FIVE Rs OF CLOUD MIGRATION STRATEGY

FIVE Rs OF CLOUD MIGRATION STRATEGY

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Hey guys, welcome to my second article. If you are coming from twitter, welcome to your third class. If this is your first time here, you can check my Twitter page for the first two parts, @NazaGrace. Let’s dive right into learning.

As I said in the last class, Cloud Migration is the process of moving digital business operation into cloud. It is also the moving from one cloud to another and the benefits of Cloud Migration are Higher Scalability, Increased Flexibility, Improved Performance and Reduced Costs. In this article, I will be talking about the five Rs of Cloud Migration Strategy. The “Five Rs” is a framework that helps organizations define their cloud migration strategy. These Rs stand for Rehost, Refactor, Revise, Rebuild, and Replace. Let’s discuss what each of these cloud migration strategies are:

  • Rehost (lift and shift): Rehosting involves migrating existing applications or systems to the cloud infrastructure without making significant changes to their architecture or functionality. It is essentially a “lift and shift” approach. This strategy is useful when you want to quickly migrate applications to the cloud without investing much effort in rearchitecting or rewriting the code. It can provide benefits such as scalability, reliability, and reduced infrastructure management. The expected business outcome of Rehost are; No capital expenditure to get started, Free up space in the data center and Return on Investment (ROI) in cloud can be achieved rapidly.

  • Refactor (replatform): Refactoring, or replatforming, involves making some changes to the existing application’s architecture or codebase to optimize it for the cloud environment. This could include adopting cloud-native services, modernizing the application’s architecture, and leveraging platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings. Refactoring allows you to take advantage of cloud-specific capabilities and improve performance, scalability, and maintenance of your application. The expected business outcomes are; Updates can be rolled out quickly and Greater cloud efficiency can be achieved.

  • Revise (rearchitect): Rearchitecting involves making significant changes to the application’s architecture and codebase to fully leverage cloud services and take advantage of the cloud-native approach. This strategy involves breaking down monolithic applications into microservices, redesigning components, and utilizing cloud-specific technologies such as serverless computing, containers, and managed services. Rearchitecting enables greater scalability, flexibility, and resilience in the cloud. The expected business outcomes are; New cloud capabilities can be adopted easily and Different technologies stacks can be adopted easily.

  • Rebuild: Rebuilding refers to rewriting the application from scratch using cloud-native technologies and services. It involves discarding the existing codebase and starting anew, taking full advantage of the cloud platform’s capabilities. This strategy is suitable when the existing application is outdated, tightly coupled, or difficult to maintain. Rebuilding allows for the adoption of modern development practices, scalability, and the use of the latest cloud services. The expected business outcomes are; It helps drive innovation as R&D teams can use different cloud services to develop the products, Applications can be built faster, providing more time for testing and release activities and Operational cost can be reduced compared to the cost of on-premise infrastructure.

  • Replace: The final strategy is to replace the existing application with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Instead of migrating the existing application, you select an alternative solution that meets your requirements and integrates well with other systems. This approach is suitable when the current application doesn’t align with business needs or when more efficient solutions are readily available in the market. The expected business outcomes are; Standardize and follow industry best practices, Business process-driven approaches can be adopted quickly improving collaboration in the team and Allow more investments into application that create a difference or provide competitive advantages so you can achieve greater Return on Investment (ROI).

It’s important to note that organizations may choose different migration strategies for different applications or systems based on factors such as complexity, criticality, cost, and timeline. The right migration strategy depends on a thorough analysis of your existing applications, business requirements, and goals.

By understanding the Five Rs of cloud migration strategy, you can make informed decisions about how to approach migrating your applications to the cloud and maximize the benefits of cloud computing.