Reasons for Cloud Migration Failure (& How to Rescue)

Businesses have some obvious reasons to adopt the cloud and migrate to it. Improved IT operations, infrastructure management, reduced CapEx/OpEx, security & compliance are some of the reasons that ain’t letting the upward trajectory of cloud service adoption slow down. 

But the hard fact is that cloud migration is failing for most businesses and is resulting in serious performance issues. The failure rate and impact may vary depending upon the type & size of data, unplanned migration, or technical gaps in execution.

The good part is- cloud migration failures can be rescued. At any point, if the IT team realizes that things aren’t going the way they were planned, they can stop and move ahead with professional help. The latter segment discusses some of the common reasons leading to cloud migration failure and highlights how to rescue such scenarios. Let’s get started. 

Possible Reasons for Cloud Migration Failure

• Inappropriate Cloud Migration Approach

When moving from an on-premise to a cloud hosting model, it is necessary to understand if the application works well with the cloud. For example, several legacy applications are designed to run on traditional virtual private server hosts. But when the same application is migrated on the cloud (especially using a shift-&-lift approach), the migration might not be executed as expected. Legacy applications encapsulate business processes, culture, and organization structure. Thus, it is a good idea to take a gradual approach to migration. 

For a large-scale migration, an assessment of assets, cost, time, returns should be predefined. Unplanned migration of apps can also result in performance and cost-related issues, minimizing the benefits of a cloud computing system. Therefore, both technical and non-technical requirements should be considered during migration for it to be a success.

•  Not having a Foolproof Migration Plan 

What business goals would e fulfilled with migration? Does your app need to be rearchitected? How to avoid extended downtime in case the migration fails in between? Will the customers be able to access the application while the data is being migrated?

Despite the availability of smart migration tools and engineers, errors and failures are inevitable. Therefore, preparing to handle various scenarios leading to cloud migration failure is important. 

The foremost thing in planning cloud migration is to assess the current infrastructure. The possibility is that the existing application needs to be rebuilt in order to take advantage of a cloud computing environment. Identifying which application will adapt or require rebuilding to move to the cloud should be done in the first place. 

• Overlooking the Human Element 

No matter how small or large-scale migration is being executed, it needs to be managed. Not aligning a project manager to look after the project or record its status can also lead to failures during or after migration. Project managers ensure that there is an official roadmap for migration that maps with the business progress. Also, his roles and responsibilities include cloud migration implementation, training, and ensuring that things are aligned as expected. 

ALSO READ: Cloud Cost Optimization: 5 Common Mistakes that Shoot Up Cloud Bills

• Ignore/Skip Early Stage Testing 

Testing is the cornerstone to avoid failures. It is essential to test the application at every stage of migration, which ensures that a problem is spotted and fixed at an early stage. More is the testing, smoother would be the migration. 

These pointers are just an overview of the possibilities that may be causing cloud migration failure (and the reason could be hidden deep inside them). However, if a migration is failing, it is still possible to rescue it and get everything set on the cloud. Here is how.

How to Rescue Cloud Migration Failure? 

Post-migration issues (performance & cost-related) are commonly encountered by businesses, irrespective of the scale of the project. These issues limit an organization to make the most of cloud advantages and thus need to be fixed on time.

A failing cloud migration can en route to success. All you need is professional help. 

Moving from on-premise to cloud needs a mix of technical and non-technical know-how to create a migration roadmap. This is generally done by consultants who are certified to manage the cloud at different levels. These experts assess an infrastructure (resources, architecture, etc.) and analyze the underlying problem that causes errors or any other restrictions in the smooth migration of data & applications on the cloud. While this might require time (to understand the flaws and move ahead with migration, step-by-step) and cost investment, but it can help in a quick, smooth transition from VPS to cloud. 

Need help in cloud migration? Contact our cloud migration experts for help.