What is cloud migration?

Cloud migration refers to moving everything a business does — from data to applications — into a cloud computing environment. It often means moving workloads from a company’s private, on-premises servers and into a server hosted by a public cloud provider, but it can also mean moving from one cloud to another.

Even though moving all these workloads can be a major undertaking, 92% of companies are using cloud computing services. Why? Because the benefits of moving to the cloud are vast.

It is estimated that companies using the cloud save 20% in infrastructure costs. This starts with reduced IT spending and physical server maintenance. But moving to the cloud also unlocks new opportunities. Workflow and compliance automation, remote collaboration, and cost-effective scalability can all compound the savings, boost productivity, and enhance security. It’s no wonder small businesses and enterprises alike want in on the windfall.

How cloud migration is beneficial

The benefits of migrating to the cloud include:

Increased flexibility

Your on-premises infrastructure may have been top of the line when you first designed it, but technology is constantly improving. Public cloud companies dedicate their time and resources to improving their products. By relying on them, you can focus on your core competencies and still benefit from an ever-improving platform.

Unlike on-premises servers, the cloud can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Employees gain the freedom to work at home, in another office, or on the go. Plus, storing that work in the cloud insulates it from the threat of hardware failures.

Greater scalability

On-premises infrastructure is cumbersome. If you have too much, you’re paying maintenance and operating costs on infrastructure you don’t need. If you have too little, spinning up more can take a long time, leading to workflow disruptions.

By migrating to the cloud, you can modulate your resources in real time. Additional servers can come online with the flick of a switch to meet peak demand and then be decommissioned when they’re no longer needed. You can even tap into servers that are closer to your customers, boosting speed. After migrating to the cloud, you’ll no longer get caught flat-footed when business conditions change.

Centralized security

Cloud providers are subject to stringent security standards. Some are set by governments, such as HIPAA and the GDPR. Others are enforced by industry groups, such as PCI DSS and SOC 2. To meet these standards, the cloud providers bake in advanced security and data protection tools. They also update their defenses as standards change and technology improves. By migrating your data and workloads to the public cloud, you can tap into this proactive and robust baseline security.

Operational efficiency

Because on-premises data centers are physically close to your business, it’s easy to assume they’re faster to work with than the cloud. But on-premises infrastructure often hosts important files across multiple data centers, which can turn retrieving the right data into a bottleneck for employees.

In contrast, cloud data centers can pool all the relevant data into a single, easily searched location. This makes it easy for users with the proper permissions to find and pull the data they need. They’re then empowered to fill data requests, complete reports, and wrap up projects faster than ever.

Significant cost reduction

When an organization performs a cloud migration, its total cost of ownership (TCO) often plummets. It no longer has to spend a fortune on IT infrastructure and maintenance. Combine this with the ability to pay only for the resources needed, and an organization can save up to 66% on compute, networking, and storage by switching to the cloud. Best of all, these savings don’t sacrifice availability or security.

Types of cloud migration: The six Rs

Challenges of cloud migration

The benefits of a cloud migration are undeniable, but the process comes with challenges. If these speed bumps aren’t addressed, they can slow the cloud migration process. Worse, they can lead to an incomplete migration. Here are some pitfalls to look out for during your cloud migration:

• Risks of data exposure: Transmitting large quantities of data can give threat actors a chance to intercept it. Data should stay encrypted at all times to keep it safe.
• Internal threats: Whether through malicious intent or simple human error, data can be misused or lost during a cloud migration. Strong passwords, encryption, access management, and employee identity verification can mitigate this risk.
• Compliance requirements: Your cloud environment may handle most compliance concerns once you’ve migrated, but your organization still has to meet the relevant standards for your industry during the transition.
• Cloud migration complexities: Migrating to the cloud affects every section of your organization. Datastores, tools, workflows, and more shift during the process. Minute planning and lockstep execution are key to a smooth migration.
• Difficulty in monitoring: Cloud migrations often include reconfiguring ports. Without security monitoring tools, inbound and outbound ports may allow unrestricted traffic to flow through your network.
• Knowledge and skills shortage: Even talented IT professionals may lack the experience needed to execute a successful cloud migration, as it requires a uniquely demanding skill set.
• Weak identity access management (IAM): Without proper IAM, employees can access any part of their organization’s network — including sensitive data.
• Shared responsibility buy-in: Cloud migrations can cause short-term workflow disruptions that frustrate some workers. Others may not understand the advantages they’ll soon enjoy. Ensuring everyone is on board and cooperating in good faith is critical to a successful migration.
• Automation and APIs: Moving to the cloud often means adding APIs to power time-saving automations. These APIs are prime targets for threat actors, so they must be configured to prevent unauthorized access.
• Securing DevOps: DevOps teams prize their agility, and this can clash with an increased emphasis on security. That said, DevOps vs. DevSecOps can be a valuable topic of conversation for your organization.
• Expanding ecosystems: Moving to the cloud makes it easy to centralize data and workloads for faster work. This centralization also creates more attractive targets for threat actors.

Cloud migration tools and services

Many of the major cloud providers provide migration services. So do smaller companies that specialize in cloud migrations. If you’d rather handle the migration yourself, you can still use tools designed by these organizations to keep things working smoothly.

Different tools target different elements of the migration. These focuses can generally be broken into the following categories:

• Data migration tools: Used to transfer data from one database to another, often changing storage type or format in the process. Accounts for data integrity, data mapping, and data transformation.
• Database migration tools: Used to transfer an entire database from one server to another. Involves evaluating data structure and dependencies, executing the migration, testing the results, and eliminating redundancies.
• Application migration tools: Used to transfer specific apps from one server to another.
• Server migration tools: Used to transfer all the data and apps on one server to another. Includes server configuration.

Your cloud migration will likely call for most — if not all — of these tools at one point or another.

How to choose the best cloud migration type for your business

Here are a few things to consider before choosing the cloud migration type that’s best for your business:

Define business objectives

The first step in any cloud migration is to lay out what you hope to achieve by migrating. Are cost savings priority number one? Or are you looking to drive product innovations? How important are automations going to be in your planned workflows? By answering these questions, you can set priorities that will guide your decision-making and shape your migration strategy.

Assess the current environment

Next, you’ll need to take inventory. Build a map of your existing environment that includes what data and workloads are stored where. Where are your existing pain points? Could you rearrange these resources in your new cloud environment to boost efficiency? Consider the technical requirements and constraints of your new platform and devise as many solutions as possible. Keep your previously stated goals in mind to ensure your work stays focused.

Execution

Now, you’ll need to choose a migration strategy and develop a detailed project plan. Look over the options listed above and determine which makes the most sense for your organization. Will a simple re-host meet your needs? Or will the benefits of a full re-factoring outweigh its upfront investment? Whichever you choose, you’ll want to create a roadmap that tells you when each piece of your working environment will migrate and provides you with deadlines to keep you on track.

In general, it’s a good practice to start by migrating some less important elements first. This gives you a chance to see the process in action, take notes on what proves challenging, and iron out any bumps before the essential infrastructure starts to move. Along the way, testing and validating everything you move is critical. Doing so lets you spot chances to optimize and helps ensure data integrity and security.

Post-migration monitoring and upkeep

Of course, monitoring doesn’t end when the cloud migration wraps. If anything, it becomes more important. Continuous monitoring allows you to spot and fix vulnerabilities, tune new optimizations, and keep an eye on your capacity needs. Over time, you can make your environment more secure and efficient — all while continuing to meet the demands of your growing business.

Ready to migrate? CrowdStrike can help

In inexperienced hands, cloud migrations can become a mess of moving parts and mystified stakeholders. This confusion can be a breeding ground for security vulnerabilities — a key driver in the fact that cloud intrusions increased by 75% overall between 2022 and 2023. Cloud-conscious cases amplified by 110% Year-over-Year. To keep your migration protected, you need the help of a time-tested security partner. That’s exactly what CrowdStrike can provide.

With CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security, you get a powerful tool for detecting, preventing, and remediating threats and misconfigurations in your cloud environment. This makes it easier to secure the expanded attack surface of the cloud, whether it’s in a single-cloud, multi-cloud, or hybrid architecture.

CrowdStrike also offers a fully managed cloud security service that pushes Falcon Cloud Security to peak effectiveness. This service shifts the weight of security off of your in-house IT team and onto our management and threat hunting experts. The result: 24/7 protection and compliance backed by CrowdStrike’s industry-leading Breach Prevention Warranty.

No matter where you are in your digital transformation, CrowdStrike is here to help keep your organization safe.