How to Ensure a Smoother Cloud Migration

It may surprise those who’ve spent long careers in technology, but we’re now into the third decade of the cloud revolution. Amazon Web Services was born in 2002 and began in earnest in 2006; Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform arrived in 2008.

By now, one would think that cloud migrations would be easy, but they never will be. The good news is that many companies have already made a great deal of progress on their transitions. In fact, 45% of organizations have already shifted at least half of their workloads onto cloud platforms, according to the “2024 CDW Cloud Computing Research Report.” When we asked about their plans for the other half, 35% said they’d move at least half of those to the cloud within three years.

What do organizations like that — early cloud adopters with wisdom gained from experience — wish they’d known when they began their journeys? Three things, above all.

LEARN MORE: How can your organization simplify your cloud migration?

Saving Money Is Not Cloud’s Primary Benefit

When I ask businesses why they’re considering migrating to the cloud, the most common response is that they’re looking for cost savings. I get that. But cloud is not generally cheaper over the long run.

The migration itself will cost a certain amount, especially when you consider the professional services you’ll likely need for a successful transition. Then there are the monthly bills, whose size can sometimes surprise organizations in the early days after a shift to the cloud.

That is not to say that cloud is necessarily more expensive. As always, it depends on the situation. The best advice is to try to get a handle early in the process on what all of the costs will be. At CDW, we can help you get a close approximation.

In any case, a cloud migration should be consistent with your data strategy rather than a search for savings.

Click the banner below to read the full 2024 CDW Cloud Computing Research Report.

Cloud Migrations Require Technical Know-How

There are different ways to migrate workloads to the cloud. The simplest is a lift-and-shift, where you move an application as is from one home to another. It would be great if you could do that with every application, but some workloads may need to be refactored, rebuilt entirely or replaced.

The truth is that you need to analyze each workload individually to determine if it can move to the cloud — and if so, how and on what schedule.

There’s a learning curve with the cloud. Many organizations are not ready, in the beginning, for the differences in managing and securing their workloads on cloud platforms compared with their old on-premises solutions. That’s why most security breaches of cloud-based applications are the result of misconfigurations or other errors by end users.

Businesses that work from the beginning with a partner experienced in cloud migrations and knowledgeable about all of the platforms tend to have smoother, safer transitions.

FIND OUT: How can businesses get the most out of a cloud assessment?

Most Cloud Migrations Are Partial

Most organizations find that moving every application to the cloud doesn’t make sense, especially all at once. Instead, they start with the easiest workloads, then move on to others in order of complexity. For security, compliance or other reasons, most businesses will maintain some workloads on-premises indefinitely.

We’re living in a cloud-first world, but few businesses are exclusively in the cloud, and few ever will be. On one hand, cloud technology delivers the flexibility and rapid scaling potential that modern businesses need, and it allows organizations a measure of control over their monthly spending on storage that on-premises solutions generally don’t offer.

On the other, a full-steam-ahead complete cloud migration, with no hardware left over, is only rarely the right approach. Whatever path you choose, be sure to get the help you need.