How Can Organizations Make Best Use of Lift and Shift Cloud Migration

The need for Cloud migration is more pressing today than it was a couple of years back. There is a global need for workplace digitization. Let’s be honest, the economies that one can avail in this manner is its most attractive feature. You don’t have to maintain your own servers or employ people to maintain them. Moreover, you just pay for the services you use, and the best part, you can access these services from anywhere. All the company data is safe, secure, and accessible. All you need are the necessary rights to see and modify it to work with it. 

There are several ways in which a company can achieve Cloud migration. For example, an enterprise can opt for re-platforming, repurchasing, or decide to go for a lift and shift approach, etc. Today’s whole focus is on “Lift and Shift,” also known as rehosting.

As is clear from the name itself, you lift the data from one place and shift it to the cloud. So there’s no need for any redesigning and modifications of applications or the data stored within. Those organizations who wish to maintain and keep their business’s existing processes and workflows go for a “lift and shift” approach for cloud migration. They lift the data, as it is, from their on-premise infrastructure and shift it to the cloud platform of their choice. This is one of the most straightforward approaches and requires no changes work-wise.

There are some scenarios where using the lift and shift approach is more suitable to the enterprise than any other model. These instances are:

1. First-Time Migration – Those enterprises who are making their very first move to the cloud will benefit from the lift and shift migration. It is a time-tested process that requires no changes whatsoever. At the end of the migration, the people continue to work as before. For them, there is no change. The only difference is that the data which was earlier on-premise is now online.

2. Tight Deadlines And Budget Constraints – An enterprise that is working on a tight cloud migration deadline and has no time to spend on redesigning and modification of applications will also benefit from the lift and shift methodology. It will make for fast and easy migration. Similarly, if the company hopes to achieve the migration under strict budget constraints, the said methodology will not disappoint them.

3. On-premise Infrastructure Is Overly Expensive – Maintaining an on-premise infrastructure is expensive. If the company feels they are not in a position to redesign or re architect the applications to bring in more economies, the best solution would be to use the lift and shift approach and migrate to the cloud. Once the migration is complete, they will be better positioned to bring in IT modernization.

4. Migration of Off-the-Shelf Applications – Off-the-shelf applications cannot be restructured. They have to be moved as-is. Therefore, it makes more sense to opt for lift and shift.

Once you have lifted your applications and data from on-premise infrastructure and shifted them to the cloud, that’s not the end of things. It’s the beginning of new things to come.

1. Quick Fix Is Not The End – Lift and shift is definitely a quick fix. But that is not the end of it. Cloud presents a plethora of opportunities. You must be able to exploit them to make your applications and processes more efficient. What you have presently may not be optimal. So be ready to do some research and redevelopment to improve the way things are done. If you want to make the most of migration, think of optimizing your applications.

2. Fine Tune Applications For Optimization – Tweaking or fine-tuning your existing applications will help you leverage the full power of your cloud setup. There is no need to build them from scratch, as that will just add to the overall expense. A cheaper and better option is to make adjustments and modifications to what you already have and strengthen them performance-wise. The good thing is that these changes can be made at your own pace and in your own time. There is no hurry. But the quicker you initiate them, the faster you will implement them. All these efforts will help you make the most of your cloud strategy.

3. Customized Applications Require Special Treatment – Even though you are lifting and shifting most of your applications, do keep in mind, customized applications require special treatment. It is not easy to uproot customized apps built for a specific purpose and still avail their complete functionality. It just might be necessary to deploy them in a multi-cloud environment. Even restructuring or rebuilding them might become a necessity to gain full operational efficiency.

4. Lift And Shift Is Not Copy Pasting – If you thought you could copy applications from one place and paste them in another and call it a day. You are in for a nasty surprise. Lift and shift may sound like copy-pasting but isn’t really so. It is not possible to achieve successful cloud migration without proper planning and testing before you can declare your systems and processes live online. Failing to do so will be a disaster.

5. Select The Right Tools For Migration – You can’t just pick a random tool for cloud migration. The tool you choose will determine how hassle-free the migration would be. It will also determine how much downtime you will have to face, how and when backup replication will happen, etc. Remember, the migration tool will not only lift and shift, but also, grant capabilities like data management, automated sync, data protection, etc.

At Oamii Technologies , we offer Cloud Computing solutions designed specifically for your business. If you need help in starting the digitization journey for your business you are feeling lost or simply overwhelmed. We can help. Contact us today to realize the true potential of your business and optimize your existing cloud infrastructure.