Managed IT Services August 8, 2019

Six Things Business Owners Should Know Before Migrating to AWS Cloud Services

Written by Analytix Editorial Team Jagruti Patel

By the end of 2020, 67% of enterprise infrastructure will be cloud-based. (as per idc.com/research data)

AWS (Amazon Web Services) provides SMBs with highly reliable, scalable, and low-cost infrastructure! Today it’s no longer a question of why cloud migration, but how best to accomplish it.

Broadly, the benefits of migrating to AWS for small businesses are clear. On the financial aspect, it helps an SMB reduce cost by eliminating major hardware and administrative infrastructure costs as the current IT infrastructure expands. Secondly, it offers agility, speed, and flexibility as cloud services can be scaled up or down as needed. Migrating to the cloud takes a disciplined approach and thorough planning. Review the list of essentials for a smooth transition to AWS cloud services.

1. Determine the Objective for Cloud Migration

Know the “why” behind your decision to choose AWS cloud migration services.

You must have a clear understanding of the key benefits you will see from a cloud transition. Whether an SMB is moving to the cloud for lower IT costs, or to increase agility or even for improving the security levels of its IT infrastructure, defining the goals and objectives helps create strong alignment between your organization’s business sectors.

2. AWS Cloud Readiness Assessment and Gap Analysis

A thorough assessment of the current situation helps to develop a preliminary business case for migration. The overarching goal is gap analysis. This provides structure to identify and address gaps in skills and processes, which further helps you make an informed choice on the scope and scale of migration to cloud. Identifying the gaps allows the IT department design and detailed process for filling the gaps.

3. Choose What to Migrate

For many reasons, it is not possible to migrate every application to AWS cloud. This is why an assessment of your portfolio of applications is essential. This further helps you build a full business case. It demands evaluation of all the likely costs and benefits across both the business and technical context to bring maximum value. To do this, you need to understand your IT portfolio, the dependencies between applications, and consider the types of cloud migration strategies you will need to employ to meet your business case objective. Investing in the right discovery tools helps analyze the current state of on-premises systems and identify the networking dependencies.

4. Early Staff Training

Moving to AWS cloud is first and foremost a cultural movement. Therefore, the more knowledgeable team an SMB has, the smoother the transition. With training, it becomes easier to break down the barriers and bottlenecks for a seamless migration. This process, however, must start early on during the transition so you can focus on the big picture and make sure that your organization is aligned with the overall business strategy. Doing so can maximize the business value and minimize the business risks of cloud adoption.

5. Select the Right AWS Cloud Migration Services Partner

The right APN Technology partner is one who not only brings in the technical expertise and experience in cloud migration services to AWS, but also the proper methodology and project management framework. Ask the potential partner for references of executed projects for clients in a similar industry, scale, and scope or even the same stage of growth to reduce cost, increase agility, and improve security. A certified AWS Migration Competency Partner brings deep experience in helping businesses move successfully to AWS through all phases of complex migration projects – discovery, planning, migration, and operations.

6. Start Small, Simple and Iterate

In the initial run-up, focus on making your staff comfortable with AWS services. Beginning the migration with less critical and complex applications in your portfolio allows your team easy wins, and also helps your team gather experience and build confidence in the process. Making your team more comfortable helps make the transition smoother and faster. Once you have migrated a few apps, you’ll have some foundational experience and a plan in place, allowing the team to accelerate the migration and design, migrate, and validate individual applications.

Start Your Journey Today!

Migrating to the cloud can be complicated!

A good cloud consultant and solution provider can guide you through all necessary steps and suggest the best practices for migrating your business to AWS.

Analytix helps organizations understand the full potential of AWS cloud without stressing over the onboarding process. We help customers move workloads and ERP to AWS cloud. With access to the latest tools and AWS technology, we empower the move from legacy IT to a modern cloud-based platform. Our AWS experts would love to know about your challenges and questions related to AWS cloud migration. Call (781) 503-9003 or mail sales@analytix.com today.

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