As enterprises shift toward digital transformation, migrating workloads to the cloud has become a focal point of strategy for senior IT decision-makers. The cloud promises scalability, flexibility, and cost savings—no small advantages in an ever-competitive business landscape. However, like any substantial initiative, it’s fraught with challenges that require careful planning and specialized expertise. Here, we’ll dive into common pitfalls that could compromise your cloud migration strategy and how you can avoid them.
Cost and Budget Overruns
The Issue:
One of the most pressing concerns for executives is the financial aspect of cloud migration. The process can quickly escalate in cost if not precisely estimated in advance.
Example:
A company might underestimate data egress costs or forget to account for services like monitoring, backups, or data analytics, which are often billed separately.
The Solution:
A comprehensive cost-analysis that factors in both migration and operational expenses is essential. Use Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models to ensure all costs are accounted for.
Downtime and Service Interruptions
The Issue:
Downtime during migration is inevitable, but prolonged or unexpected outages can severely affect customer trust and revenue.
Example:
Major e-commerce websites can lose thousands of dollars for every minute they are offline.
The Solution:
Staged migrations during off-peak hours and rollback plans can mitigate these risks.
Data Loss or Corruption
The Issue:
Migrating data presents the risk of loss or corruption, especially when migrating from a legacy system.
Example:
An engineering firm lost critical CAD files during a rushed migration, requiring them to revert to older versions and rework several projects.
The Solution:
Data integrity checks before, during, and after the migration process are a must.
Security Concerns
The Issue:
New cloud environments could present new security vulnerabilities.
Example:
An unsecured AWS S3 bucket led to the exposure of sensitive data for a well-known company, damaging its reputation.
The Solution:
A security audit of the cloud environment should be among the first steps in your migration plan.
Complexity of Migration
The Issue:
Transferring applications, databases, and workloads can be a complex task requiring a specific skill set.
Example:
A healthcare provider experienced significant delays in patient care when their complex database migration led to data accessibility issues.
The Solution:
Having an experienced migration team is crucial. They should understand both your source and target environments intimately.
Vendor Lock-In
The Issue:
Some cloud providers make it relatively easy to get data in but hard and expensive to move data out.
Example:
A startup found themselves tied to high data egress fees when they tried to switch providers, crippling their agility.
The Solution:
Understand the terms of service and consider multi-cloud strategies or open-source options.
Why Evolution Systems?
When you’re navigating such a maze of complexities, it’s invaluable to have a partner who not only understands the intricacies of cloud technologies but also aligns these technologies with your unique business needs. Evolution Systems brings you personalised cloud and managed services with favourable service level agreements and 99.999% uptime.
We stand by our tagline: “Now IT’s Personal.”
- Trusted Partner: We’re there for you every step of the way.
- Compliance Expertise: We ensure you’re aligned with Australian-specific compliance standards.
- Ownership: We own our infrastructure, giving us the control to deliver consistent and reliable services.
- Customisation: We offer personalised solutions that take into account your company’s unique requirements and objectives.
At Evolution Systems, we believe that the “right people with the right answers” can make all the difference. If you’re grappling with the challenges of cloud migration, we’re the partner who will be right there when you need us, helping you secure your future in the cloud.
Migrating workloads to the cloud doesn’t have to be a stumbling block on your path to digital transformation. It can be a stepping stone, one that leads to untold possibilities and business growth. Let Evolution Systems make your cloud journey personal, secure, and efficient.
Author: Geoff Boreland
