A good data migration plan is key to ensuring successful migration to the cloud. Build the right plan for your organization using this comprehensive guide.
Table of Contents What is Cloud Data Migration?
Why do Enterprises Need a Data Migration Plan?
Data Migration Strategies
7 Steps to a Successful Data Migration Plan
Simplify Your Data Migration Plan with Data Products Data migration is a critical component of any digital transformation plan, but migrating data, from on-premise systems, to the cloud, is complex and often takes a very long time. Having a comprehensive data migration plan simplifies, and streamline, the process.
Without a carefully planned and executed data migration strategy, it’s more likely your migration will succumb to common challenges and pitfalls, such as higher-than-expected costs, disruptions, downtime, and more.
In this article, we’ll examine why data migration tools are essential for enterprises today, the key benefits of having a data migration plan, and 8 steps for building one.
Cloud data migration is the process of moving on-premise data, applications, warehouses, and data centers to a cloud computing environment. Organizations can opt for a public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud architecture. Today, a hybrid cloud architecture, in which applications run in a combination of public and private cloud environments, is the most common approach.
Migrating data to the cloud is a key component of legacy application modernization, or digital transformation. Data migration also supports other core business needs, such as complying with increasingly strict data privacy laws, strengthening data security, and better supporting a remote workforce.
A cloud migration is not a simple undertaking. For most enterprises, the process of transferring massive volumes of data and applications takes years, and is full of challenges. Like any complex, strategic objective, proper planning is an integral part of the process.
Without a clearly defined plan, your data migration software might be less effective than expected, and expose you to risks, like excessive budget, loss of data integrity, failure of critical services, disruptions to business continuity, cloud sprawl, and lack of data and application portability.
A well thought-out data migration plan will put your organization on the path to success, and enable you to unlock all of the benefits of cloud computing.
(1) Left and shift is simply moving the data and applications from on-premise systems to the cloud, without making any changes to the underlying architecture or infrastructure. This can be a quick and easy way to get started with the cloud, but it may not take full advantage of the benefits of cloud computing, such as the ability to scale resources on demand or take advantage of cloud-native services.
(2) Re-platforming involves changing the underlying data systems to take advantage of cloud capabilities. Examples include refactoring code, updating databases, or adopting cloud-native technologies. Re-platforming can be more complicated than a lift and shift approach, but it can also yield better results in terms of cost savings, performance, and agility.
(1) Clean and organize your data
Ensure your data is clean, organized, and consistent by identifying and removing duplicate records, correcting errors or inconsistencies, and standardizing data formats. A data-as-a-product approach to data migration enables cleansing and organization on the fly – more on this in the next section.
(2) Determine the appropriate data format
Data teams may have to export the data from their current system into a more cloud-friendly format, like CSV or JSON.
(3) Choose a data transfer method
There are many different ways to transfer data to the cloud, including manual uploads, or using automated data transfer tools, and data migration services. Choose the method that is most appropriate for the size and complexity of your data.
(1) Manual uploads: Ideal for small amounts of data, this involves manually uploading data to the cloud using tools provided by the cloud provider, such as a web-based interface or a command line tool.
(2) Automated data transfer tools: For larger amounts of data, it’s more efficient to use automated data transfer tools. These tools often offer features such as compression, encryption, and incremental transfers.
Data Product Platform operationalizes data migration to support public, private, and hybrid cloud architectures. It migrates data via data products, where each data product corresponds to a specific business entity (such as a customer, supplier, or invoice). The data for each instance of a business entity is unified and managed in its own encrypted Micro-Database™ – one per business entity instance.
Instead of deploying a big bang migration approach by default, which most conventional migration solutions do, Data Product Platform supports any migration strategy, such as phased migration (based on specific customer characteristics), or on-demand migration (where a business entity dataset is migrated only when necessary).
One of the most important data migration considerations is data integrity. The platform maintains data integrity at all times by discovering and matching data from multiple sources automatically. It also keeps a log of all migration activities, and can perform roll-backs if required.
