Benefits and Risks of Migrating Your Data to the Cloud

While cloud migration comes with a number of benefits like cost-effectiveness, increased visibility, security and scalability, and ease of integration, organisations also need to be aware of the risks associated with this process. In this blog, we deep dive into both aspects of cloud migration, to help organisations make informed decisions when implementing their cloud strategy.  

In the previous blog, we talked about cloud computing and cloud migration, and why many small and medium enterprises are moving away from traditional data centers. 

Cloud computing offers a number of advantages for enterprises; 

• As companies expand and move into a hybrid work mode, having data in the cloud ensures they can access it easily from any location 
• It is more cost effective than traditional data centers because cloud systems are typically managed by third-party vendors, some of whom also provide security and risk management services as part of their subscription models 

• As organisations grow, it allows data scalability and offers unlimited storage capacity 
• It offers advanced features to mitigate risk and secure data in the cloud 

Today, especially post-pandemic, 93% of organisations have moved to the cloud, and use at least one cloud service. And, by 2023, the global public cloud service market is set to reach US $623.3 billion.  

While it seems that cloud migration is the way forward, there are some key pointers that organisations need to consider before they move their data to the cloud. Let’s look at what they are. 

Benefits of Migrating to the Cloud 

Depending on individual requirements, organisations can adopt a lift and shift model, the re-factor and rebuild model, or the replace model when moving their data to the cloud. Here are 4 reasons why you should move your data to the cloud; 

Increased security

Storing data on a third-party vendor’s cloud comes with shared responsibility. For example, while cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud build their data centers from the ground up, keeping security at the core, it is also the responsibility of individual organisations renting the cloud space, to understand their industry-wise compliance requirements and regulations they need to have in place to secure their data.  

As a Merit expert adds, “While the cloud-platform providers like AWS and GCP certainly provide platform-level security, it is critical for the company to build their defenses for data protection and prevent data theft. Also, there is also the risk of malware attacks. Therefore, companies must partner with the right security solutions company or build an in-house team to ensure security.”  

Easy scalability 

Cloud solutions typically work on a subscription basis, which means that based on your IT requirements, you can scale up or down your cloud requirements. When businesses used traditional data centers, it was a tedious process to build, re-build and maintain the data centers, especially because businesses are prone to strategic and geographic expansion, changing customer needs, and more. Cloud takes away a major share of the maintenance and CAPEX expenditure on organisations, leaving them to focus on just determining how much cloud space they need, and how they should secure their data.  

Reduced Costs 

Moving to the cloud saves organisations the cost of setting up and maintaining physical data centers. A report by BCG suggests that organisations can save anywhere between 14 to 50% of their infrastructure costs when they move to the cloud.  

Of course, the extent of cost saving also depends on whether the organisation chooses a public, private or hybrid cloud strategy. Public clouds like Amazon AWS and Azure are low-cost because the cloud space is shared by more companies, whereas private clouds will be more expensive because only one organisation uses the cloud space. Typically, organisations that operate in highly regulated industries opt for the private cloud.  

Easy Integration 

Organisations that use traditional data centers usually need to upgrade their software and hardware systems from time to time. This requires time, money, and resources to be expended periodically. When organisations move to the cloud, they need to integrate their data and applications into the cloud on a one-time basis during migration. After that, the cloud provider takes care of periodic software and hardware updates.  

Risks Associated with Migrating to the Cloud 

While the cloud offers a number of benefits, it’s also important for organisations to be aware of the risks associated with moving their data to the cloud. Here are four things to consider during the transition; 

Determine business objectives 

As an organisation, you first need to understand why you want to move your data to the cloud and the specific business outcomes you’re working towards, and how a cloud migration will aid in implementing these outcomes. This will help you chart out the specific steps you need to follow, from determining whether you want to move to a public,  private or hybrid cloud strategy, to determining what portions of data you want to move.  

In fact, setting a goal and working backward will also help you wade through the complex set of services and offerings that cloud providers give, and take only what is necessary which will save on costs as well.  

Evaluate existing infrastructure 

Before you move your data to the cloud, you need to evaluate your current infrastructure, and determine what data exists, what data needs to be moved to the cloud, and whether that data is compatible with the cloud infrastructure. This will ensure that you remove unwanted, latent data from your existing systems. And, in the event that the language and APIs are not compatible, it may lead to data mishandling or loss. 

Assess security measures of cloud providers 

An extension of the earlier point is ensuring that during migration, your data is not exposed to breaches, malware, or external attacks. You must ensure that your cloud provider’s security measures are intact and minimise risk. 

Unlike in traditional data centers, where you have complete visibility and control over your data, in public clouds, since a portion of your security and responsibility is managed by a third-party cloud provider, lack of visibility and control over data is a real risk you must consider before implementing your cloud migration strategy. 

Merit’s Expertise in Cloud Migration Efforts  

Merit works with a broad range of clients and industry sectors, designing and building bespoke applications and data platforms combining software engineering, AI/ML, and data analytics.  

We migrate legacy systems with re-architecture and by refactoring them to contemporary technologies on modern cloud ecosystems. Our software engineers build resilient and scalable solutions with cloud services ranging from simple internal software systems to large-scale enterprise applications.  

Our agile approach drives every stage of the customer journey; from planning to design development and implementation, delivering impactful and cost-effective digital transformations.  

To know more, visit: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/service/code/digital-engineering-solutions/