Benefits and Risks of Cloud Migration and Cloud Computing

Benefits and Risks of Cloud Migration and Cloud Computing
Cloud migration is one of those innovations that have taken the technological world by storm. According to estimates, about 10 percent of the US companies with more than 1000 employees might spend over USD 10 million on cloud migration. Another estimate says that by the end of this year, only 40 percent of a company’s data would be on premises while the rest would be in the cloud. This should give you a fair idea of how bright the future of cloud computing is.
Meaning
In simple words, cloud migration means moving crucial data, applications and other important stuff to the cloud. Sometimes the transfer is from desktops or servers to cloud, and sometimes it’s from one cloud to another.
Types
Three key types of clouds are:
Infrastructure as a Service
IaaS incudes data storage, data backup and data security. The customers are billed by the amount of data consumed or by the hour.
Software as a Service
It offers Internet-based software on a per-user or monthly rental basis to businesses and corporations.
Platform as a Service
PaaS vendors offer basic functions and entire framework that allows customers to develop their own applications.
Risks of Cloud Migration
Data Loss
Data loss or leakage of sensitive data is a huge risk. It can be prevented by trusting a service provider who ensures utmost security.
Compatibility Issues
Sometimes, the cloud and internal applications of an organization don’t work together flawlessly which can lead to problems. A solution could be to check for compatibility before migration.
Cost and Time
Every cloud migration tool would cost money, and the process would take time. A solution to this is to choose a value for money service provider and save downtime by migrating stages on holidays.
Benefits of Cloud Migration
Benefits of cloud migration surpass its risks. Some of the worth-mentioning benefits are:
·        Cloud solutions are extremely scalable. So, you can store as much data as you want when your organization grows without any limitations.
·        Cloud migration reduces capital and operating expenses by allowing you to pay only for the service you are using. The costs associated with cloud data storage is also less than on-premise storage.
·        All cloud applications are updates automatically which means less work for your IT team.
·        You don’t need to install applications manually as they are deployed from the backend. You can also replace applications in short order.
·        Migrating to the cloud also allows you and your employees to access important data when they are on the move.
How to Adopt Cloud Migration Seamlessly?
If you want to reap the aforementioned benefits and avoid the risks associated with cloud migration then here’s what you need to do:
·        Make use of encrypted file systems while transferring data. It will ensure that even if data is lost, it won’t be misused.
·        Get the backup of the data being transferred so that you don’t worry if some data is lost during the process. Keep the backups even after the transfer to ensure that if there is a crash, the data won’t be lost forever.
·        Always pick the right service providers for migrating the data. Never trust a novice no matter how cheap it seems. An expert would complete the project swiftly and deal with all the glitches.
·        Don’t transfer the data before filtering it and ensure that you don’t pay money to transfer redundant data.
·        Make a budget and stick to it to ensure that you don’t end up paying more than you can afford to.