Cloud migration refers to moving the business workloads onto a cloud-based platform so that the business can reap the benefits of the cloud and stay up-to-date with the latest technology. The access to powerful tools for easier, faster, and more collaborative business transformation without breaking the bank is what the cloud empowers SMEs with. This explains why the cloud migration market is soaring through the ranks – growing at a healthy CAGR of 28.89% CAGR.

This article examines why cloud migration makes sense for SMEs and how they can migrate more effectively.

Why Should SMEs Consider Migrating to the Cloud?

1. Getting Visibility on Resource Utilization and Managing Costs

Cloud computing empowers small and medium businesses (SMEs) to anticipate and avoid wasteful expenses. This is possible through profound visibility into resource utilization that comes with control over IT usage and the upfront capital expenditure.

2. Scaling as the Business Grows

Cloud is a perfect fit for SMEs because it allows them to scale resources up or down quickly per their business requirements. Cloud providers can also help SMEs cope with seasonal variations by providing additional resources without entailing significant upfront investments.

3. Keeping Up-to-Date

The benefit of using cloud-based solutions is that it’s easy to keep the software up-to-date without purchasing and installing new versions. Therefore, businesses will always have access to the latest updates and features and any security patches that could help protect against potential attacks.

4. Ensuring Out-of-the-box Security and Reliability

Security is a major concern for SMEs, as well as large enterprises. With cloud computing, security is built into the infrastructure, which helps to ensure that the data is always protected. In addition, businesses don’t have to worry about managing hardware or software updates; they’re taken care of by the cloud provider.

5. Connecting Distributed Teams

Cloud computing offers a variety of tools that allow businesses to collaborate across multiple locations and time zones more efficiently than ever before. This is facilitated by the ability to access the same data in real-time and securely or through the ability to work on the same applications at the same time.

Best Practices for SMEs to Migrate Applications and Data to Cloud

Here are some best practices for SMEs to follow when migrating workloads to the cloud:

1. Understand Your Specific Cloud Business Case

First, it’s essential to understand your business’s needs from a cloud solution. How much storage and computing power is needed? What applications will you run? How many users need access to the applications and data? What level of security do you need? These are just some of the questions to ask to comprehend the business case and narrow down the choice of the cloud provider.

2. Devise a Comprehensive Cloud Adoption Strategy

If you want your cloud migration project to be successful, you need to make sure that there’s a crystal-clear plan in place for how you’re going to make a move. This plan should cover the granularities of data migration, apps, and how the employees will be able to access data from anywhere and on any device.

It would help if you also considered how frequently employees would need access and what security measures are needed when working remotely (for example: do they need two-factor authentication?).

3. Work Out the Financial Details

Ensure that cloud migration will be financially viable for your business. This includes looking at what costs are involved, how much money it will save you in the long term, and how much time it will take to pay off. You can calculate this by comparing the cost of running your servers with paying for a cloud-based solution.

4. Educate & Train Your Resources on Cloud

Getting everyone involved in the process up to speed is essential. This includes people who will be managing the cloud environment and using the cloud services.

5. Create a Robust Cloud Security & Governance Policy

Your organization should have clear policies for storing information in the cloud, including who has access and what they can do with it. The policy should also cover data protection measures, such as encryption technology.

6. Select a Single Workload & Automate 

While migrating to the cloud, it’s crucial to remember that you don’t have to migrate all of your business applications data at once. Instead, start by migrating a single workload and then automate the process for future migrations. It will give you the opportunity to understand the process before spending time and resources on other workloads.

7. Leverage the Expertise of a Professional

Although some SMEs may be able to handle migration themselves, many will require the help of a professional cloud service provider. When choosing such a provider, ensure they offer turnkey solutions that include everything from security and compliance to backup and disaster recovery services—all managed by experts who are adept at what they do.

How to Get Started with Cloud Migration?

Here are some key steps that will help you get started.

Step 1: Find a Trusted Partner for Your Cloud Migration

A cloud migration partner should be part of your initial due diligence process, as it will help the business to build and execute a cloud migration strategy that’s cost-effective and efficient.

Step 2: Choose a Cloud Provider for Your Business

There are many cloud service providers, but the best one for your business depends on what you need. You can choose a public cloud provider or a private cloud service. Public cloud providers offer more flexibility and cost-effectiveness, but private clouds offer more security and control over your data.

Step 3: Start off with Cloud Migration

Start by creating a comprehensive plan for how you’re going to migrate your business data and applications. Consider what technologies you will use to execute the migration. Then, start working on your cloud migration plan step by step, as you move ahead while consulting with your cloud migration partner.

Wrapping Up

Cloud migration is a complex process, but it doesn’t have to be. For SMEs, it’s crucial to find a cloud migration partner that can help devise a migration strategy tailored to the business needs. By doing this, they’ll be able to execute the plan efficiently and ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Gearing up to migrate your business to the cloud? Let us help! Reach out to us here.