You are aware of the benefits cloud can bring to your organization; you’ve been thinking of migrating to the cloud, and you’ve done your homework. But if you’re still not sure if it’s the right decision you’re taking for your business, you are not alone.
Migrating to the cloud takes careful consideration and planning. Use our Cloud Migration Checklist to ensure that your migration is as seamless as possible. Download the checklist here.
Several objections and myths restrict businesses from making the big move, when in fact there are many advantages to moving to the cloud. Let’s dive right into 5 of the most common cloud migration myths and why you should set them aside right away:
Myth #1: The Cloud is Extremely Expensive
One of the biggest myths with cloud computing is how expensive it is. But that’s not entirely true. Yes, the initial investment can seem sizable, so you can move your workloads and applications; however, once your business is operating in the cloud, the capital expenditure is almost nil, while the operational expenditure is nominal.
Since you only pay for what you use, your investment doesn’t get locked in expensive on-premises servers and data centers; it also helps you do away with massive data center costs – including space, electricity, cooling, and maintenance. Your cloud applications can be optimized to scale up and down based on demand – giving you far greater control over your IT costs.
Myth #2: “I Will Have to Decommission All My Legacy Apps”
Several organizations, especially the small ones, have apprehensions about the cloud because of the presence of legacy applications. Since they depend on a host of business apps to carry out day-to-day tasks, they fear that they will have to get rid of all of them – before they move to the cloud – that can lead to a complete shutdown.
Although it is true that legacy apps stifle growth and innovation – due to their rigid and siloed nature, you don’t necessarily have to rip them out while they’re still working – unless you want to. There are ways in which you can modernize and integrate them with the cloud – lift-and-shift, refactor, rebuild and more – and you can always move them to the cloud in a phased manner – as and when deemed necessary.
Myth #3: Moving to the Cloud Will Result in Vendor Lock-In
Another objection that restricts organizations from taking the cloud leap is the fear of vendor lock-in. Reservations about depending on a single cloud provider for all your needs and qualms about losing control over your data and infrastructure are understandable.
However, there are ways in which you can avoid vendor lock-in and get the most from your cloud investment: for starters, do sufficient due diligence before you select a vendor; determine your goals, understand the capabilities of the cloud vendor in question, and see if they are a good match. Next, make sure to loosely couple your applications, so you can enjoy better interoperability.
Also, consider opting for a multi-cloud strategy so you can leverage the capabilities of multiple vendors to power your applications.
Myth #4: The Cloud is Insecure
With the constant slew of data breaches being reported from across the world, concerns about the security of cloud are rife. However, the truth is, cloud is far more secure than most enterprise data centers.
Since all the data and critical workloads are stored in virtual environments, the impact of single adversity is greatly minimized through robust disaster recovery and business continuity strategies. As the regulations around cloud security get more and more intense, today’s cloud providers have a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls in place that ensures a high level of security of data, applications, and associated infrastructure
When moving workloads to the cloud, make sure to discuss any concern related to security that you may have, and get complete clarification from your cloud vendor on how the risks will be mitigated. Understand what security measures will be put in place, how data will be encrypted, and what access control measures will be provided to ensure only authorized personnel has access to business-critical data.
Myth #5: Cloud Migration is a Never-Ending Process
Many organizations also fret about how long it takes to migrate applications and workloads to the cloud. While it is a fact that enterprise-wide cloud migration can take a while, the time required is entirely dictated by the amount of data you have, the workloads you want to move, and the users you want to migrate.
You also don’t have to migrate all your workloads in one go; you can phase out the migration over a period of time, learn from the shortcomings, and effectively plan for future workload migration. Since any migration will take place over a couple of months, you can decide which users, departments, and teams you want to migrate when – so there is minimal disruption to ongoing business operations.
The Power Is In Planning
Cloud migration is a big undertaking; therefore, even the slightest anxiety can make organizations lose out on all the benefits the cloud offers. Objections with respect to the cost, time, and security of the cloud are widespread. What’s important is to understand what these objections are (and the truth behind them), so you can be confident about moving your critical data and workloads.
The power is in planning, so make sure you are well aware of the benefits, challenges, and limitations of cloud computing. Schedule a call with one of our experts today.
