Forewarned is Forearmed. How to Approach to Desktop-to-Web Migration from the Tech Point of View

Do you consider on-premise to cloud migration a complex process? If you have not encountered it yet, you probably heard that it's not easy. Following the Cloud Security Alliance report, 90% of managers fail migration projects because of the data transfer difficulty. If it was the only pitfall, you could exhale. However, not in this case.

I have chatted about it with our technical and business-side experts. They shared their practical experience of such migrations. It turns out that the public and private sectors, requiring changes, will face several complex milestones. Here, I will tell you how to overcome them and include your project in the list of 31% successful.

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TOP 5 Risks & Difficulties You Might Face When Migrating And How To Avoid Them

I. Decision-making

It is not the first time when engineers start their answers from the migration expediency. Sometimes, the reason for the following troubles is the lack of necessity in desktop to web migration.

“All managers think it's incredibly cool to migrate to the cloud,” says Anatoliy Medvedchuk, Software Architect at JEVERA. “Yes, indeed, they can use lots of advantages here. But to do it, a company needs to be pretty prepared and overcome the difficult path. First of all, management needs to dig deeper into business processes and decide whether they need migration at all. Or is it just following the trend."

You understand that the process for process's sake will never surprise you with amazing results. Following IHS Markit research, a shocking 74% of companies moved their apps back from the cloud because a migration did not bring desirable overcomes. That’s why the main difficulty here is to decide to be or not to be. It’s enough to know your business well and keep it on the radar to answer this question immediately. It will save effort and resources.

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II. Planning and choosing a migration way

Ammar Hasayen, Leading Strategic Multi-Cloud Business at Etisalat, once said, "Plan better, migrate with confidence, and operate simpler". It sounds like a credo.

Have you noticed that planning is at the forefront? Spoiler alert: during the project, you will probably have to adapt your roadmap to real conditions more than once. So better create it from the very beginning.

Deep processes and architecture knowledge will help you:

• make a decision

• build a strategy

• and also choose the most appropriate path to your goal

Among the many ways to migrate, you will need to pick up the one that matches your current conditions. Many businesses forget about it and therefore fail.

III. Data loss

As Ievgen Chupryna, Software Architect at JEVERA, said, “Data migration is the most sensitive process in the entire project.” Why not? Information can be distorted or lost. In most cases, it brings disappointing overcomes to a company.

So, what should you do to avoid getting hooked? Ievgen advises:

• transfer data step by step

• define business-critical data and migrate it in such a way that the business can benefit from it

• don’t transfer information your enterprise won’t use

• remember about instruments for data profiling - they will ensure information integrity and safety

• monitor data flow and analyze error reporting in-depth

IV. Weak integrations

Integrations are a very important point when it comes to cloud migration. And it's not so easy to build them in the right way. “Sure, there are projects where a client does not change core desktop systems," shares Evgeniy Aleksandrenko, Digital Transformation Officer at JEVERA. “It just needs to create a web interface for wide accessibility. The most acceptable scenario here is using middleware. Thus, the connections will look like this: legacy desktop system - middleware - web interface (one-stop-shop).”

In this case, middleware solves all the crucial issues related to integrations. Therefore, this method can be considered more simple.

But what to do when you have your local network and strict security requirements? You must create convenience by adhering to protocols and policies. Here the runaround begins.

Your architects should work following detailed guidelines and build an architecture where every integration is seamless and safe. Often, in-house engineers don’t have relevant expertise, which means you should choose a reliable vendor.

To avoid this risk, you once again need to delve deeper into your processes, involve an experienced team, and choose the most appropriate integration method.

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V. Unsatisfactory app performance

How do you imagine on-premise to cloud migration? Most likely in the following way: we just take the application as is and transfer it to the web environment. A curtain!

I hasten to upset you because no one guarantees that your product will not perform worse in the cloud than it does now.

Before starting the actual migration, your team should identify the key solution drawbacks and eliminate them. Moreover, you will have to learn a cloud service on which you are going to migrate and adapt the application for its operation. It determines the level of operating costs, the frequency of failures, and maintenance quality.

Afterword

It seems "desktop-to-cloud migration" equals "headache". It creates a fear of moving forward. But now, you have a recipe for how to deal with the most widespread obstacles.

Does your company or authority have an objective need to migrate? - If so - do it. Prepare carefully, ensure a harmonious and quality process, but forget about postponing the development.

If you said "yes" to the migration project, but have not found an experienced vendor yet - contact us. We will be glad to support you on each stage, share our experience, and add this project to your tech achievements box