The Importance of Data Migration for Business Transformation

Data ranks high as a valuable business asset, but too many organizations rely on inefficient or outdated systems for storing or managing their data. The benefits of using modern cloud platforms highlight the importance of data migration, as these benefits can transform your efficiency, productivity and profitability.

The Importance of Data Migration for Modern Businesses

Both growing startups and established enterprises should evaluate their data storage to see why data migration is important. It’s likely that your business data is spread out across a number of different platforms or systems, complicating access, security and accuracy. Data migration moves business data to a single, centralized location to expand storage capabilities and improve management opportunities.

Making this adjustment to a cloud-based technology builds resilience within your business and allows you to thrive when facing adversity or change. Cloud-based storage is a more effective and agile infrastructure that provides stability and security for your business.

The Benefits of Data Migration

There are a range of benefits to migrating your data to a cloud-based technology. These advantages work in tandem to give your company a competitive advantage and a better chance to thrive in spite of what happens in the market.

Improved Data Accuracy and Consistency

Data quality has an impact on your company’s decision-making. When data is spread across systems, it’s too easy to get an incomplete picture of what is going on. It’s also more likely for information to be duplicated, labeled differently or updated at different times when stored across platforms. Moving your information to a centralized location weeds out duplications and inconsistencies during the migration process, and going forward, it keeps the data accurate and accessible in real time.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

Productivity and efficiency lead to higher profit margins, highlighting the importance of data migration. Cloud platforms can provide higher performance capabilities at larger scales improving processing speeds and efficiency. These technologies receive continuous updates and performance enhancements that are significant upgrades over legacy systems.

Better Decision-Making

The accuracy and accessibility of the centralized data storage improve company visibility for decision-making. Real-time updates and reporting as well as access from anywhere with an internet connection give you the most up-to-date information needed to make decisions.

Cost Savings

You can save money with cloud storage by only paying for what you use and avoiding the significant upfront expenses for software licenses, custom hardware and more. You also avoid the costs of maintenance, upgrades and security checks for servers and databases, as the cloud provider handles all IT-related aspects and expenses.

Improved Security and Compliance

Maintaining data and security compliance is another factor prompting the importance of cloud migration. The provider fulfills the responsibility of governing data security and ongoing compliance updates for certifications, audits and more. This reduces your costs in these areas and lets you focus on product delivery and great customer service.

The Risks and Challenges of Data Migration

While the importance of data migration is undeniable, there are challenges involved. One study found that 64% of the data migration projects evaluated exceeded the initial budget, and only 46% met the deadline for migration. These are the risks of migration that can impact the budget and schedule.

Complexity of Infrastructure

There are a lot of moving pieces when migrating data from several legacy platforms to a cloud-based system. Prior planning must determine the state of the data and what it needs to look like after the migration, as well as removing outdated or redundant data. The new environment also needs to reflect your expectations for workflows and dependencies. The planning stages are important and take time.

Compatibility Issues Between Old and New Systems

Migration takes data from multiple tools and integrates them into a larger platform. You may find custom or niche tools harder to integrate smoothly into the new storage location. It's key to address failures in compatibility before you convert your data.

Data Security and Privacy Concerns

While improved compliance and security are part of why data migration is important, there are concerns over data security when undertaking the migration process. There is a higher likelihood of a data breach when the transfer of information takes place if portable devices get misplaced or no encryption is used during the process.

Downtime and Service Interruption

The process of migration doesn’t happen overnight, but your company can’t afford extended downtown or a lack of access to certain services. Proper planning can help you avoid this risk, such as by:

• Migrating data during non-peak business hours
• Migrating portions of the system at a time

Trickle migration is when the legacy data set remains operational while the migration process is ongoing. While beneficial for minimizing downtime, this migration process is usually more costly and time-consuming.

Examples of Data Migration

Technology is ever-changing, and businesses must stay adaptive if they are going to remain profitable and competitive. A move beyond the outdated legacy systems holding your company back is one aspect of the importance of data migration. Legacy apps are hindering digital transformation in 79% of organizations around the country.

For many businesses, moving a legacy system like Quest Archive Manager, Enterprise Vault or EMX SourceOne to a cloud-based alternative like Microsoft 365 completely transforms their operations and success. Users of Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL, Dynamics NAV and Dynamics AX may still experience pain points with end-of-life concerns and multi-database setups, leading many to consider these legacy systems.

Cloud migration to Microsoft 365 provides a flexible solution to the wide range of needs and uses your business may have. Whether it's Exchange email, data analytics or human resource functions, there is a new technology capable of streamlining your data for ease of use and access.

Let Cloudficient Demonstrate the Importance of Data Migration

Working through the challenges of data migration might be overwhelming, potentially deterring you from upgrading your processes. Let us transform your business processes with our fast, affordable and seamless migration services.

Cloudficient believes in the importance of data migration and has the experience to help you smoothly transition from your legacy systems to the cloud-based Microsoft 365. To learn more about how to bring Cloudficient to your migration project, visit our website or contact us.

With unmatched next generation migration technology, Cloudficient is revolutionizing the way businesses retire legacy systems and transform their organization into the cloud. Our business constantly remains focused on client needs and creating product offerings that match them. We provide affordable services that are scalable, fast and seamless.

If you would like to learn more about how to bring Cloudficiency to your migration project, visit our website, or contact us.