The key to a successful cloud migration is careful consideration and planning. The first stage of the journey is businesses’ defining their cloud migration strategy, deciding on a vendor and knowing what compliance frameworks the business needs to adhere to.
The 6Rs of Cloud Migration
As part of the strategy, it’s essential to review all applications and identify which migration option best suits each one. This is known as the Six Rs (6Rs) of cloud migration – the six potential courses of action for each application.
1 Rehost
This is the classic “lift and shift” approach of redeploying an application within the cloud. It is how many applications are approached as it often delivers ROI faster, but it only works if the application is suitable for cloud hosting in the first place.
2 Refactor aka Rearchitect
This is where the application is reimagined to add features, improve availability or performance or make it more scalable – all of which might be largely impossible on-premise.
This is often more time-consuming and expensive, but if the business objectives require it, it can also be the most beneficial.
3 Revise aka Re-platform
This is a middle ground between Rehost and Refactor. The application is moved to the cloud, then altered and modernized so it meets commercial objectives better, leaving the core nature of the application unchanged.
4 Replace aka Repurchase
This is where your in-house applications are replaced with SaaS tools with similar – often greater – functionality.
This option creates the least technical demands but does limit your ability to customize, and ongoing use and deep reliance will create vendor lock-in.
The 6Rs are based on Gartner’s original 5Rs of Cloud Migration, published in 2011, which also included “Rebuild”.
This is when the original application is dropped and a new application is developed from scratch on the new cloud environment. This gives businesses total freedom to build exactly what they need. However, the cost to maintain and hire the right skill set is often too high for most businesses.
Due to its rarity as a practical option, AWS therefore later rejected this option and replaced it with the two below – Retire and Retain.
5 Retire
Often, during the planning process, it becomes clear that there are applications that are no longer useful and can be retired. .This creates huge savings in both cost and resource to add to the migration business case.
6 Retain
The final option is to keep the application where it is. You may feel that some applications are best delivered from on-premise and do not need to be, or even cannot be, replaced for alternative versions.
Interested in migrating to the cloud?
Our team of experts will guide you through the most appropriate deployment of cloud technology for your business. We’ll design a bespoke cloud strategy for your organization, ensuring your security and accessibility needs are met plus any data privacy obligations. The team will also select the most suitable platform and ensure a quick and smooth loud migration.
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