Why You Shouldn’t Panic about Azure Migration

Don’t panic! Azure migration may sound complicated – and honestly, it is – but it’s also often necessary. If you want your business to be competitive, you need to use the newest technology. But everyone’s heard about migration disasters: lost data, downtime, and frustrated employees. When faced with a huge migration like Azure, why shouldn’t you panic?

In reality, it’s not that difficult to migrate to Azure, especially if you have the help of an Azure expert. There are many things that can go wrong during a migration, but these are things that an expert can anticipate. And while it is certainly complicated, it’s complicated in mostly predictable ways.

Let’s look at how to migrate to Azure – without losing your cool.

You Can’t Avoid It: You Should Move to Azure

Moving to Azure is tremendously beneficial. There’s a reason why it’s such a popular platform, and why more businesses are adopting it every day. It’s scalable and secure. It boosts productivity and reduces overhead. And it integrates neatly with other Microsoft solutions. You can connect with Microsoft Azure from anywhere, and it’s supported by some of the most advanced and secure technology available.

If you don’t move to Azure, your competition will.

Any transition can be frustrating, but once your employees have become accustomed to Azure, they’re going to be far more efficient. The entire transition to Azure is a win/win scenario for yourself, your employees, and your customers. Employees want to be able to get their work done, and they will eventually embrace anything that makes them more efficient.

Apart from general efficiency and productivity, Azure is packed with functions that can help an organization. Compliance features are able to help an organization remain compliant, while the enhanced storage can scale as the organization’s data needs grow. A move to Azure ultimately reduces the amount of time you spend maintaining your system. Azure’s platform will update itself continuously, reducing security issues and bringing new features in.

A Move to Azure Isn’t Difficult with the Right Plan

So, what scares people so much about Azure? Mostly, it’s all about what could go wrong. If you don’t manage your Azure deployment correctly, you could end up with significant downtime. A company can lose thousands (or even millions) of dollars with enough downtime.

And, of course, there’s the culture shock. Employees hate change, and when changing to a system like Azure, there needs to be a lot of training and preparation. Because of that, it’s usually best to avoid a move to Azure without preparing adequately beforehand.

But these issues with failure can be avoided entirely with the right plan. When you properly plan and assess everything beforehand, the migration is quick and easy.

There are four steps to the Red River/CWPS migration strategy:

• Assess. Look at your current on-premise environment and determine the best way to transition this environment into a cloud-based solution. Identify any potential risk factors and what would need to be done to mitigate those risk factors. Use the knowledge and experience from prior migrations to sidestep any complications.
• Plan. Create a comprehensive plan for migration, including pre-migration training. Migration should be scheduled during low-work hours for the business (for instance, overnight or on the weekends), and can be completed with as little downtime as possible.
• Migrate. Migrate the company’s infrastructure. Migration often is the fastest part of this process. If the assessment and the planning have been completed appropriately, there shouldn’t be any major issues during the migration. If there are any complications, these complications should already have been planned for adequately.
• Manage. Once Azure has been deployed, you or an MSP will manage and maintain it. This includes making sure that it is properly configured, making modifications and upgrades as needed, and generally ensuring that the system is working as it should. The system will be monitored for security-related incidents and other related issues, and help desk tickets can be filtered through the MSP to ensure that employees are able to work within the system.

Through this tested process, the issues that are most likely to cause problems with an Azure deployment are already well-managed. Consequently, you’ll be able to reduce your risk while still being able to leverage the Azure system.

Make a Game Plan for Azure Today

Ultimately, your business will be better off with Azure. The sooner you switch to Azure, the more likely you will be to improve upon your processes and your infrastructure. It’s understandable to be scared: it’s a major infrastructure change. But with the right help, you’ll be able to transition to Azure and improve your operations without a lot of risk.

It all begins with a plan. The more comprehensive your plan is, the less that can go wrong. And once your plan has been put into place, and all your risks have been managed, you will find yourself feeling a lot less scared about switching to Azure.

Don’t panic about your Azure migration. An Azure expert MSP can help. Contact Red River today to find out more.