional service misconfigurations can expose sensitive information to breaches or unauthorized access
Regulatory compliance: Ascertaining compliance with data protection laws, like HIPAA and GDPR, in a cloud environment can be challenging due to different jurisdiction requirements and the shared responsibility model
To address this challenge, ensure the cloud security service your provider offers has robust security features and a proven track record of platform security.
Lack of a cloud migration strategy
Developing a comprehensive migration strategy is vital for effective cloud migration. Without a proper plan, you may experience issues like organizational resistance to change, downtime, data loss, and overly expensive cloud costs. Before you start transitioning to the cloud, ensure you have a detailed migration strategy containing the following:
A comprehensive timeline
A list of all the data and applications you intend to migrate
What you intend to achieve by moving to the cloud
Migration process
The resources required for a successful transition
Who will be in charge of each migration phase
Creating a detailed roadmap when migrating to the cloud is key for a smooth transition.
Shortage or lack of skills
Moving to the cloud requires a skill upgrade for existing employees, particularly if your company uses legacy architecture. Shortage or lack of skills is a major challenge during cloud migration, and your organization may spend a lot of money on training. Mastering some skills required for successful cloud migration may also take longer.
Beginning the migration journey without resolving the skill gap can result in mistakes, increased migration costs, disappointments, and missed opportunities to leverage the full benefits of the cloud. Partnering with a reliable cloud migration specialist is one of the best ways to bridge the skill gap. Consider training your existing employees to acquire cloud computing knowledge and skills.
Selecting the right cloud service provider and services
Considering the wide variety of cloud service providers and services available, selecting those that align with your business requirements can be challenging. When looking for cloud services, opt for the ones that match your specific business needs instead of investing in a detailed range of services you may not need.
Developing a buying strategy is crucial here. A buying strategy refers to structured approaches and techniques that help businesses optimize their software and cloud-related purchases. This strategy covers areas such as global sourcing, centralized or decentralized purchasing, and risk management, ensuring that your company makes informed decisions about which cloud solutions to invest in. Platforms like Vertice streamline this process by offering data-driven insights, tracking contracts, and helping negotiate better pricing with cloud service vendors. By implementing a solid buying strategy, businesses can cut costs, ensure compliance, and optimize their cloud investment to better align with business needs.
Prioritization issues
Prioritization is another critical aspect of cloud migration. It involves identifying essential components and services you must prioritize or move first to prevent downtime. To resolve the prioritization challenge, ensure the data sets collected via the pre-migration assessment are properly aligned with technical drivers.
Endnote
Although moving your business operations to the cloud comes with many benefits, the process isn’t simple. Familiarize yourself with the top cloud migration challenges, including maintaining data security, choosing the right service provider, and lack of cloud computing skills, and how to overcome them to ensure success.
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