Three Reasons for Failed Cloud Migrations (and How to Avoid Them)

Cloud migration failures can manifest in various ways, from budget overruns and missed deadlines to the sobering realization that something simply "isn't working." The good news is that all of these issues can be avoided or resolved through practical steps in cloud migration management.

So, what are the primary reasons behind unsuccessful cloud migrations, and how can you reduce the risks?

Mistake #1: Choosing the Wrong Strategy

Proper planning is the cornerstone of a successful cloud migration. However, it's not about preparing for every possible unforeseen circumstance but rather understanding your existing infrastructure and the target migration environment.

It's crucial to establish the economic rationale for moving to the cloud and conduct a readiness assessment for this process. This will provide you with the necessary insights to determine the extent of work required to ensure the stable operation of your current workflows in the cloud. Once this is established, it becomes possible to estimate likely costs, timelines, and returns, ensuring that all stakeholders know what they are signing up for even before the migration begins.

Immediately after completing the initial assessment, you can start developing your strategy in earnest. Key decisions, such as whether to modernize workloads before, during, or after migration, can be made confidentially based on well-defined objectives agreed upon in the early stages. Furthermore, this makes it much easier to prioritize tasks effectively according to the organization's needs.

One of the key elements of the strategy should be to minimize the 'migration bubble.' Double operational costs for both the cloud and the data center during a large-scale migration can lead to staggering short-term expenses.?

To avoid this, it may be more cost-effective to enhance legacy applications rather than rewriting them entirely. Sometimes, choosing the simplest migration approach, such as "lift-and-shift," is the better option. Just ensure that all applications moved in this manner are promptly fine-tuned.

Top Advice: Conduct a detailed assessment of your existing infrastructure, and only then consider improvements that will ensure optimal performance in the cloud.

Mistake #2: Lack of Experience and Necessary Skills

In most cases, a large-scale cloud migration happens only once in a company's lifetime. Therefore, it's not surprising that not all team members will have the experience required for such a task. This lack of experience can lead to uncertainty and a deficiency in the necessary skills, resulting in slow and unstable progress. Moreover, it can manifest as significant oversights, jeopardizing system security and reliability.

In such a scenario, not only the migration itself but also the overall management of the cloud environment may be at risk. This can lead to poor cost control and an inability to leverage cloud advantages such as flexibility and scalability.

The first step in overcoming this challenge is to acknowledge the need for entirely new skills. Hiring more experienced staff can be one straightforward solution, but it's rarely sufficient. New employees often lack deep knowledge of the existing infrastructure, which is vital for ensuring a smooth transition to the cloud.

Investing in your current team and providing support is usually the key to successfully addressing this issue. Partnering with a reputable third party with proven experience in migrations to your target cloud provider can also help achieve the best results. Ideally, they should be well-versed in modern approaches, allowing you to start working with cutting-edge infrastructure design methods such as containerization, Infrastructure as Code, and microservices.

To ensure stable cloud management, make sure your team members undergo proper training in cloud engineering or DevOps and adopt agile methodologies. Long-term mentoring, coaching, or operational technical support will undoubtedly yield dividends.

Top Advice: Seek external support from organizations certified by your target cloud provider and assess the need for training to fill the skill gaps within your team.

Mistake #3: Doing Too Much, Too Early

As tempting as it may be to prioritize critical, business-critical applications in the early stages of migration, unfortunately, it's rarely practical. Even with external support and adequate training for your team, it takes time to become accustomed to the migration process and day-to-day cloud operations.

In most cases, critical applications are also the most complex. A successful migration requires maximum focus on addressing any technical issues and configuring the infrastructure for the cloud environment. Moreover, if the migration goes awry, the consequences can be extremely detrimental to the business, requiring a significant amount of time to rectify.

It's better to start with an application that is relatively easy to move but provides quick returns once it's in the cloud. This is an excellent way to build confidence and skills within your team while steadily progressing to more complex applications and applying the newly acquired knowledge. Small steps that accumulate and gain momentum over time are a faster path to success than an overly ambitious approach that ultimately leads to failure.

Another worthwhile step is to spend time validating the chosen cloud migration concept or scheme. This helps identify and address potential issues before the actual migration begins, ensuring a safe and stable progress.

Top Advice: Slow and steady wins the race, especially in complex cloud migrations. Rushing the process is likely to lead to serious issues, such as security vulnerabilities.

Prepare Your Strategy, Equip Your Team, and Act Confidently

A holistic approach to cloud migration – from the mechanics of transition to managing short-term and long-term costs and upskilling your team – is the key to success. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to migration. Still, investing time in assessing your existing infrastructure and understanding the real skill gaps is unquestionably the best way to start. Don't hesitate to seek assistance from Gart; we have extensive experience in cloud migration.

Let's delve into a collection of cloud migration success stories crafted by Gart, where complex challenges were met with innovative solutions. These stories illuminate the path to success, showcasing how our expertise in cloud migration empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of the cloud.

Successful On-Premise to AWS Migration for a Financial Company

A financial company wanted to move its payment processing application from On-Premise to AWS while preserving the option for a simple lift and shift migration.

Gart assessed the existing systems and leveraged AWS's Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) for cost savings and readiness evaluation.

Lift & Shift: The application was moved "as is" to AWS.

Results:

• AWS's pay-as-you-go model reduced upfront capital investments.
• Resources scaled dynamically based on demand.
• AWS's global network improved application performance.
• Robust security and compliance ensured data protection.
• AWS's high availability infrastructure minimized downtime.
• Expansion into new markets was simplified.
• Automated backups and disaster recovery ensured data integrity.

This migration enabled cost reduction, operational optimization, and improved services, setting the stage for future growth in fintech.

You can find more cloud migration success stories on our website.