THE MAJOR CHALLENGES AND RISKS OF MIGRATING TO THE CLOUD
Owing to the many benefits that the cloud offers for businesses, many organizations are now considering moving to the cloud. In the course of planning to transfer their systems to the cloud environment, they are often faced with a number of challenges that threaten a successful migration. If you’re looking to move to the cloud, here are the top challenges and risks you need to know and how to overcome them.
Challenge 1: Financial cost
Although migrating to the cloud can be beneficial to your business in different ways including cost savings, taking the big step can still feel expensive upfront. While the cost largely depends on the amount of data you want to move, it’s important to take into consideration other factors when planning your budget.
The solution to this challenge is to make sure you prepare well before you decide to make the switch by creating a well-laid plan that covers all the required expenses. It also helps to use calculators provided by the cloud service provider to get a better idea of how much you need to budget beforehand.
Challenge 2: Adoption resistance
When it comes to cloud migration, people’s unwillingness to embrace change might just be the biggest challenge you will face. If not well handled, this could lead to disruption of your business as well as a struggle to execute a successful migration.
To solve this challenge, it’s important to first ensure that your executive leadership is onboard with the switch. Once you can get the leadership to see the benefits of cloud migration, you will encounter fewer obstacles when selling the idea to the rest of your employees. Consider also investing in expert training so your team understands the new systems and processes.
Challenge 3: Skills shortage
Another challenge that many businesses face when they mull the idea of migrating to the cloud is finding people who have the expert skill to manage an effective migration.
Solving this challenge isn’t going to be easy but consider getting your IT team trained on the new skills so they can make meaningful contributions more quickly. Plus, you can hire and onboard new employees if you need extra hands.
Challenge 4: Security compromise
A major concern for many business owners is how secure the cloud is for data storage. Sometimes, it feels like holding onto your data is the best way to prevent data breaches.
While it’s important for businesses to make data protection a priority, it’s also critical to make sure that your provider is trustworthy and that they’re well-equipped to keep your data safe. You should know how your data is encrypted, what security measures are in place and what regulations the provider is compliant with.
Challenge 5: Business downtime
Cloud migration processes can take up to days, weeks and sometimes months to complete, and this might slow your business. When businesses operations are put on hold, enterprises lose a lot of money and no business owner wants that.
To overcome this challenge, consider planning your cloud migration so the process can go on while your business is running. Of course, this might mean the process will be longer but it won’t grind your business to a halt.
Conclusion
Like every other technology, migrating to the cloud has its own challenges that can seem to be intimidating. But when you are able to surmount them, you will be grateful you made the move.
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