As pervasive as the cloud has become, cloud migration can still be risky and complicated. Applications may not be compatible with the cloud. The process of migration may lead to extended downtime that interrupts production. The worst-case scenario is a failed migration, which forces a company to move workloads back on-premises.
To achieve a successful migration, companies need to think carefully before selecting a cloud migration partner.
When choosing a partner to help you with cloud migration, you should look for an IT services provider that not only has the required experience and engineering expertise, but also one that will work with your company to understand your challenges and level of cloud readiness.
The ideal partner for cloud migration will take a consultative approach that helps you to develop a roadmap that aligns with your business strategy.
The Right Stuff
Your cloud migration partner should have a team with experience in infrastructure consulting. This experience should cover architecture, design, and implementation. Infrastructure consulting experience and a track record working with companies in multiple industries will enable your partner to custom-fit your cloud solution so it meets your requirements.
Infrastructure expertise will help you get the most value out of your cloud solution by leveraging it for efficiency, flexibility, portability, and resiliency. A successful cloud migration should meet your capacity, performance, and data protection requirements.
The right cloud migration partner will provide best-in-breed architectural and engineering resources. Your partner’s team should be certified to work with the major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud.
A Partner With a Plan
Your migration partner should work with you to develop a migration plan, as well as an overall cloud strategy. Planning is the key to a smooth migration, as it helps your company anticipate and troubleshoot potential problems. Planning also helps to minimize downtime and business interruptions by accomplishing a migration in stages.
Ideally, the planning process should begin with an assessment of your company’s cloud readiness. This assessment should include evaluating applications to see if they need to be left on-premises, recoded, or replaced with software as a service (SaaS).
Working with your migration partner, you should develop a digital transformation plan with achievable milestones that allow you to take small, manageable steps for a successful journey to a modernized cloud infrastructure.
Your long-term cloud strategy should align with your business goals. Through a consultative approach, the ideal cloud migration partner will take the time to understand your business challenges and objectives so it can tailor a cloud solution to meet them.
To Migration and Beyond
The relationship between your company and your migration partner shouldn’t begin and end with the migration process. Before migration, the right partner will work with you to ensure your cloud solution is cost-effective and you will get the most out of your cloud investment.
After the migration takes place, the relationship should be ongoing. A cloud migration partner should continue to provide support and cloud services. The partner should be available and responsive to any questions or concerns you might have before, during, and after migration.
Taking a Consultative Approach to Cloud Migration
A cloud migration partner should listen to your company and truly work to understand your unique situation as you embark on a move to the cloud. By taking on the role of consultant, your migration partner can help you make a significant decision as to whether to lift and shift quickly or take on the more time-consuming process of replatforming.
ProActive Solutions offers clients a personalized approach to cloud migration and modernization by customizing solutions to meet specific needs and business objectives. With over 26 years of IT experience, we are uniquely qualified to help customers drive transformation across their business.
Find out more about how to achieve a smooth cloud migration. Request a cloud consultation from ProActive.
