Cloud Migration

CLOUD
MIGRATION
A practical guide.
By Hannah McMillan-O'Brien

Run
Plan
Migrate
Strategic People

A roadmap for success
Cloud computing is a digital and global
transformation that had revolutionised how
businesses function.
With infinite storage available at economical rates and multiple
security assurances cloud computing makes advances in a new
tomorrow.
Executing a migration to the Cloud requires meticulous upfront
planning and a thorough understanding of which workloads make
sense to move, why, which cloud, how and when?
Each business' ability to successfully transition depends heavily on
many variables, including: the level of understanding of the existing
platform, the data strategies, internal IT resources, skill sets and
long-term solutions.
This guide will provide a roadmap that helps you navigate through
the three phases of the cloud migration: Plan, Migrate and Run,
presenting a strategy, checklist and tested advice at each stage.
Strategic People

Plan

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Plan
The plan phase involves preparing
application foundations, identifying data
dependencies and prioritising the migration
order of all applications.
The planning phase is arguably the most important in the business'
journey to the cloud. The more initial investment in the process, the
simpler and more cost effective the project becomes.
Goals
Strong relationship with
IT department for
smooth transition.
Completing successful
cloud migration within
timescale and budget.
Detailed plan for internal
and cloud provider to
avoid setbacks.
Strategic People

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 01
Application Foundation
Before you migrate to the cloud, you need to form a foundation,
which is a measurement of the current performance and availability
of your application. This foundation allows you to compare the
same application’s performance and availability after your
migration. You’ll also use this baseline at various milestones along
your journey to determine operational parity for your cloud-based
applications.
Stage 02
Identify data dependencies
When planning a migration to the cloud, it is important to analyse
the current architecture in place in the business. When you have a
full understanding of the applications, the potential hosts and their
individual architecture, it will reduce the possibility of missing
dependencies during the migration.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 03
Choosing a cloud provider
Follow the 8 steps below to effectively compare suppliers and
select a provider that delivers the value and benefits the business
expects from the cloud.
1. Certifications & Standards
2. Technologies & Service Roundmap
3. Data Security, Data Governance & Business Policies
4. Service Dependencies & Partnerships
5. Contracts, Commercials & SLAs
6. Reliability & Performance
7. Migration Support, Vendor Lock in & Exit Planning
8. Business Health & Company Profile
Stage 04
Ordering the Migration
Before you migrate any applications to the cloud, verify that the
applications and their server infrastructures are synced for
migration. Classify each application by complexity, size, and
production/ not production. This will help with determining how
much of the migration will be handled internally and which will be
handled by the cloud provider.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Advice
01
Don't model like for like
More often than not, there is a misunderstanding arising from
modelling existing infrastructure like for like in a cloud service,
known as the Lift and Shift. Whilst an understandable approach
with some benefits such as speed and relative low-cost, there will
still be ongoing operations with addition expenses.
02
Throw out legacy code
With established businesses many applications will be on legacy
systems, with outdated information. Migrating to the cloud is an
opportunity to throw out the unnecessary code for
existing applications and re-architect it. The advantage is access to
innovative features in the provider's platform that improve
developer productivity.
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Migrate

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Migrate
The migration phase involves identifying
issues, validating cloud improvements and
assessing business risks.
The Migrate phase of the cloud roadmap outlines key steps in the
preparation for a controlled, low risk, fast and effective cloud
migration and the transformation of applications and services.
Goals
Infrastructure in place to
ensure safe transfer of
business data.
Minimal disruption for
the business during the
migration.
Good communication
with cloud provider and
trust in their process.
Strategic People

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 01
Identifying Issues
Before you migrate to the cloud, you need to form a foundation,
which is a measurement of the current performance and availability
of your application. This foundation allows you to compare the
same application’s performance and availability after your
migration. You’ll also use this baseline at various milestones along
your journey to determine operational parity for your cloud-based
applications.
Stage 02
Validating Cloud Improvements
One of the main reasons business' decide to migrate to the cloud is
to take advantage of cloud services that improve the performance
of your applications.
Pre-change: Ideally, these metrics are something that can be
measured after the migration. Example: number of deploys or
number of new applications delivered over a given time. These
metrics may need to be manually captured.
Post change: Define a process that contains tracking methods for
each metric. Example: an online real-time dashboard that contains
widgets for each identifiable metric shared with all involved parties.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 03
Assess Build and Test
Throughout the build of the new cloud environment, it is important
to fully test the signed off migration before commencing the move
of customer data.
Configure and test connectivity:
Trial dedicated connections into critical cloud services.
VPN connections are a convenient means to establish links and
services during commissioning.
Build out the new cloud environments:
Build out each environment’s functionality, with minimum
resources, and only provide full capacity in the later stages.
Most public cloud platforms have functionality for nonproductive
use which limits the hours of use and sets cost
thresholds for test environments.
Documenting and implementing these against agreed baselines
is best practice.
Test, test and test again:
Testing is a critical function and builds confidence that the
subsequent migration will be successful.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Advice
01
IT Services: Fit for Purpose
Many business' will be running legacy systems that have grown
incrementally by service resulting in complex, tangles technology
stack. While such technology debt makes it difficult to shift legacy
systems into the cloud, driving IT transformation also reduces risk,
since it's possible to back out or revert a change when necessary.
Ensuring that existing IT support is fit for purpose, correctly sized
and still required to substantially reduce the cost of cloud
migration, while also making the process faster, safer and simpler to
manage.
02
Detailed Handover
Handing over to operational support usually runs in parallel with
cloud migration. Therefore communication lines between the
migration team and the operational teams is crucial to the success
of the project. This is a multi-stage section that includes a
knowledge transfer of all scope, documentation, delivery and
tracking systems. Though this will effectively support the migration,
it will not fully eliminate problems. Some unexpected issues will still
arise during the migration.
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Run

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Run
The run phase involves preparing application
foundations, identifying data dependencies
and prioritising the migration order of all
applications.
The final phase of the cloud roadmap covers the live run of the new
cloud environment. The challenge is to achieve this without wasting
valuable internal resources on time-consuming
Goals
Not to waste valuable
internal resources on
infrasture management.
Embrace new and
enhanced capabilities
across the business.
Minimum re-architecture
of the new cloud
environment.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 01
Monitor Cloud Services
Once migration to the cloud is complete, it is paramount that the
business monitors the use of the cloud services to ensure the
applications and infrastructure hold up and prevent usage issues or
errors that can occur in the new architecture.
5 benefits of leveraging cloud monitoring tools:
Already have infrastructure and configurations in place.
Installation is quick and easy.
Dedicated tools are maintained by the host. That includes
hardware.
Resources are not part of the business' servers, so there is
interruptions to daily work.
Many tools can be used on multiple types of devices: desktop
computers, tablets, and phones.
Stage 02
Optimise Cloud Spend
With the new cloud-hosted infrastructure and services, it is
important to start looking very early and very closely at the cloud
spends. Forming a baseline of expected costs will assist in
forecasting of business expenses. The more accurate the costs the
easier it is to detect and fix any unexpected spikes in spending.
Enabling future fine-tuning over the usage of the cloud-based
resources.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Stage 03
Test Customer Experience
Finally once you have gone through all the planning stages,
identified the dependencies, performed acceptance testing and
everything looks good. Its time to test it out on customers.
The core elements that are involved in the customer experience
test include:
Functionality of the application
Do all the current tasks still work
Does the functionality work as expected?
Performance of the application
Do all core functions continue to run a the same or faster speed
than before the change?
User experience
Cosmetic
- what does the user see?
- is it aesthetically pleasing?
Perception - how does the user feel?
Has anything moved, added or deleted?
Any changes to the login/ page loading speed?
Strategic People

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Advice
01
IT Services: Fit for Purpose
Many business' will be running legacy systems that have grown
incrementally by service resulting in complex, tangles technology
stack. While such technology debt makes it difficult to shift legacy
systems into the cloud, driving IT transformation also reduces risk,
since it's possible to back out or revert a change when necessary.
Ensuring that existing IT support is fit for purpose, correctly sized
and still required to substantially reduce the cost of cloud
migration, while also making the process faster, safer and simpler to
manage.
02
Users Are Important
Handing over to operational support usually runs in parallel with
cloud migration. Therefore communication lines between the
migration team and the operational teams is crucial to the success
of the project. This is a multi-stage section that includes a
knowledge transfer of all scope, documentation, delivery and
tracking systems. Though this will effectively support the migration,
it will not fully eliminate problems. Some unexpected issues will still
arise during the migration.
Strategic People

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
Business Risks
A risk assessment is crucial as data migration
does not come without challenges, some can be
predicted and therefore prevent, while some
arise unexpectedly.
The risk level for completing cloud migration is unique to individual
businesses depending on the specific interest for transferring data.
Goals
The cloud migration
project completed with
no risks encountered.
Predict and avoid major
breaches to business
data.
The team to have the
capabilities to solve
problems efficiently.
Strategic People

Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
01
Data Security Concerns
For any business, data is the most crucial resource. It may consist of
business-centric data along with other related data critical for its
existence. Any compromise or threat to its security is a risk that
businesses would not want to undertake. Any hint of a breech in
security causes scepticism with the migration.
Any cloud infrastructure will comprise of patchworks of open source
code, which creates security vulnerabilities. Additionally, public
clouds are multi-tenant, and such elements as vulnerabilities or
defects of a co-subscriber’s code could substantially affect other
applications. To tackle this concern, many cloud vendors are
performing "onboarding audits" to reassure prospective customers
that their level of security is appropriate. Nonetheless, its level of
conviction still needs confirmation
02
Lack of Technical Integration
Data migration often involves various kinds of technologies and data
platforms. A lack of parity may lead to failure in data transfer
between the multiple phases of data migration: analysis,
development, testing, and implementation. Such failures not only
cause financial repercussions but also compel businesses to reengage
time in the migration of missing data, leading to a loss of
precious employee hours.
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Phase 01 Phase 02 Phase 03
03
Cloud Provider Doubt
From the perspective of businesses, the process of data migration
requires businesses to trust their cloud provider. Concerns exist
whether technical issues on the operational side could affect data
security on the cloud. It is therefore imperative that data migration
operations provide SLAs that prioritise the concerns of their clients.
Since cloud computing offers a standardised, multi-tenant
infrastructure, cloud vendors may not offer the same level of SLAs
as IT managers are accustomed to.
With cloud migration increasingly becoming a
necessity, it is imperative that businesses pay better
attention to effective data migration.
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About Strategic
Strategic People is a leading tech recruitment agency
based in Manchester.
With our dedicated Architecture team we deliver success
through innovation, working with out customers to
transform their staffing demands into staffing solutions.
We have earned a strong reputation and hold our
industry relationships in high regard.
If you're seeking a highly skilled, proactive architect to
assist in your Cloud Migration contact us for a
confidential chat and we will help develop your
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