Why is Data Migration critical for Modern Businesses ?

In the words of great American consultant and author Geoffrey Moore

“Without big data you are blind and deaf and in the middle of a freeway.”This clearly states that maintaining data is the call of the hour and whichever organization wants to become successful in the near future should understand this as soon as possible or else they will be left far behind.

For all the readers out there who might have or even if don’t have the idea of data migration let’s understand in very simple words – Data migration often refers to the process of transferring or moving your data from one database to another or in any other storage system or file format, etc.

It happens mainly when the organization tends to move from legacy systems to some modern data storage solutions.

As now we have got some idea about what data migration is, let’s discuss Why Data Migration is so necessary ?

First, in today’s always evolving world data migration has become more of a necessity so as to maintain competitiveness, security and efficient use of data for better results.

Below mentioned are some of the main reasons as to why data migration is so important in the current world scenario.

Enabling Digital Transformation

Data migration is very fundamental to digital transformation. As when businesses try to modernize they make advancements to their IT infrastructure by moving their databases from legacy systems to cloud based platforms. Doing this allows the businesses to invest more in cutting edge technologies like AI, ML and big data analytics which ultimately drives innovation and business outcomes.

Improving Data Access and Scalability

In today’s global and remote working world data must be accessed from anywhere and anytime in the world as most of the organizations have adopted work from home or remote work as their new work style so migrating data from legacy system to cloud platforms allows businesses to optimize the operations and giving real time data access to the employees.

Enhancing Security and Compliance

Legacy systems often come with outdated security packages without any upgrades to their security patches so they are more vulnerable to data breaches. By migrating data to more secure and compliant systems, businesses can ensure their sensitive data is protected by the latest encryptions.

Reducing Operational Costs

While maintaining the physical and rigid legacy systems to store data is more costly and not easy to expand while expanding the business. So to constantly maintain and provide it with enough space often makes large organizations redundant as they are not able to adapt to the new technologies.

Improves Performance and Efficiency

After migrating the data to more advanced cloud platforms or other systems anyone can witness the exemplary difference in the performance and efficiency of the people that are working on that data.

Even after learning all about data migration and its importance, let’s now dive into what is the data migration strategy and how to effectively achieve data migration.

Data migration is a very complex process as it involves various sub processes and can involve replacing the existing legacy databases, changing the storage systems or even transitioning to a centralized database to eradicate data silos.

Therefore it is very crucial to do this in the right way and clearly tick all the Y’s before the final migration.

Below are the factors that are required to have a well defined strategy for the complete and effective migration process-:

Data Cleansing

This refers to the process of removing unnecessary data or dummy data that might have got stored during testing or because of some errors.

Data Profiling

All data must be profiled before mapping scripts are written to identify any potential issues and also to ensure proper data handling.

Data Backup

To ensure smooth transition of data from one source to another data must be backed up from legacy systems first in case of any future issues that can arise while transferring the data. So to counter these unforeseen scenarios one must be prepared beforehand.

Testing

Before complete implementation and removing the legacy systems first one should check all the datasets that have been moved correctly and are being accessed. Even during the complete process constant testing must be done to thoroughly check all the processes.

Timeline

This should not be an ever going process instead a proper deadline or timeline must be set for discontinuing the legacy systems.

A comprehensive data migration strategy will always prevent migration failures and any other problems that can arise during the whole process and ultimately help the businesses to grow in their respective areas significantly.

Even after hearing all the benefits and knowing the complete process let’s see some famous and well known companies that have adopted this concept and their progress is known to all of us.

Netflix’s move to cloud after the 2008 database corruption which disrupted their dvd rental business for three days.
HSBC’s cloud adoption, being one of the largest financial organizations, went on a significant change to transform their complete structure to cloud based.
Adobe’s Transformation to a Cloud-Based Model, they shifted their complete software packages selling to cloud based subscriptions like creative cloud packages.

As the current rise in data modernization the data migration has been one of the latest trends in the market. Let’s look into some of the latest trends in data migration.

AI and Machine Learning driven automation

AI and ML will in future play a significant role in automating the migration process. These technologies will help in reducing the possible errors and predicting more accurate problems regarding the whole process.

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments

As the organizations constantly increase their operations they will require multiple or hybrid databases on different cloud platforms. And even for more security and backup purposes many organizations often use different cloud platforms like AWS, Google cloud platform.

Edge computing and Data migration

As there is a sudden rise in edge computing where the data processing is very close to the source(IOT devices), which in future will lead to more complex challenges and at the same time opportunities. Businesses will need to migrate data to more centralized data centers and edge locations to improve the complete flow of operations and make the whole process more efficient.

Conclusion

In today’s world where data is the actual wealth and data centers are considered as the warehouse of diamonds. Data migration and constant monitoring has become a constant and no longer an option for the organizations but even after all the advancements some more opportunities in the field will rise in near future when the process will become more complex.
At last “It’s high time to understand that data modernization and it’s techniques are the call of the hour and longer just some luxury or a choice that the businesses will have to make .”