Major Challenges in Cloud Migration

Cloud computing is currently regarded as one of the most dynamic and in-demand technologies. It has changed the conventional organizational model and created new possibilities at the workplace, such as online collaboration and artificial intelligence as a service. Though a number of organizations rush to implement cloud computing procedures, it is not a simple initiative, and so cloud migration has its own challenges.

By going through this article, you will be able to identify and recognize some of the most major cloud migration challenges that must be kept in mind.

5 Main cloud migration challenges

A significant portion of our work in the role of building and installing new cloud environments for a diverse range of clients is assisting our clients in addressing these challenges in transferring work pressure and responding to points that are not completely optimized. The cloud migration challenges we most normally observe are:

Not having a proper strategy

The most general mistake that could restrict you from completely reaping the advantages of the cloud is not having an appropriate organizational objective behind the move or a robust and well-deliberated migration plan. It is the usual requirement to have a plan while shifting your apps, information, and infrastructure from on-premise architecture to the cloud. You shall also recognize that a cloud migration plan is not similar for all organizations and requires significant due diligence to identify what may be best for your organization. Starting with strategy confirms that you will be able to navigate the transition smoothly and avoid analysis paralysis in the subsequent phase. This is particularly significant as there are a broad variety of choices along the way, ranging from whether you are opting for private, public, or hybrid cloud infrastructure to selecting among infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and others.

Cloud sprawl

Another significant challenge for cloud migration is cloud sprawl. It means that your business could not achieve overall centralized visibility and control of its entire cloud infrastructure. If your business is juggling several cloud instances, services, or even sometimes providers, it is unlikely that you will have complete accountability for the resources in use. There are some preventative measures you can take to help you avoid this condition and implement unified management of all cloud services.

The initial step is conducting an information technology function audit prior to the migration. This is essential in order to recognize the roles and organizational procedures that presently exist and how your company would appear subsequent to the migration. In addition to this, it is also significant to apply visible accountability through a dashboard, through which you can manage the entire cloud service and its costs in one place.

Exceeding financial expenses

In the long run, the expenses of cloud migration will be offset by the benefits of enhanced efficiency, decreased administration expenses, and balanced procedures. However, reaching there could still feel like a very expensive uphill battle. Financial problems touch on all aspects of cloud migration challenges. It is necessary to incur immediate expenses in order to create the migration, as well as the long-term financial risk of low or slow adoption and training following the occurrence of migration.

To keep your cloud spending under control, you must measure such expenses from the beginning and allocate them to specific cost centers within your organization. Continuous measurement of your costs and performance is required for evaluating the ROI of cloud migration and determining the success of the migration project.

Security and privacy breach

Every company has confidential and sensitive information, and the identification of these is crucial. An analysis of the important data and core services would support your recognition of the requirement for secure cloud migration practices. However, most risk analysis programmers lack a framework that could support them in forming a reliable management plan. Each risk management framework requires the ascertainment of the risks and security plans to address them.

Organization

Usually, there are three types of risks that are faced by every organization: preventable risks, external risks, and strategic risks. For cloud migration, to some extent, data loss and leaks are considered preventable risks. It is required of you to have a centralized security policy. Compliance and an infrastructure-wide secure access procedure that supports the reduction of sensitive information loss could be implemented. Though creation of the centralized policy is not an easy activity, it requires an understanding of entire forms of risk, authentication methods, and critical access checkpoints.

Inadequate technical skills

One of the most frequently cited failures of cloud migration occurs not only due to costs or security issues, but also due to insufficient employee training. You should be aware that the organization of the IT functions in the cloud is very distinct from the similar procedure that is carried out on-premises.

You should confirm that your employees are on the same page and have the required skills, knowledge, and understanding to work with the new infrastructure. The time allotted for training and certification must be factored into your migration schedule.

Conclusion

Shifting to the cloud is not only a challenge but also an opportunity to make existing business procedures more innovative and agile. As the initial step, you are required to take stock of entire components of infrastructure, business procedures, and in-house expertise at your disposal and create a strategy that encompasses all the requirements of your business on your cloud migration journey.

LeapLogic could support you to advance and implement a cloud migration strategy that is suitable as per your requirements and makes significant sense from the standpoint of your organizational objectives. On the basis of your actual and target digital maturity levels, our skilled professionals customize your migration plan for the people, procedures, and technologies within your organization.