5 Factors Every Business Must Consider a Successful Cloud Migration

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, cloud adoption has become essential for businesses to stay competitive and drive growth. As organizations continue to invest in cloud technology, the benefits of cloud migration are becoming increasingly clear – improved agility, streamlined operations, and enhanced customer experiences.

To meet these demands, IT leaders are now prioritizing cloud-first policies and migration strategies. And when it comes to cloud platforms, Microsoft Azure is leading the way. With a staggering 48% of enterprises investing $1.2 million or more annually, Azure is the fastest-growing cloud platform in the world. Offering a diverse range of over 200 products and services, Azure makes it easier than ever for organizations to find the solutions they need to optimize their IT operations and drive success.

If you are exploring the possibility of Azure for your organization, this blog post is dedicated to guiding you through the six essential best practices to make your migration a success.

First off, don't overlook your bandwidth. It's a critical factor that needs continual evaluation. Too often, companies move services into the cloud, only to realize too late that their WAN can no longer support the additional load.

Secondly, know your rollback plan. Even the most experienced IT professionals can face unexpected issues during a project, so it's essential to have a plan to get back to your previous position if necessary. Don't be caught in a situation where there's no way back.

Once you start transferring data-heavy programs or systems, you might be in for a surprise when it comes to how much you're actually spending. To avoid any budget surprises, it's essential to map out your true costs before you make the switch. You need to factor in the expenses for moving data around, reading and writing it, and more.

Even when you’ve migrated your system to the cloud, you can’t expect everything to be smooth sailing from there out. Unexpected surprises can leave you scrambling to fix things on the fly. That’s why it’s essential to have proper monitoring, management, and reporting services in place before, such as Zones Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) services – during and after your migration.

Even though Microsoft has an enormous cloud infrastructure which stores and replicates your data across multiple locations – it still doesn't mean you're immune to outages. With so many factors at play, it's not a question of "if," but "when" you'll experience an outage. That's why it's crucial to have solid disaster recovery and business continuity plans such as Zones Backup as a Service (ZBaaS) in place before migrating to Azure.

Although it can be intimidating to transition to a cloud-based environment from one that is completely on-site, with the right IT services provider, it could well be worth any hiccups that occur. And that’s exactly what Zones can deliver. With our Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) services, we can help you explore your business’s potential in ways never before. We'll streamline all your license management, offer 24/7 support and monitoring, and give access to additional Zones’ cloud services.

In other words, we’ll turn your cloud management headaches into a seamless, smart, and cost-effective experience. To explore this possibility further, reach out to a Zones Account Manager today.