Data Migration to the Cloud

Data security compliance

Risk is a part of business, and there is no shortage of risks involved with cloud computing, especially when it comes to data security. The recent Solarwinds incident is a cautionary tale that highlights the vulnerability of organizations to hacks, especially those who rely on an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) cloud model to conduct their business.

Financial risk

The potential loss of data is only one half of the equation. Data loss can leave you exposed to severe financial liability in the form of regulatory fines and lawsuits, and you’ll need to make sure that even with the strictest security measures in place, the type of data you hold in trust won’t put you in a greater risk of exposure. 

Financial risk doesn’t end there, however. How will a cloud migration affect your budget? Will your staff require significant training? Will your organization save money or will the disposition of existing on-premises hardware incur long-term capital costs? How will it impact your organization’s HR and staffing?

Business interruption

Cloud migration can impact your business operations. Factors to consider:

• Will a cloud platform adequately allow for your business operations without significant downtime or interruptions? 
• How scalable will it be? 
• Will shared bandwidth resources reduce your latency and lead to slower service for your customers? 
• Will your proprietary or third-party applications work in a cloud environment?

Financial risk doesn’t end there, however. How will a cloud migration affect your budget? Will your staff require significant training? Will your organization save money or will the disposition of existing on-premises hardware incur long-term capital costs? How will it impact your organization’s HR and staffing?

Lower overhead & operational costs

One of the top benefits of a cloud environment is the opportunity to reduce overhead and operational costs. Specifically, a cloud migration can lead to significant cost reduction by:

• Reducing or eliminating the need for server and storage hardware
• Saving on IT staffing costs
• Reduced electricity and cooling requirements
• Allowing you to centralize and consolidate operations more effectively
• Options for a pay-as-you-go model and consolidated payment options

Improved scalability

With a cloud architecture, you won’t be limited to the computing capability of your existing hardware. The ability to scale up or down is inherent, and you’ll have access to as much storage and bandwidth as you need. 

Further, you’ll be able to handle traffic and data request peaks with ease, meaning your organization’s uptime will be that much better.

Boost your productivity

The decentralized nature of a cloud environment offers greater opportunities for remote and collaborative operations. Your teams can access their data from anywhere, leading to greater productivity and improved efficiency.

Disaster recovery

One of the best features of cloud computing is the available options for backups and disaster recovery. For many businesses, having the ability to have up-to-the-minute snapshots and backups would mean having to make a prohibitive investment in dedicated servers. But with a cloud setup, you’ll have the ability to implement server failovers and computing restoration quickly — without the enormous capital cost.

Bottom line: a cloud migration will only make sense if it has a positive long-term ROI without significantly disrupting your business operations, especially during the migration period.

Public cloud

A public cloud model is one where services are shared by a number of clients. It’s the most common option, with popular public cloud offerings including Amazon AWS, Google, and Kubernetes. 

Public cloud options have the advantage of being flexible and scalable with flexible pricing options. However, they may not be a viable option for businesses with unique regulatory compliance requirements for their data, or for organizations requiring specialized security controls.

Private cloud

A private cloud takes advantage of decentralized computing services that are firewalled off from other servers and networks. This model is less common as it’s more expensive and requires a higher degree of oversight. However, it may be the only viable option for businesses with strict data security requirements.

Hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud environments are a mix of the two, consisting of an environment that uses both on-premises hardware and cloud deployments. The goal of this setup is to have the two integrate seamlessly, being able to complement each other as needed.

A hybrid cloud would be appropriate where certain data needs to be stored locally while other operations can be cloud-based. It’s also useful for data recovery, as well as affording opportunities to manage data peaks without any downtime or drop in latency.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

IaaS can be thought of as an out-of-the-box computing environment. It’s popular with the majority of organizations who need to move their existing environment to the cloud, and it substitutes a virtualized network for a local one.

The attractive part of IaaS is that the service provider handles the technical operations, freeing you from having to deploy your own staffing resources to monitor and maintain your environment. It’s also incredibly flexible, giving you a wide range of options for bandwidth, storage, applications, etc.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

PaaS is usually associated with application developers, as it provides an additional framework layer for devs to design, manage, and deploy software. Unless your operations include significant technical development, you’ll probably be best off with an IaaS option.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

If you’ve ever used online software, you’re already familiar with SaaS. It’s simply a cloud environment used to host and manage a particular software package. It’s generally more cost-efficient than locally-hosted applications, and it gives organizations an opportunity to offload their storage and network costs by offloading proprietary and third-party software to the cloud.