On Premise to Cloud Migration | Qlik Sense

‍Understanding Cloud Migration

Cloud migration is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Australian businesses are shifting from on-premise infrastructure to cloud environments to leverage scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency. Let’s look at the essentials of cloud migration, focusing on the key aspects of IT infrastructure transformation.

‍Cloud migration involves moving data, applications, and other business elements from on-premise data centres to a cloud-based environment.

This transition requires a lot of planning, strategy, and a clear understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with the move.

> CASE STUDY: Enabling Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) via Qlik SaaS and Cloud<

Benefits of Cloud Migration

Scalability: Cloud services allow businesses to scale their resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance without significant investment in physical hardware.
Cost Efficiency: By moving to the cloud, companies can reduce capital expenditures on IT infrastructure and only pay for the resources they use.
Accessibility: Cloud environments provide ubiquitous access to applications and data, enabling remote work and collaboration.
Disaster Recovery: Cloud solutions offer enhanced disaster recovery options, ensuring business continuity even during catastrophic events.

Key Steps in Cloud Migration

Assessment and Planning:
- Current Infrastructure Analysis: Evaluate the existing on-premise infrastructure to understand the applications, data, and workloads that need migration.
  Define Objectives: Clearly define the goals of migration, such as cost reduction, scalability, or improved performance.
- Choose the Right Cloud Model: Decide between public, private, or hybrid cloud models based on your business needs and compliance requirements.
Strategy Development:
- Migration Approach: Choose an appropriate migration strategy such as rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, rebuilding, or replacing.
- Risk Assessment: Identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies to address security, compliance, and downtime concerns.
- Timeline and Budget: Establish a realistic timeline and budget for the migration process.
Execution:
- Data Migration: Carefully plan and execute the transfer of data to the cloud. This might involve data replication, synchronisation, or batch processing.
- Application Migration: Depending on the chosen strategy, applications may be lifted and shifted as-is, or they may need modifications to function optimally in the cloud.
- Testing: Conduct thorough testing to ensure applications and data perform correctly in the new environment.
Optimisation and Management:
- Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor the performance of cloud services to identify and resolve any issues promptly.
- Cost Management: Implement tools and practices to monitor and control cloud costs, ensuring that spending aligns with budgetary goals.
- Security: Ensure that robust security measures are in place to protect data and applications from cyber threats.

Common Challenges in Cloud Migration

Data Security and Compliance: Ensuring data security and meeting regulatory compliance standards can be challenging in a cloud environment. It's essential to implement strong encryption, access controls, and compliance auditing.
Downtime and Data Loss: The risk of downtime and potential data loss during migration can be mitigated through careful planning, data backup, and phased migration strategies.
Legacy Systems: Migrating legacy systems and applications that are not cloud-ready can be complex. These systems may require significant refactoring or rearchitecting.
Cost Management: Without proper oversight, cloud costs can quickly escalate. Use cloud management tools to monitor usage and optimise resource allocation.

Best Practices for a Successful Cloud Migration

Adopt a Phased Approach: Rather than migrating everything at once, adopt a phased approach. Start with less critical applications to gain experience and confidence before moving mission-critical workloads.
Engage Stakeholders: Ensure all stakeholders, including IT staff, end-users, and management, are involved in the migration process to address concerns and ensure smooth transition.
Leverage Cloud Expertise: Use the expertise of cloud service providers and third-party consultants who can provide valuable insights and support throughout the migration journey.
Focus on Training: Equip your team with the necessary skills and knowledge to manage and operate in a cloud environment through continuous training and education.

Cloud migration is a transformative journey that offers significant benefits and requires careful planning and execution.

Understanding the intricacies of IT infrastructure transformation and best practices, businesses can ensure a successful migration and unlock the full potential of cloud technology.

>Read how our client Fyna Foods has successfully implemented Qlik Sense (Cloud SaaS)<