Cloud Migration

Accompanying you throughout your cloud journey

Making the move to the cloud

The Cloud is one of the most transformative technologies of recent years, bringing with it a multitude of advantages – agility, which promotes innovation and speeds up time-to-market for new products; scalability to keep up with your evolving requirements as your business grows; the ability to harness big data analytics, to drive sales and marketing strategies; an improved end-user experience for customers, employees, suppliers and partners alike; and greater budget flexibility and the potential to reduce operational costs, so long as cloud spend is carefully managed. 

Our cloud migration strategy

CloudZone Big DataThe key to achieving a successful Cloud migration is to have an effective Cloud migration strategy. Having provided Cloud migration services to customers around the world for over a decade, we have developed a unique methodology to help all types of customers migrate successfully to the Cloud.

Our journey begins with our Cloud Advisory Service – advising you on the available choices, likely benefits, constraints and risks to your business of adopting Cloud services; identifying future Cloud consumption; and developing a roadmap to achieving your Cloud vision.

We then carry out a Cloud Readiness Assessment of your existing environment. This includes an in-depth network review of your existing networking configurations to identify connectivity requirements, public-facing services, and what high-level connectivity options may be required for your migration plan.

The third phase of our journey is Cloud Design and Migration. We provide a detailed, low-level plan of your Cloud/future networking and application architecture, along with the required security measures. The design process is rounded off by identifying application testing requirements and responsibilities, and a plan for how to achieve operational excellence the day after migration. We then execute the migration, in accordance with the design.

We also have a unique five-stage methodology for our enterprise customers – learn more here: multi cloud program for enterprises

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Wide range of expertises

Cloud Migration FAQ

What is Cloud migration?

Put simply, Cloud migration is the process of moving digital assets, such as data, workloads, IT resources and applications, from legacy infrastructure, an on-premises data center or an existing Cloud platform, to a Cloud infrastructure.

What are the potential challenges of Cloud migration?

Most enterprises with plans to grow recognize that moving to the Cloud is the way forward. There are, however, a number of Cloud migration challenges to be overcome, from selecting the right Cloud provider and assessing technical feasibility from the outset, to optimizing costs and managing apps once migration has been completed. We are here to ensure you have the  smoothest Cloud journey, from start to finish.

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Featured Case Study #Cloud Migration

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What is application migration to the cloud?

The term ‘application migration’ refers to the process of moving a software application from one computing environment to another, perhaps between data centers, or from an on-premise server to the cloud, or even from the public cloud to a private cloud. How you choose to do it will depend on factors such as the technical requirements of the app itself and any security, compliance, or cost considerations you may have.

Do bear in mind that in some cases, what really makes the most sense is to simply retire the app – perhaps because its value is limited, its functionality is already available in some other way, or the cost of building a new app in the cloud is simply less than migrating the existing one.

What are my cloud migration options?

There are various cloud migration models, and which one you choose will depend on your reasons for migrating and the specific requirements of your business.

  • Lift and shift

Also known as ‘rehosting,’ if your goal is to get out of the data center and stop managing hardware, the lift and shift approach gives you the same software but in the cloud. You will get many of the benefits of cloud migration in terms of speed and versatility, although there are unlikely to be any huge long-term savings from this cloud migration strategy.

  • Shift to SaaS

Another approach is to shift to SaaS, outsourcing one or more applications to a cloud service company, saving time and trouble and freeing up employees to focus on core competencies that drive your business success. Best restricted to routine business functions, like email, this cloud migration strategy doesn’t suit highly customized systems and processes.

  • Application refactoring

Also known as ‘re-architecting,’ application refactoring is a way to modernize specific apps in their entirety, making significant changes to get the benefits of cloud migration. This is low risk, can reduce your costs over time, and enables you to respond quickly to changing customer demands and needs.

  • Replatforming

Replatforming refers to developing applications in the cloud at the code level so that benefits of cloud migration, such as scalability, redundancy, and elasticity, are built right in. This approach entails a significant up-front cost, but it does give you the maximum benefit of the cloud, and cloud-native apps can be updated very quickly, saving on development time later on.

How long does cloud migration take?

In business, time is money, so it’s a legitimate and important question to ask how long migration to the cloud will take. However, there are many variables – including the age and size of your business, the operational needs of your business during

migration, and whether your migration team includes experienced cloud computing experts – so no one can give a one-size-fits-all answer.

As a general guide, moving a single server with no integrated services can probably be achieved in less than a week. For more complex systems, such as email, document management, and communications, or moving complex server setups and configuring your data center and networks, 1-2 months would be a realistic timeline. Note that no matter how long it takes, once your migration is complete, the benefits will be felt throughout your business for many years to come.

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