Business moves fast, and technology moves even faster. Advances in business technology – like hosting programs, data, and websites in the cloud – as well as marketing and customer outreach techniques like content marketing, businesses are more efficient and competitive than ever.
As technology continues to progress, sometimes businesses have to move from one platform to another to maintain their quality of service or to keep up with company or customer demands. Sometimes this means moving from one cloud computing platform to another. Cloud-to-cloud migration is an investment in the future of your business but can be complicated.
One of the biggest risks is to the data that’s being stored and used to run certain applications – including things like e-commerce stores and other functions essential to the business. While most cloud migration services can manage your migration seamlessly with little to no service disruption, here’s what to know about protecting your assets – like all the content marketing collateral you’ve developed – during your cloud-to-cloud migration process.
What is cloud-to-cloud migration?
Put simply, cloud-to-cloud migration is when a business’s data, programs, applications, or other assets are moved from one cloud server to a different cloud server, usually developed by a different cloud provider.
Some situations where a cloud-to-cloud migration might occur are:
- A new cloud platform offers improved performance
- The platform includes additional tools and functionality that benefit your business
- Better pricing to lower your costs
- Better integration with current systems and processes
- Better service-level agreements and uptime
- Increased scalability to handle the needs of your growing business
- Decreased development and deployment timelines
Cloud computing is no longer just a secondary operations platform or backup storage space. The information managed in the cloud more than important – it’s usually foundational to the success of the business. Whether it’s one department hosting cloud-based information or a cloud server with applications that affect all parts of the business, protecting this data is paramount. Even when looking to move to a new cloud computing platform to see a better performance or other benefits, it’s always important to prioritize the integrity of data and applications during the migration process.
What to consider when migrating cloud data
For the best cloud-to-cloud migration experience possible:
- Plan early: Cloud-to-cloud migration can’t be something you spring on your IT team or workforce at large. If you attend a conference that inspires you to shift platforms or you read up on how a new cloud provider can increase performance, that’s the very beginning of a lengthy process. You need to start asking questions about the current cloud capabilities and vet out target platforms that will work for your needs, as well as be able to explain to internal teams why this switch makes sense. The planning process for migration will take longer than the actual implementation and patience is a needed precursor for success.
- Utilize the best help: It’s worth making the investment to get professional help with your migration. This can be a team that works for the cloud provider or a consultant who works alongside your internal IT team. As cloud computing has become the way of doing business, there are certainly plenty of options available to you. Reach out to business contacts and do your research to help you find the right option for your organization.
While cloud-to-cloud migration can present business challenges, it’s a worthwhile process when considering the ways that it can improve your business, from better customer experiences to decreased costs and better efficiency. When managed carefully and deliberately, cloud-to-cloud migration stands to benefit your business more than harm it and in the right hands, your business data, application, and software – including your content marketing plans, databases, landing pages, and automation tools – will travel safely from one platform to another without any issues and help you see continued success.
