The cloud migration market is moving toward a maturation of its strategies, with more businesses reflecting on the importance and challenges of such a necessary investment.
As artificial intelligence becomes more established, requiring scalable and flexible infrastructure to train and run its complex models, and as society demands increasingly agile business operations, the cloud becomes an essential alternative to enable these processes.
After all, with this technology, organizations can grow without sacrificing control over their operations or the security of their assets.
In response to this context, Gartner forecasts that the cloud services segment will reach $679 billion by 2024, representing a 20.4% growth compared to the same period the previous year.
However, although industry estimates are positive, it is important that cloud migration does not occur hastily just to align the business with current technological trends. This is because poorly adapted plans to the reality of a business almost always lead to frustrations and a potential data repatriation phenomenon.
In other words, it is essential to understand the specifics of cloud technology, moving away from the idea that successful migration only requires a simple replication of the physical environment to the online space.
Cloud migration goes beyond this scenario, involving technical, business, and opportunity knowledge. In this article, we will show you how to achieve this through the following roadmap:
- What are the cloud migration trends for the coming years?
- Why is cloud migration essential for my business?
- Benefits of Cloud Migration
- What are the types of cloud migration?
- How to start your cloud migration now
Happy reading!
What are the cloud migration trends for the coming years?
Cloud migration is one of the most cost-effective alternatives for organizations looking to upgrade their IT infrastructure without compromising on security and control over their business.
In general, migrating to the cloud is an investment in alleviating the burden on physical data centers, enabling more democratic data management, and aligning operations with new regulations and digital milestones.
The cloud refers to a virtual environment accessible via the internet, where data and services can be stored, managed, and processed in a sort of "outsourcing" of resources.
It’s like renting a storage space in a high-security building instead of keeping all your important files in drawers within your office.
In this example, you wouldn’t need to worry about physical space, maintenance, or security, as everything would be managed by specialists who ensure that your data is always available and protected.
In other words, by migrating to the cloud, a company centralizes its information and operations in a remote location (provider), accessible from any device connected to the network, without relying on large physical spaces to store and protect its physical servers.
Thus, as data storage and company operations transition to the cloud environment, there is the possibility of strengthening anywhere access, as well as improved backup security for important content.
Migrating to the cloud, therefore, means moving an organization's databases to providers that are "in the cloud," in the virtual environment.
This way, physical servers are relieved, allowing them to be used for less expensive storage or for functions that truly make sense for the company's operations.
According to the definition by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing can also be defined as:
"Cloud computing is a model that enables ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction with the service provider."
In this sense, cloud migration enables a more accurate budget planning for both Capex and Opex models.
This means that companies using cloud computing can eliminate the need for acquisition (Capex), associated maintenance and upgrade costs, recurring training efforts, and technology evolution monitoring, replacing them with pay-as-you-go (Opex) payments for computing environments tailored to their business needs.
In a dynamic scenario where the need for rapid adaptation is constant and Artificial Intelligence stands out as a transformative trend, cloud migration becomes essential.
Here are some cloud migration trends for the coming years:
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For all these predictions to be supported by reality, it is essential that "lift & shift" migrations — those that involve simply moving applications and data to the cloud without major adjustments or refactoring—give way to well-structured projects. These projects should view the cloud as a specific and exclusive opportunity to enhance business potential.
Why is cloud migration essential for my business?
As we discussed earlier, migrating to the cloud is more than just a technological trend. It is a strategic necessity for companies looking to sustain their long-term results.
Cloud migration offers a range of benefits, from reducing operational costs to enabling continuous innovation.
Benefits of Cloud Migration
1. Scalability and Flexibility
The ability to quickly scale operations is crucial for businesses, especially those that experience traffic spikes, such as e-commerce sites during seasonal promotions.
This is where one of the biggest advantages of cloud resources comes into play: the ability to increase or decrease data storage and processing capacity according to demand.
In other words, by migrating to the cloud, you no longer need to invest in a super robust physical infrastructure or worry about limitations during periods of high demand. The cloud is flexible, allowing this adjustment to be made easily, even in the face of unpredictability.
2. Cost Reduction (Capex vs. Opex)
By migrating to the cloud, businesses reduce investments in physical infrastructure (Capex) and shift to a pay-as-you-go model based on usage (Opex).
This results in more efficient financial management, as payments are made according to consumption.
Additionally, costs related to hardware maintenance and upgrades are eliminated, as the cloud provider takes responsibility for these tasks.
3. Security and Compliance
Cloud providers such as AWS, Oracle, Azure, and Google Cloud continuously invest in security to protect critical data.
Advanced encryption, next-generation firewalls, and strict security protocols are just a few of the processes these companies implement to make the cloud an increasingly secure environment.
Additionally, many of these platforms are already compliant with security regulations, allowing businesses to meet legal requirements without additional effort.
In fact, compliance and alignment with digital regulations are among the top challenges faced by modern companies. The cloud is an ally in overcoming these obstacles, offering robust solutions for security, privacy, and compliance.
4. Remote Access and Mobility
With the cloud, data and applications can be accessed from anywhere, using devices with an internet connection.
In practice, this feature makes remote work easier and enhances collaboration among geographically distributed teams.
In a scenario where hybrid work is becoming increasingly common, this flexibility is an attractive competitive advantage.
5. Accelerated Innovation
Migrating to the cloud also provides access to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
This enables companies to develop innovative solutions more quickly, without the need for investment in specialized hardware.
The ability to innovate can be the key differentiator for capturing new markets.
How Cloud Migration Works in Practice
Cloud migration can involve different strategies, such as:
- Rehosting (Lift & Shift): A direct transfer of applications to the cloud without significant changes.
- Replatforming: Adjusting components for optimization in the cloud environment without rewriting the code.
- Refactoring: A complete modification of applications to take full advantage of cloud benefits, among other examples.
Regardless of the chosen model, the core concept of cloud migration is the "transfer" of a database from a physical environment to an online one.
With Oracle technology, for example, this process can occur in a few main ways:
- Online methods, which allow applications to remain operational during migration. In this scenario, after an initial loading of older data, more recent data is captured in real-time and then applied incrementally to the target database. After this process, at an ideal moment, there is a final switch of assets, and the target (or migrated) database becomes the operational one.
- Offline methods, where applications are not operational during the process, and the database is migrated through a specific operation.
Between these two possibilities, there is also a distinction between physical and logical migration models, which can be applied based on your company's goals. See the differences in the table below:
| Oracle Physical Method | Oracle Logical Method |
| Based on fault-tolerant recovery resources with minimal to zero downtime. | Based on more flexible export and import resources. |
| Faster. | More flexible. |
| Requires that the source and target databases share identical characteristics, such as versions or character sets. | Allows configuration and version differences between the source and target databases as the data is migrated. |
| Recovery Manager tools and Oracle Data Guard. | Oracle Data Pump tools and Oracle GoldenGate. |
| Reads and restores data by storage blocks, retaining gaps within the database files. | Records are written contiguously, eliminating gaps. |
| Efficient for backup/recovery speed. | Contiguous space to minimize random reads. |
Thus, in addition to understanding the different cloud migration models, the success of this investment within a company requires the execution of a detailed plan that includes mapping the specific needs of the business, evaluating existing assets, analyzing applications, and categorizing data.
This assessment is crucial to determine the most appropriate migration model to maximize efficiency, as well as reduce costs and risks during the transition.
Defining the migration strategy in alignment with the company’s objectives not only facilitates integration into the cloud environment but also enhances the return on investment. After all, migrating to the cloud also means gaining access to a variety of cloud infrastructure solutions, such as:
- Processing
- Storage
- Networking and Connectivity
- Security, Identity, and Compliance
- Databases
- Analytics, Big Data, and Data Science
- Application Development
- DevOps
- Emerging Technologies (AI, Blockchain, Digital Assistant)
How to Migrate to the Cloud Now
Is your business ready to take this next step towards the future? Prime DB Solutions is here to help!
With expertise in Oracle and Microsoft certified migration solutions, our team can guide you through the entire process—from strategic planning to implementation—ensuring your business takes full advantage of the benefits the cloud has to offer.
Through advanced technologies like Oracle Autonomous Database, Oracle Analytics Cloud, and Fortinet Firewalls, PrimeDB is equipped to help your business modernize processes and increase competitiveness.
