Migrating data and applications to the cloud requires a set of tools that help avoid common pitfalls. Many legacy applications in an organization’s network are not optimized for the cloud, so they must be prepared for the transition with tools designed specifically for the task. Currently, you can choose from a multitude of tools in the market, giving you plenty of choices to handle specific aspects of migration.

Migration tools are necessary because they simplify and accelerate the migration process with minimal disruption to your day-to-day operations. Automated tools, specifically, are designed to remove the complexities of migration and speed the process.

Various migration tools are available, including the following types:

• SaaS (software as a service): SaaS tools are cloud-based applications that create links between on-premise data and destination clouds and enable a secure transition of data. Cloud-based tools typically are automated and the simplest to use.
  
  
• Open source: Open source tools usually are available for free or at a low cost, and they offer high levels of customization. Using these tools requires the requisite experience to tailor them to a project’s specific needs.
  
  
• Batch processing: First used in mainframe environments, batch processing tools are designed to transfer large volumes of data. Typically, they are programmed to run after hours in order to prevent network traffic congestion.

Be sure to choose tools that are compatible with your operating systems and platforms. It is also important to look for tools that provide monitoring, reporting, and graphing capabilities that enable your project managers to track and document the progress of your cloud migration.

Organizations planning a cloud migration have access to an abundance of vendor services that offer a combination of tools, expertise, and varying levels of automation to streamline the migration process. Look for automated services that provide dashboards that allow project managers to track progress and make adjustments as needed.

Secure cloud migration services that have been tested and employ best practices can accelerate the process, minimize risks associated with migration, and help prevent downtime. Migration services can provide organizations the necessary tooling, automation, and expertise to successfully execute a secure migration to the cloud. Depending on an organization’s requirements, services can be set to move entire workloads at one time or in groups.

Calculating cost is one of the most challenging aspects of cloud migration. There is a tendency to underestimate the expenses incurred by the full process. With that in mind, make sure to not only consider the costs of migrating workloads but also the tools and services involved in the transition.

Other considerations include investments in network connectivity to handle increased bandwidth demands and post-migration costs to run workloads in a cloud environment. While cloud migrations reduce upfront costs when adding new technology, the cloud-based model of technology consumption generates new and ongoing costs that require planning and budgeting.

A 2017 Forrester Consulting study, "Due Diligence is the Cornerstone of Public Cloud Migration Success," (link resides outside IBM) found that many organizations fail to properly budget for cloud migration, often missing the need to treat costs as an ongoing, rather than finite, expense. The report’s main findings included the following:

• Fewer than 40% of organizations meet or exceed goals related to migration and run costs.
  
  
• Almost 58% of organizations found that running their infrastructure in the cloud exceeded their cost estimates.
  
  
• Organizations would handle future migrations differently. The most common responses were to invest in tools, increase performance visibility, and get a better understanding of costs, risks, and benefits.

To better plan your costs, you can take advantage of cost calculators available online, which walk you through the compute model and other options relevant to the cloud migration process.

Financial planning is critical to successful cloud migration. When setting a budget, be sure to factor in current costs associated with the workloads being moved as well as the expense of moving those workloads and running them in the cloud. Proper budget planning also benefits from clearly defining project goals and setting a realistic timeline for migration.

Many organizations have found it beneficial for effective budget planning to work closely with consultants, cloud providers, and financial experts to conduct the necessary assessments and prepare accurate cost projections.

As with any other type of business project, cloud migration poses some risks to an organization. The better you understand these risks and address them upfront, the less likely they will be to cause delays, raise unexpected obstacles, or even completely derail the migration project. The main risks to be addressed include the following:

• Architectural complexity: You need to address the challenge of matching your organization’s cloud strategy with the overall IT strategy. When enterprises move workloads to cloud infrastructures, they typically blend public and private clouds with on-premise assets to create a hybrid environment. Without proper planning and vision, a hybrid environment can quickly grow into a highly complex architecture that is difficult to manage. To avoid this outcome, you need to design a cloud architecture that is compatible with their in-house IT infrastructure to minimize inconsistencies and interoperability problems between different systems.
  
  
• Poor application selection: It’s important to avoid selecting applications to run in the cloud that are better suited to run on-premise. Which workloads belong on-premise depends on your company, its specific needs, and business goals. Factors that come into play in making these decisions typically involve latency, security, and the volumes of data that would have to travel back and forth from the cloud.
  
  
• Application dependencies: Application dependencies are another possible risk factor. Having a clear picture of the relationship between each application with servers, databases, and other services to which it connects is critical to a smooth migration process. Discovery tools can help you build this picture and prevent a situation in which pieces of an application are left behind unintentionally.
  
  
• Unwanted latency: Latency can occur when accessing applications, databases, and services in the cloud. Applications that require immediate responses to alerts and notifications have a very low tolerance for latency. Examples might involve autonomous vehicles, medical equipment (such as pacemakers and insulin pumps), and intelligent road signs. To prevent latency issues, either consider keeping such applications on-premise or making sure your network provider has optimization services that address latency.
  
  
• Security considerations: Moving data to and from cloud infrastructures poses some security risks. To address these risks, choose your network connections carefully, opting for a secure private connection to handle particularly sensitive data, and ensure their cloud providers have the tools, practices, and policies in place to comply with relevant security requirements.

Cloud adoption by the enterprise is increasingly common. Currently, the overwhelming majority of enterprises use the cloud in some form, and, in most cases, organizations are leveraging multiple clouds.

Most enterprises have a cloud strategy, and 85% of them use multiple clouds. The current trend in the enterprise is to leverage four to five clouds on average. The multicloud trend is fueled by the practice of mixing and matching applications to the cloud infrastructure that is best suited to each specific workload. Multicloud strategies, therefore, add stability while increasing flexibility and scalability.

Digital transformation is another driver of cloud migration trends. Organizations are turning to cloud infrastructures to accelerate their digitization plans to spur innovation, hone go-to-market strategies, and enhance customer experience. Companies are leveraging the elasticity of the cloud to accelerate development projects to introduce new services and products in their respective markets.

Lastly, another major driver of cloud migration is the Internet of Things (IoT), which aims to connect devices with other devices and humans to collect, review, and act on data in myriad ways. As it expands, the IoT will depend heavily on cloud infrastructures to process, store, and analyze the massive volumes of data captured by sensors, trackers, and monitoring devices in a wide variety of settings. Enterprises looking to kickstart their IoT implementations naturally are turning to the cloud to accelerate their deployment plans.