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Migrating to the Cloud: Why the Benefits Outweigh the Risks

WatServ

April 29, 2022

Cloud hosting has become a staple among organizations. There are plenty of reasons for that. Work from home policies and the rise in security threats has led companies to give even more priority to data management.

In fact, cloud migration is continuing to surge among the business sector, with even more companies investing in cloud migration. In a recent study, Gartner found that global cloud revenue has rocketed from $408 billion in 2021 to an estimated $474 billion in 2022. By 2025, more than half of IT spending will move to cloud infrastructure investments. 

There’s a good reason for this. Not only are employees now working remotely and many not likely to go back to the office, they are working across platforms with far more connectivity and collaboration with colleagues than ever before. 

In this article, we’ll go over what cloud migration is, five benefits of migrating to the cloud, and a few questions to help make the process of migrating data to the cloud smoother.

Cloud Migration Partner

What is cloud adoption?

Cloud adoption is a strategy used by companies to move their databases from local computers and/or on-premise network servers – typically known as legacy systems – to remote servers hosted on the internet. These are also known as cloud servers. 

Cloud adoption is a strategic move by companies to reduce costs, mitigate risk, and enhance scalability. It also doesn’t necessarily mean the entire database is hosted in the cloud. Cloud adoption can be a mixture of cloud and on-premise hosting, depending on the needs of the company.

What is cloud migration?

Cloud migration is analogous to cloud adoption, but it encompasses the actual process of migrating an organization’s data, applications, and other IT resources onto remote servers hosted on the internet – aka the cloud. As cloud migration and adoption have become a necessity for companies, the options of cloud servers are also expanding. For everything you need to know about migrating to the cloud in 2022, check out this guide.

5 benefits of migrating to the cloud

While cloud migration may not be ideal for every company, there are a lot of benefits of cloud migration.

1. Decreased costs

There are considerable cost benefits of migrating to the cloud. By no longer having to maintain physical infrastructure – and the IT staff to monitor and maintain it – cloud migration essentially reduces costs.

One of the advantages of migrating to the cloud is that an organization only needs to pay for and use the space they need.

2. Flexibility and scalability

One of the drawbacks of legacy systems like on-premise servers is how limited they are in flexibility and scalability. As a company expands, databases need to be able to scale accordingly, with relative ease and cost effectiveness. 

Cloud platforms maintain a global presence, allowing companies to improve their performance by running workflows geographically closer to their users and/or clients.

3. Stronger disaster recovery and backup solutions

The pandemic has made it clear that when it comes to IT, disasters can happen anywhere and anytime. Cybersecurity threats are on the rise and companies need to be aware – and prepare – for any eventuality. That means ensuring their data assets are secure. 

Running a disaster recovery plan can be a huge drain on company resources. Many cloud database services already have backup disaster measures. For added security – and as a way to mitigate costs – many organizations opt for disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS), which is a remote service that provides all the necessary measures to build and implement a disaster recovery plan, including backups.

4. Enhanced security

By default, cloud servers are safer and more cost effective than on-premise legacy servers. For many organizations, on-premise security measures can skyrocket in costs. For this reason alone, cloud disaster recovery is much more feasible, which by extension makes it more secure as no security aspects will be overlooked.

For many public clouds, security patching is done automatically by the cloud provider.

5. Simplifies your supplier and vendor management

Moving to the cloud means reducing the amount of suppliers you need to work with. Cloud data management is basically a one-stop solution, which makes both the migration process and the maintenance much easier. 

Because of this, cloud migration can save companies time managing these suppliers and contracts, simplifies governance, and lets companies focus on optimization rather than continual administrative and upkeep work. This also makes cloud migration more secure as there is less oversight simply because there aren’t as many suppliers to deal with.

Managing HR And Finance Security

Tips for next steps towards cloud migration

While cloud migration has a plethora of benefits, there are a few tips to make migrating run smoothly.

Cloud migration isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution:

One company’s ideal cloud solution may look entirely different from another’s. Ask your team what your company’s ideal cloud solution looks like. 

  • What are your needs? 
  • What do you want to achieve?
  • Are there regulatory constraints, such as data residency or sovereignty requirements?
  • Are there applications that may not be suited for cloud migration?
  • Would a hybrid solution make better sense for your company’s needs?
benefits of cloud migration

Determine how you will handle cloud migration:

Does it make sense for your company to manage the migration process in-house or do you need an external partner with expertise to manage this for you?

Some questions to ask are:

  • What is your IT department’s capacity to undertake this?
  • Do you have the time and resources available to make sure migration is smooth and problem-free?
  • How complex will migrating your data to the cloud be?
benefits of cloud migration

Rehost, replatform, or repurchase:

There are different options for how you will migrate to the cloud. The most common are rehosting, replatforming, or repurchasing. 

  • Rehosting is taking existing applications and moving them to the cloud
  • Replatforming means moving existing applications to the cloud with your existing technology modernized
  • Repurchasing means replacing existing legacy applications with upgraded solutions
benefits of cloud migration
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Migrate to cloud hosting

Making the decision to migrate to cloud hosting isn’t a light choice. That’s where WatServ can help. We will work with your team to ensure your migration happens smoothly, on time, and safely, ensuring your company is ready for growth. 

Contact our experts today to learn more about cloud migration.

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About

WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.

Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.

Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.

With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.

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