7 Data Migration Challenges and Modern Solutions for Successful Implementation

The cloud industry was growing steadily, and most experts predicted that the cloud would become the primary method of storage and computing within a few years. This transition came sooner than expected in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to shutter their brick-and-mortar locations and move online. The migration to the cloud has brought many benefits to organizations, but it has also created some challenges related to data migration.

Given the accelerated move to the cloud, organizations are still figuring out data migration challenges and solutions for successful implementation. If your organization migrates to the cloud, you should know all potential difficulties and what modern solutions are available to meet those challenges.

What is Data Migration?

The data migration process involves moving data from on-premise servers and storage mediums to a cloud service provider's infrastructure.

Data migration involves selecting, processing, encrypting, and transferring data to the cloud infrastructure architecture to suit your data and your organization's computing needs. This process may include changing data formats, upgrading software and tools, creating backups and redundancies, and archiving data.

Many challenges can arise during a data center migration, potentially jeopardizing the data's quality and security. However, for every challenge, there is also a solution. But first, let's look at the data migration challenges: 

Top seven data migration challenges

Missing Data Governance

Ideally, this is the first place to start, yet many organizations make the grave error of creating the data migration process without having data governance plans and policies. 

There is no clarity, no rules and regulation, and no guidebook that can oversee the whole migration. This lack of governance may lead to a lot of security and quality risk to the data. 

Employees don't know the standards of the data migration process. Always start with data governance policies to which everyone involved in the data migration process can adhere. 

Unknown Data Sources

One of the most significant disadvantages of a data-centric world is data overload. This data gets collected from various sources and gets stored in multiple locations. 

The challenge this throws up is identifying the various data sources because data migration is not done in one go. It is a lengthy, step-by-step procedure requiring data to be moved into the new system (cloud) in different stages to reduce risk and security concerns. 

Therefore, when the data sources are unknown, it can considerably increase the time in the migration process, not to mention the data loss risks it poses.  

Poor Data Compatibility

Most organizations moving to the cloud were using legacy storage systems and devices that store data in a particular format. But there's no guarantee that this format is compatible and functional with your new cloud storage systems. 

The format is not the only issue here. 

Database structure and different character encoding are other factors that can cause incompatibility.

This data incompatibility has emerged as the most common challenge faced during data migration. 

So, data compatibility is a significant issue you must tackle when starting the data migration process. 

Poor Teamwork

If only data migration required one person to do the transfers, things would have been smoother. However, data migration requires teams of people, some from your organization, some independent professionals, and some from your cloud service provider. 

They are all expected to work as a team. All the people involved have different fields of expertise, don't know each other, and work from separate locations. 

This diversity may cause poor teamwork. It can take some time and effort on your behalf to get the teams acquainted and into a rhythm to get the work done.  

Long-Drawn-Out Process

Even though it sounds like it, data migration is not a singular action of moving your data from one location to another. It is a lengthy process that involves many steps, procedures, and teams. 

A lot also depends on the size of your data—the larger the data and data sources, the more time the whole process takes. 

Plus, there are always chances of hindrances caused by other factors like loss or corruption of data, the speed of network connection, and the processing power of your current computer systems. 

Therefore, data migration can take up a lot of your time.  

Overtly Complex Data Structures

Likely, the data structures from your old system will not be compatible with the data structures in the new cloud system. 

You will have to solve this data structure issue through data mapping and proceed structure by structure. 

The more complex the structure is, the more time it will take. To tackle this issue in a timelier manner, you will require people who understand the data structures in the old and new systems.  

Incomplete Data

Data that is not complete is another common data migration challenge. 

During migration, you are dealing with vast amounts of data. Some of this data can be lost owing to outdated data sources incompatible with any new ones or even human error during the migration process. 

Therefore, before starting the data migration process, ensure you have a complete data set normalized and cleaned.  

Modern Solutions for Successful Data Migration Implementation

Start with Data Governance

The governance will act as a constitution and guide for the migration process. Each member involved will know the role they have to play, their level of access to data, and the tasks they have to complete in the migration process. You will not face many challenges with solid data governance policies and regulations. 

Create a Data Migration Team

Data migration is a specialist job. It would help if you had a dedicated team for data migration. Thus, creating a group of external professionals well versed in the migration procedure would be best. 

These experts must understand the nitty-gritty of the process, tackle data migration testing challenges, and understand the cloud platform. 

A dedicated team that knows the whole process and whose sole focus is this task makes things move quicker with no errors.  

Hire Data Migration Services

When you choose a cloud service provider, you can hire services and solutions for data migration. 

These people are the experts who have overseen a considerable amount of data migration events. They know what to do, what can go wrong, and what to do if something goes wrong. 

These professionals treat migration like a project and take over from you to ensure your data gets stored on the cloud securely without any loss within the stipulated period. 

More and more organizations realize how convenient it is to hire cloud service providers for data migration. It is worth the value they provide. 

How does Vaultastic make Data Migration Simple?

Vaultastic is the expert when it comes to data management and archival. The company has gained a strong reputation for its rich cloud and data services, and data migration is one of them. 

Vaultastic's data migration engine runs on Legacyflo, which automates the task of converting and moving data from any source to any target. Thus, these tools can help you migrate between systems, import large volumes of legacy data, and help you confidently complete the cloud journey.

Furthermore, they have a team of migration experts overseeing your migration to the cloud at the most competitive and affordable prices. Visit our website to know more.

Final Thoughts

Despite the challenges that come with any opportunity for improvement, there are modern solutions that can help you quickly overcome them and enjoy the benefits of the cloud. 

The cloud is also where all the innovation happens in the form of new tools, software, and technologies that can power your business to new heights. 

Therefore, staying ahead of the competition by leveraging the benefits of the cloud is crucial, as the benefits far outweigh the cloud data migration challenges stated above. 

Beat the Challenges

Migrating to a new system can be complex, but with the proper preparation, it doesn't have to be. Vaultastic offers a simple, effective, and intelligent solution for data migration that can make the process much easier. Contact us today to find out more!