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CREATE A STRATEGIC PLAN

1. Set out a step by step plan. Identifying quick wins such as moving applications and or document organisation to make the move smoother.
2. Plan out a timeline and take into consideration Business events.
3. Establish a migration architect role to lead the process

REACH OUT INTERNALLY

1.  Make sure to reach out to the relevant internal areas in your orginisation as well as stakeholders. Internal support will make the migration process all that much smoother.

ASSESS YOUR CURRENT PROCESSES

1. Before starting the migration, assess your current processes so you can address any issues that may be caused whilst migration is in effect. Document orginisation is a good first pick as you want to have everything ready and easily located once the migration process is underway.
2. Identify your users and how they are grouped.
3. Identify what applications are being used by which user and group.
4. What resources are required for each application to run optimally

CHOOSE YOUR LEVEL OF CLOUD INTEGRATION

1. ­   When you move an application from an on-premise Server to the cloud, there are two ways you can migrate your application—a shallow cloud integration or a deep cloud integration.
2. ­   For a shallow cloud integration (sometimes called “lift-and-shift”), you move the on-premise application to the cloud, and make no—or limited—changes to the servers you instantiate in the cloud for the purpose of running the application. Any application changes are just enough to get it to run in the new environment. You don’t use cloud-unique services. This model is also known as lift-and-shift because the application is lifted “as is” and moved, or shifted, to the cloud intact.
3. ­   For a deep cloud integration, you modify your application during the migration process to take advantage of key cloud capabilities. This might be nothing more advanced than using auto scaling and dynamic load balancing, or it might be as sophisticated as utilizing serverless computing capabilities such as AWS Lambda for portions of the application. It might also involve using a cloud-specific data store such as Amazon S3 or DynamoDB.

DETERMINE WHERE EVERYTHING WILL GO

1. ­   Before you start the processes figure out where you want everything to go. It is important to plan out where you want all your files and application to be located and how you want them to be organized. This allows for a smoother transition and will lower the risk of losing data or losing governance.

BEGIN PILOTING YOUR MIGRATION

1. Start by moving low complexity workloads over to the new platform to assess and test for any problems. This allows you to test the waters before moving over larger workloads. Cloud platforms generally offer a data recovery option in case anything goes wrong. If you’re partnering with an organisation to do the migration they also have the knowledge of data recovery and testing to make sure the final migration is smooth.

TRAIN YOUR STAFF

1. It is important to build a foundation for the eventual change in systems by training your staff on new processes before they are implemented. Microsoft offers modules, courses, certifications and training for their azure and 365 cloud platforms via Microsoft Learn. Most cloud platform providers will offer you a similar training solution.