AWS, or Amazon Web Services, has fast become the industry standard for cloud hosting and computing. Several large businesses, like Novartis and Netflix, are migrating to AWS to reap the benefits of its disaster recovery, improved cost management, and elasticity. Switching to AWS gives businesses complete peace of mind to know that their data is stored in a reliable and secure environment. But migrating to the AWS cloud environment can be difficult, especially when you do not clearly understand the different strategies and stages involved in successful AWS migration. This is where it becomes critical to choose the right AWS migration service for your business.
Importance of choosing the right AWS Migration Service for your Business
Migrating to the AWS cloud will not serve as a silver bullet for your business to accomplish success and growth. Regardless of your priorities- enhancing resource utilization, reducing costs, or taking advantage of new infrastructure potentials- you must take care of the gaps at both the infrastructure and application levels. There are some questions to answer:
- How to align an AWS cloud migration plan to support your business goals?
- What is your current cloud utilization, and how much capacity do you require in the future?
- How much downtime can your organization afford?
- How much data do you migrate regularly, and does it change often?
Understanding app dependencies, migrating and managing the cloud environment post-migration, and assessing whether cloud migration is a feasible option, are just a few of the challenges associated with all AWS migration assignments.
For the major part, the lack of knowledge and experience is the key blocker in successful AWS migration. And this is where you can benefit from the services of an AWS migration service provider. The right AWS migration service partner can help you determine the basics and decide on the migration plan that best suits your applications. Choosing the right AWS migration service can help you define your short-term and long-term objectives to avoid delays and costs.
Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right AWS Migration Service Provider
The right AWS migration service provider specializes in helping businesses migrate to the AWS cloud. Such companies have a team of superior quality experts who work with organizations of varied sizes, requirements, and sectors. Here are a few factors to consider when trying to choose the right AWS migration service:
- Technical Expertise
AWS migration service provider’s architecture, platform, technologies, and standards facilitating business cloud objectives must be in perfect line with the present IT infrastructure and the management preferences. Migrating to the AWS cloud environment can be complicated as it involves workload and application assessment; application refactoring and re-architecting; proof of concept; user management; network connectivity and architecture; SLA management; testing; data monitoring and data management.
Since the in-house teams do not have good expertise in the cloud migration procedure, the AWS migration service provider’s technical staff should take up this initiative and help the in-house teams with the migration. Only industry experts in AWS migration can help bake top-quality management plans to take your AWS cloud migration to the next level. Also, make sure that your service provider allows you to plan, manage and prioritize essential aspects of secured AWS migration.
Your migration service provider should also be able to guide you on deep and shallow cloud integration, establish essential and baseline cloud KPIs, determine the perfect plan between single cloud and going multi-cloud, and monitor and optimize cloud solutions to ensure everything is on the perfect track. The provider should also have the technical expertise to help you choose the right approach among re-platforming, re-hosting, re-architecting, retaining, retiring, and re-purchasing.
- Familiarity with Your Industry
Different rules and regulations may vary from one industry to another. Therefore, it is important to get hold of an AWS migration service provider with good experience working within the industry you serve. This way, the provider will be able to configure your AWS cloud environment in a way that keeps you compliant. To make the right choice, go through the migrations the service provider has completed within your industry and ensure it was with businesses of the same size and structure as yours. Also, consider the challenges the provider has experienced with the migrations and overcome them.
- Managerial Expertise
Consider your AWS migration service provider’s plans on interoperability, growth, and innovation, dedication to the use of cutting-edge cloud technologies, and an integration and service roadmap to understanding the managerial expertise of the provider in the field of AWS cloud migration. Information security and data management are vital, wherein your provider’s data breach and loss notification procedures must complement your organization’s risk compliance and posture. Assess the AWS migration service provider’s maturity in security governance and expertise in security operations. Ultimately, you must go for providers offering compatible solutions and being completely transparent with their security policies.
Also, consider the knowledge and experience of the cloud consultants and IT integrators working for your AWS migration service partner, as these are essential prerequisites to a smooth cloud migration journey. Only the best cloud migration provider can guide teams on an agile migration plan.
- Understanding Business Objectives
It is not just managerial and technical expertise you must look for. Your AWS migration service provider should also bring its migration plan in line with your overall business objectives. For the majority of businesses shifting to the AWS cloud environment, enhanced agility, speed, availability, resource utilization, and scalability are some crucial objectives. However, these can mean different things for different businesses. Ensure your AWS migration service provider accommodates these- they must work in close coordination with you to understand the significance of improved agility for your business.
The Bottom Line
There are several advantages of migrating your data and applications to Amazon Web services. But, the procedure can be complicated. Therefore, it is best to seek expert services to ensure a successful and smooth transition and gain returns on your assets. Make sure to go for an AWS migration service provider that relies on standardized procedures and approaches to give you the best AWS cloud experience.
