Heading to the Cloud? Here’s a Migration Path to Keep You Grounded | DynTek Inc

You’ve decided you want to take advantage of the many benefits of Cloud Computing, but you’re not sure where to begin. That’s where an experienced integrator can help. Making appropriate choices concerning what to move, when to move it and how to make it all happen can be daunting. Having a partner to guide you makes the journey smoother and less stressful. Here is one migration path that can help you make the transition quickly and efficiently.

Assessment

Before deciding exactly how you will leverage the cloud, conduct a full assessment of your entire infrastructure to determine your best options for servicing your internal and external customers. Your integrator/partner may have an assessment tool – DynTek leverages the MAP Toolkit – that gathers data about your current systems. There are third party scripts that can be used as well. Before you decide where to go, it’s critical you know your current situation.

Review and Decision Making

Once all the data is obtained, it’s time to review and classify the data in detail. This data classification process is where you do a thorough analysis before making any decisions. This is akin to the old adage that you should measure three times and cut once. You need to be sure of what you need to do before making final commitments to change.

Cost and Investment Comparisons

After a comprehensive review, you can then take a look at where your data should live and the cost comparisons of various alternatives. Once this is complete, you’ll have a clear understanding of the benefits of the various paths you can take, whether that’s a physical to virtual migration or a full or partial shift to the cloud.  For example, you may decide to keep your SQL backend local while putting the front end in the cloud. You need to evaluate these options and the cost benefits to each to determine the best alternatives for your organization.

Application Migration

If you’ve decided to move some of your applications to the cloud, you need to develop a transition plan that won’t disrupt your business. You need to identify which apps will be moving, assessing whether you want a hybrid on premise to cloud configuration or full on SaaS option. The hybrid option can be particularly attractive but you need to ensure the pipe between your on-premises and cloud configuration can handle the traffic. Before moving an app to the cloud, detail all the prerequisites for the application and choose your migration tools accordingly. The final step is determining training, administration, communication, and co-existence.

The cloud can play an important part in upgrading and improving the efficiency of your IT infrastructure. Just be sure you prepare properly to ensure a successful migration.