When Is Data Migration Required

Big data is the lifeblood of any modern-day business. Most business processes including decision making require the use of data. Therefore, every business eventually finds itself with loads of data.  At some point in the lifetime of an organization, it becomes necessary to carry out data migration. But how do you know that it’s time for data migration?

This post seeks to answer the question, “when is data migration required?” We will dig deeper into what data migration entails, and how to tell that data migration is due.

Let’s jump in.

What Is Data Migration?

Data migration is the process of transferring data from one storage system, format, or application to another. Although the data migration process may seem easy on paper, it is a rather complicated task that requires a lot of planning.

Typically, data migration involves quality testing, creating backups, and validating results. The process of data migration is only considered complete when the old environment, system, or database is shut down or discarded.

Now that you know what data migration is all about, let's answer the main question of today's post: when is data migration required?

When Is Data Migration Required?

Most businesses are hesitant about changing from one system to another. However, using an outdated data storage system only holds your business back and costs you time and money. So how do you know that it's time to do a data migration?

Here are a few telltale signs:

You Have Limited Access to Your Data or Analytics

As an organization, you store massive amounts of data about your business operations, employees, clients, and more. You need this data for day-to-day functions to run smoothly.  

If you are using an outdated data storage system, you might not get access to vital data when you need it.  Not being able to use data effectively can harm your business. For instance, you might find that your processes are delayed, which might cause customers to look to your competitors for similar products and services.

When you don’t have proper access to your business data, your company is unable to make data-driven decisions, therefore losing time and money.

If you realize that you are having difficulties accessing data, it's time to move your data to a newer, more efficient system. This way, your team will have easy access to analytics, and they can make efficient decisions that are in line with your business goals.

You Have Recently Gone Through a Merger or Acquisition

If your company has recently merged with another company, you need to consolidate, migrate and manage the data correctly. Data migration after a merger and acquisition helps you create a workable and sustainable structure for the new company as all the information is authoritative, streamlined, and efficient.

Merging data from the two companies involved will also make it easy to make changes among the teams, update brand positioning, maintain customer service levels, and prove that the merger has a return on investment.

Also, the two companies that have recently merged might be using different and incompatible data storage systems. This may lead to inconsistency and fragmentation of data. Which will inevitably affect business processes. Data migration will help to ensure that the data is uniform.

Data migration and integration after a merger or acquisition also helps you to comply with regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR.

You Have Excessive TCO

TCO refers to the Total Cost of Ownership. It is the amount your company spends on operating, managing, and updating your data systems. This is an ongoing cost that includes maintenance costs and infrastructure management.

If your company is spending too much money and time on data analytics, data management, or other data-related tasks, it might be a sign that you need to migrate your data to a new system. By migrating your data to a solution that is customized for your specific business needs, you will save more time, reduce TCO and improve your business operations in general.

You Have Outgrown Your Storage System Performance

As your organization grows, so does its data. A storage system that was once able to hold all of your data might be unable to keep up with the demands of today’s business. 

If your business has outgrown its storage system performance, you might notice that the performance of the system is slowing down due to an increase in traffic and workloads. You might also notice that the system is unable to meet some of your business needs because some applications have changed their needs over time.

 For instance, if users were previously accessing applications via email clients but now prefer webmail interfaces because they are easier and faster on mobile devices, you might need to migrate your data to a new system that offers more bandwidth to cater to increased demand at peak hours.

You Are Consolidating Your IT Infrastructure

Consolidation is the process of moving all your IT systems such as servers to one location, so they are all connected to one network. Consolidating your IT infrastructure gives you more control over the time spent on each structure. Consolidation also makes it easy to manage your IT infrastructure without the hindrance of physical distance or connectivity issues.

As you migrate your IT infrastructure, you will also have to migrate your data with them.

You Are at Risk of Using Inaccurate Data

Whether your business has used inaccurate data in the recent past and caused you to suffer serious consequences or you suspect that you might not be using the right data in your business processes, it’s time to migrate to a new system.

Multiple data sources come into your business every day. You need to have quality systems in place to help you gather that data, evaluate it, and ensure it is accurate. If your current system is unable to do this, you risk using inaccurate data in your processes.

You need a new solution that will help you add important parameters such as logic to your incoming data, centralize the data and create a single source of truth.

Having a single source of truth ensures you can provide the most accurate outgoing information that will help your company make data-driven decisions.

You Need to Move to A Cloud-Based System

There are many reasons why you might want to upgrade to a cloud-based data storage platform. For starters, storing data in the cloud is safer than most on-premise systems. Data stored on the cloud is also easy to access, if your employees are working remotely, you want to store data in a place where everyone can access the data no matter where they are and what time of the day they need it.

Additionally, using a cloud storage solution is usually cheaper, especially in the beginning as you don’t have to pay for software licenses, and you don’t need to buy much hardware upfront.

If you have decided to change from storing data on-premises to using a cloud-based solution, then you must migrate your existing data to the new platform.

Why Is Data Migration Important?

We have already looked at likely scenarios that suggest it's time to invest in data migration. If you spot any of the signs we have discussed so far, you must create a data migration strategy and invest in data migration software, as it could be the difference between your business moving forward or getting stuck in the same place and losing valuable customers.

Data migration is important to your business for reasons such as:

Reduced costs- Using outdated technologies can your business a lot in maintenance fees and trying to force newer systems to integrate with the new ones. Upgrading to a new system will help you save costs, hardware, and labor. 

Greater collaboration- Migrating your data to a new location or system with fewer silos makes it easier for different departments to work better together, as everyone has clear visibility as to what's happening across the business.

Boost in productivity- When your teams can find the data they need easily, they are more likely to make timely decisions and do their jobs on time. Having all your data in a single efficient system makes it easier to access and use. It also leads to lesser interactions. All these factors contribute to increased productivity.

Improved ability to scale resources- With new data storage applications that are created for your specific needs, it becomes easier to scale the systems as your business grows, this saves time and resources as you won’t have to buy new systems every time your business expands, this is especially the case with cloud storage systems.

Final Word

Data migration is an inevitable process for any business that wants to keep making informed decisions and stay competitive. If you have spotted any of the signs we've discussed above, it’s time to draw up a data migration strategy, and invest in a data migration testing tool to help migrate your data from your legacy system to your new one. Having a proper strategy and doing thorough testing of new and old data to see how it fits in your new system will be vital to data migration success.