Application migration

Software application migration is a complex yet essential process that entails moving an existing application from its current environment or platform to a new one. This critical undertaking demands meticulous planning, flawless execution, and rigorous testing to ensure a seamless transition of the application's functionalities, data, and user experience. By successfully navigating the intricacies of software application migration, businesses can unlock a multitude of benefits, including enhanced performance, improved scalability, and broader accessibility. Embracing this transformative journey empowers companies to stay ahead in the dynamic digital landscape and capitalize on new opportunities for growth and innovation.

Over the past decade, cloud computing has emerged as a transformative megatrend, reshaping the landscape of modern technology. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, cloud computing adoption surged to unprecedented heights. Projections from experts indicate that the global cloud service market is on track to reach more than 620 billion by 2023, underscoring the immense impact and potential of this technology.

What is application migration?

Application migration is the strategic process of relocating an existing software application from one computing environment to a new one. This computing environment could encompass various platforms such as data centers, servers, laptops, smart home networks, scanners, printers, and most commonly, the cloud. In contemporary discussions, application migration primarily refers to cloud application migration.

Why are businesses migrating to the cloud?

Businesses are increasingly migrating to the cloud due to three primary drivers identified in a Deloitte survey:

Embracing cloud migration empowers businesses to capitalize on enhanced security measures, access valuable data insights, and optimize their IT operations, ultimately driving growth and success in the dynamic digital landscape. As more companies recognize these compelling benefits, cloud adoption continues to be a pivotal trend shaping the future of business operations worldwide.

Security and Data Protection:

Cloud providers offer highly sophisticated cybersecurity solutions and capabilities that effectively mitigate cyberattacks. By entrusting their data to reputable cloud services, businesses can bolster their security measures and safeguard critical information from potential threats.

Data Modernization:

In the digital era, businesses rely heavily on data insights derived from data mining, exploration, and prediction. The cloud serves as a natural repository for vast amounts of data, making it a preferred platform for data modernization. By migrating to the cloud, companies can access and leverage this wealth of data to drive informed decision-making and gain a competitive edge.

Performance and Cost of IT Operations:

Cloud migration presents significant cost-saving opportunities for businesses by reducing IT and IT-related expenses. Additionally, adopting cloud services leads to a substantial improvement in IT performance. Cloud offerings encompass a wide range of services and solutions that enable greater operational agility and efficiency, streamlining processes and enhancing overall performance.

SaaS as a cloud service model

Undoubtedly, SaaS (Software as a Service) stands as the foremost and widely adopted platform for cloud migration. Esteemed products like Google Apps, GoToMeeting, and Salesforce exemplify the popularity of SaaS solutions. This cloud-based model delivers user-friendly software applications directly over the internet through a web browser, granting seamless accessibility and flexibility.

The beauty of SaaS lies in its hassle-free approach, as the cloud services provider assumes the responsibility of maintaining the software. Consequently, businesses can redirect their focus to core operations, unburdened by IT concerns. This liberation from IT intricacies empowers organizations to devote their resources to innovation, productivity, and achieving business objectives.

SaaS represents a transformative force in the realm of cloud computing, revolutionizing how software is delivered, managed, and utilized. With its user-centric approach and exceptional convenience, SaaS continues to redefine modern business operations, streamlining workflows, and fostering collaboration on a global scale. As the demand for flexible, scalable, and cost-effective software solutions intensifies, SaaS remains at the forefront, driving digital transformation across industries worldwide.

To strategize cloud migration effectively, it is crucial to address three fundamental questions:

Why are you moving ?

Begin by defining the purpose behind the migration. Evaluate your existing IT infrastructure thoroughly and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that will guide your cloud migration process.

What are you moving to ?

Assess the applications in your current environment and determine which ones will be migrated initially. Identify which applications can be seamlessly transferred as is and which ones will require modifications or reworking to align with the cloud environment.

How will you execute the migration ?

Categorize your applications based on their specific characteristics and requirements. Subsequently, implement a chosen migration strategy that best suits your business needs and objectives, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition to the cloud.

What are the types of cloud computing?

Public Cloud
Private Cloud
Hybrid Cloud
Multicloud

Public Cloud

Public cloud services offer a convenient and accessible solution for businesses and individuals alike, as they provide cloud resources, such as servers and storage, owned and managed by third-party cloud service providers. These resources are made available over the internet, enabling users to access them remotely and on demand.

In a public cloud environment, the entire hardware, software, and supporting infrastructure are fully owned and maintained by the cloud provider. This allows users to offload the burden of managing the underlying infrastructure, focusing instead on leveraging the cloud services to meet their specific needs.

One of the most attractive aspects of public cloud services is their flexible pricing models. Users have the option to pay-per-use, tailoring their expenses to their actual consumption. Alternatively, some services are even offered for free, making it an enticing choice for users seeking cost-effective solutions.

Popular public cloud platforms like Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud have garnered a wide user base due to their robust offerings and reliable performance. These platforms continue to revolutionize the way businesses and individuals leverage cloud technology, providing scalable, efficient, and feature-rich solutions to cater to diverse requirements. As the demand for cloud services continues to soar, the public cloud remains an integral and dynamic component of the modern digital landscape.

Private Cloud

Private cloud solutions offer an unparalleled level of security and privacy for sensitive data, bolstered by robust firewalls and internal hosting. By leveraging a private cloud, organizations can rest assured that their operational and sensitive information remains shielded from external access by third-party providers.

In this exclusive cloud environment, all cloud resources are owned and utilized solely by a single organization. This aspect makes the private cloud environment particularly appealing to entities like financial institutions and governments, which prioritize maximum customization and control over their infrastructure.

Leading technology providers such as IBM, Oracle, Dell, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) are among the prominent players offering popular private cloud solutions. These trusted providers empower businesses and organizations to create tailored, secure, and efficient cloud ecosystems that align seamlessly with their specific needs and compliance requirements.

With private cloud offerings continuing to gain momentum, enterprises can embrace the benefits of cutting-edge cloud technology while upholding the highest standards of data privacy, security, and control. The private cloud's ability to strike a delicate balance between customization and protection makes it an ideal choice for businesses with stringent data management needs.

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud, also known as a cloud hybrid, represents a cutting-edge computing environment that seamlessly integrates the best of both worlds - an on-premises datacenter (referred to as a private cloud) and a public cloud. This dynamic combination enables the sharing of data and applications between these two cloud realms, fostering a harmonious synergy of capabilities.

By harnessing the power of a hybrid cloud, organizations can experience unparalleled flexibility and efficiency. It allows for effortless movement of resources between the private and public clouds, catering to the ever-changing demands of the business landscape. This versatility empowers enterprises to optimize their infrastructure, scale resources as needed, and maximize the utilization of cloud services.

The hybrid cloud's hybrid nature strikes a perfect balance, offering the security, customization, and control of a private cloud, alongside the scalability, cost-effectiveness, and global reach of the public cloud. This makes it an ideal choice for businesses seeking a unified, agile, and adaptable cloud solution to meet their diverse requirements. Embracing the hybrid cloud revolution empowers organizations to stay ahead in the digital age and seize new opportunities for growth and innovation.

Multi Cloud

The multi-cloud approach represents a sophisticated cloud computing model that leverages the power of multiple clouds in a unified environment. This versatile strategy enables organizations to distribute applications and services across a combination of cloud services, encompassing two or more public clouds, two or more private clouds, or a blend of public, private, and edge clouds.

At its core, the multi-cloud environment is a harmonious mix of diverse cloud services, each catering to specific needs and requirements. Unlike the hybrid cloud, which utilizes a combination of private and public clouds with different deployment models, the multi-cloud approach focuses on integrating multiple cloud services from various providers, such as Microsoft Azure and others, into a cohesive ecosystem.

By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, organizations gain unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and vendor diversification. This diversity in cloud services empowers businesses to optimize their infrastructure, achieve cost-effectiveness, and reduce the risk of vendor lock-in. The ability to cherry-pick the best-of-breed solutions from different cloud providers empowers organizations to tailor their cloud environment to suit their precise needs, ensuring maximum efficiency and performance.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of cloud computing, embracing the multi-cloud model opens the door to endless possibilities, enabling organizations to stay agile, innovative, and well-prepared for future challenges. By capitalizing on the strengths of multiple cloud services within one cohesive ecosystem, businesses can experience the true potential of cloud computing and unlock a world of opportunities for growth and success

The foundation of successful cloud migration lies in aligning your strategy with specific business goals, whether it's cost savings on hosting, enhancing workload capabilities, or ensuring greater application availability. Fortunately, there exists a diverse range of approaches to migrating applications to the cloud, ensuring a tailored strategy for achieving your desired objectives.


Outlined below are the six common application migration strategies:

Rehosting

Also known as the 'lift-and-shift' approach, rehosting involves migrating applications from on-premise servers to the cloud environment with minimal or no alterations. This strategy offers a swift and cost-effective migration, making it ideal for low-impact and straightforward workloads.

Replatforming

In the re-platforming strategy, applications are updated to embrace modern functionalities, such as automation and scaling. Minor adjustments are made to the applications to better align them with the cloud environment and architecture, without completely reimagining their structure.

Refactoring

Referred to as re-architecting, refactoring entails significant changes or rebuilding applications from scratch to make them cloud-native. Though this strategy demands more time and investment in skills development, it offers maximum benefits by capitalizing on cloud-native features and capabilities.

Retiring

As part of a comprehensive cloud migration strategy, retiring involves identifying and decommissioning applications that are no longer necessary, thereby streamlining your cloud environment and optimizing resource utilization.

Retaining

In the retaining strategy, certain applications are kept on-premise due to specific requirements, such as regulatory compliance or sensitive data handling. This approach ensures a balance between on-premise and cloud-based solutions.

Repurchasing

Repurchasing involves replacing existing applications with commercially available Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. This strategy can save time and resources while providing access to advanced features and ongoing support from SaaS providers.

Selecting the most appropriate migration strategy depends on the unique objectives and complexities of each application. By choosing the right strategy, businesses can unlock the full potential of cloud migration, optimizing performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability to propel their digital transformation journey.

The bottom line

The global landscape of cloud application migration is poised for remarkable growth, projected to surge from $9.7B in 2019 to an astounding $16.8B by 2024. However, venturing into cloud migration without meticulous planning can prove to be a challenging endeavour, potentially draining valuable time and resources. To ensure a successful migration experience, businesses must prioritize a well-crafted and thoughtful cloud migration strategy.

The strategic importance of a carefully planned cloud migration cannot be overstated. It serves as the backbone of a smooth and seamless migration process, safeguarding against unexpected hurdles and ensuring the realization of desired outcomes. With the right strategy in place, businesses can navigate the complexities of cloud migration, optimizing performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

A well-structured cloud migration strategy involves a comprehensive assessment of existing IT infrastructure, specific migration objectives, and identification of potential risks and opportunities. It outlines a clear roadmap, setting the course for a systematic and efficient migration journey.

By embracing a thoughtfully considered cloud migration strategy, businesses can confidently embark on their migration ventures, capitalizing on the boundless potential of the cloud. As cloud computing continues to revolutionize the way organizations operate, a well-executed migration strategy becomes a crucial pillar in driving digital transformation and staying ahead in the dynamic and competitive global market.