Cloud migration is the process of moving data, applications or other business elements to a cloud computing environment.

There are various types of cloud migrations an enterprise can perform. One common model is to transfer data and applications from a local on-premises data center to the public cloud. However, a cloud migration could also entail moving data and applications from one cloud platform or provider to another; this model is known as cloud-to-cloud migration. A third type of migration is a reverse cloud migration, cloud repatriation or cloud exit, where data or applications are moved off of the cloud and back to a local data center.

What are the key benefits of cloud migration?

The general goals or benefits of a cloud migration are essentially the same as the reasons to use the cloud itself: to host applications and data in the most effective IT environment possible, based on factors such as cost, performance and security.

Many organizations migrate on-premises applications and data from their local data center to public cloud infrastructure to take advantage of benefits such as greater elasticity, self-service provisioning, redundancy and a flexible pay-per-use model.

Types of cloud migration strategies

Moving workloads to the cloud requires a well-thought-out strategy that includes a complex combination of management and technology challenges, as well as staff and resource realignment. There are choices in the type of migration to perform as well as the type of data that should move.

Every company has a different reason to move a workload to the cloud, and goals for each organization will vary. The first step is to identify the application or workload you want to move to the cloud. Next, figure out how much data needs to be moved, how quickly the work needs to be done and how to migrate that data. Take inventory of data and applications, and look for dependencies and how those will be replicated in the cloud or possibly rearchitected to accommodate numerous cloud service options.

Remember that not every application should leave the enterprise data center. Among those that should stay are applications that are business-critical, have high throughput, require low latency or have strict geographic stewardship requirements such as GDPR.

Lastly, consider your costs. An organization may have steep investments in hardware infrastructure and software licensing. If so, weigh whether or not it’s worth it to migrate the workload. After a cloud migration, IT staff will focus on data performance, usage and stability, so be sure to budget for tools that support these functions.