September 19, 2024
So… you’re considering making the move to the cloud. Congratulations! A whole lot of things tend to get easier once you’re there. But getting there can be a challenge. Essentially, there’s no single right way to migrate to the cloud, but there are a lot of ways to do it wrong… including choosing the wrong partner.
But if you ask your provider the following four questions — and you like what they have to say — let’s just say your forecast is looking good!
Your Cloud Migration Provider Evaluation, Simplified
It’s easy to assume that a skilled IT provider would, of course, be a whiz at helping businesses migrate to the cloud. But cloud migrations can be tricky, and configuring your new tools will require special skills. So even if you already have an IT provider you like, unless you already know they provide this service regularly (and successfully), you’ll need to vet them all over again.
When it’s the right time for a migration, here’s what to ask a provider.
1. What’s Your Track Record of Providing Migration Services To Businesses Like Mine?
Ask a provider about their experience transitioning businesses from their current infrastructure to the cloud. They should be able to share details about how their process has been successful for other businesses similar to yours. Also, they may wish to share — or you may want to ask — about tweaks they have made to their process along the way to make the transition easier and smoother for all parties involved.
2. How Will You Protect Data Integrity in Our Cloud Migration?
Data is more vulnerable when it’s being transmitted. And every now and then, a cloud migration might fail to preserve the structure, relationships, or metadata associated with a particular piece of data. In addition to incomplete or failed transfers, some data can also be unintentionally duplicated.
A provider that does this often will have seen and worked through these kinds of issues and should have good answers to these follow-ups:
- Is the cloud secure — will my data be safe there?
- How do you ensure that my data will be encrypted?
- How do you assist clients in maintaining compliance during and after migration?
- What does your service level agreement outline in terms of data protection, availability, and performance?
- What happens if we lose our internet connection?
3. What’s the Best Cloud Migration Timeline and Planning for Our Business?
There are many cloud migration strategies to consider, and two approaches to a timeline: the phased approach and a same-day conversion.
Phased
Phased approaches can help minimize risk, but that comes at a cost. The longer you draw out the process, the longer employees have to work with two different systems.
Same-Day
A well-planned “big bang” approach is generally much cleaner and guarantees all users are on the same system in the cloud from the start. However, there’s less wiggle room should things go wrong. Same-day conversions are best left to providers that do this kind of thing on a regular basis.
A good cloud services provider will have a more detailed plan based on your timeline, business needs, data amount, and more. But it’s okay to ask them more detailed questions about the pros and cons of each of their recommendations. And feel free to take a little time to weigh these with your internal team before moving forward.
Pro tip: Be a little wary of any provider that insists their approach is 100% risk-free.
4. What Should We Expect During Our Data Migration?
It is extremely important to have a comprehensive migration plan laid out to ensure all parties are on the same page. It forces everyone involved to think through all the details that are necessary for a successful cloud migration. This plan should document:
- Tasks that need to be completed
- Who is responsible for each task
- Task timeline
- What interruptions or workarounds to expect
- What measures are being implemented to keep your data secure during the transfer
- Backup plans to address any issues, should they arise
5. What Are My Cloud Migration Project Management Responsibilities?
Cloud migrations will affect different departments differently. So, before you move forward, ask your provider for their advice about training end users and effectively communicating about the upcoming change.
Pro tip: Your communication should include the benefits this migration will have for your organization, and ultimately, for your staff. But you should also be transparent about the changes your team can expect and the support and training they will receive.
At Marco, “Cloud Security” Is Our Middle Name
Okay, so the cat’s probably out of the bag by now. Cloud migrations are one of our specialties at Marco. Like most of our specialized IT services, we got good at this because our clients started asking us to. So we were already doing a lot of these migrations for healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and other organizations in specialized industries before migration became a necessity for most businesses.
But all too often, we’ve seen what happens when companies try to go it alone or use a provider that doesn’t really have these niche skills. We’re always happy to help fix a mess, but we’d much rather help an organization do it right the first time.
Want to put us to the test? Check out our cloud services page!
