5 Smart Tips To Know Before Moving Your
Data To A Cloud or Hybrid Cloud

Cloud computing is a necessity these days, and while some companies are moving their whole IT infrastructure to the cloud, many others are choosing to streamline their businesses by moving individual business applications.

If you are considering a cloud migration or moving any of your company’s software applications “to the cloud,” make sure to consider these 5 tips BEFORE pulling the trigger:

• Back It Up! - Migrating data to any new location can be a mess if not handled correctly, things can (and sometimes do) go wrong. Therefore, make sure you have solid, recent backup copies of everything before you make the move.
• Maintain An On-site Copy - At first, a cloud migration can be a bit scary. What can help reduce the risk (and the fear) is keeping a local, on-site copy of your data and network image. That way you have a local on-site copy in addition to the working cloud copy.
• Have A “Plan B” To Access The Internet - One of the biggest concerns about any type of cloud migration (hybrid, cloud to cloud, specific workload) is “What if the Internet goes down?” To mitigate that fail point, have a business-class Internet connection as your initial and main way to connect, and then also have a second Internet connection service as a backup. For example, if Spectrum is your main connection, you might consider keeping a AT&T wireless account as a backup.
• Use It As An Opportunity To Do Some Housekeeping - You could just copy and paste your files from your local machines into the cloud, but why not take this as an opportunity to reevaluate the structure and organization of that data? This might include re-evaluating your file organization structure, updating permissions and access levels and even archiving of old files and data that are currently cluttering up your server, costing you money by storage and backups.
• Phase The Move - Don’t try to migrate everything all at once. Create a transition plan and implement it. Make sure you move your files in bite-size pieces so the changes are easy to digest for your clients, employees, partners and everyone else involved. This also gives you the opportunity to test the water before taking the plunge, and it allows you to put out one fire at a time instead of having all systems down or broken.