What is a Cloud ‘Lift and Shift’?
Everyone is doing it; moving infrastructure and applications to the Cloud has become the new norm for businesses looking for exponential growth while reaping considerable benefits.
Different methodologies are available to do this; some involve slowly transitioning applications and infrastructure to the Cloud, including the integration of new applications or rebuilding current ones to conform to this new norm.
A more efficient method to achieve this is through the Lift and Shift approach.
The Lift and Shift method ensures that with proper planning and evaluation of your current infrastructure, and the one made available by your Cloud provider, your infrastructure can be moved exactly as it is on your premises to this Cloud provider with little to no impact on the availability and business continuity.
There are additional benefits to consider when using this method, such as:
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Reduction in cost of infrastructures, such as network devices, servers, storage, and backups.
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Reevaluation of infrastructure to reduce excess use of resources, saving you from additional expenses in your budget.
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Cloud providers are compliant with the most common compliance standards, such as SOX or HIPAA.
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Easier access for your business to your applications includes connectivity, load balancing, and business continuity that could be affected otherwise with an on-prem deployment.
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No additional heavy lifting is required, such as refactoring code, rethinking your infrastructure, or retraining end-users and IT employees
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Continuous backups and data storage, creating effective redundancy that allows for rapid recovery during an incident
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Opening the possibility of growth exactly when you need it at a fraction of the cost
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The possibility of future integrations with the services from your Cloud provider (e.g.: Azure AD or Office365 instead of on-prem Active Directories or Exchange Servers)
Other essential items to consider are the following:
The benefits are apparent, but an IT Department will need an individual or group to perform the maintenance and required tasks through the Cloud provider interface.
In that sense, if the department does not have the knowledge or have doubts, the leverage of a partner to assist or perform this task directly can be incredibly beneficial to ensure that the process and continuity of the Cloud environment are achieved successfully.
Do you have questions or doubts about the Lift and Shift approach? Are you looking to move your on-prem environment to the Cloud and save money, time, and effort? Contact us through the provided method below, and we will contact you to assist you on this matter.