Data Migration Best Practices for 2024

At the end of 2024, the data transfer industry will have changed significantly due to fast technological development and the immense enhancement of data. Organizations are strongly urged to transfer their information technology systems in order to improve their efficiency and creativity, along with modernization. This post highlights some of the most important practices every organization should follow when migrating their system or information, such as planning, risk analysis, and new technology adoption, allowing data migration solutions that are seamless, safe, and effective. Furthermore, we shall take a look at current data migration trends for 2024.

8 Data Migration Best Practices

Various technology companies offer different practices for organizations to follow while migrating as per their own. The different migration practices are basically designed as guidelines for companies to take before migrating, during, and after moving their systems or applications from one platform to another.

Create a methodology

Any successful data migration project relies heavily on an efficient methodology. According to the Bloor report, about 38% of data migrations exceed their estimated time or budget, leaving these projects with challenges. Practical Data Migration (PDM) is the most prominent of the other methodologies that were created by Johnny Morris. It offers a structured way to migrate and contains training and certification, thus giving you the ultimate framework for running your migration tasks.

Another effective approach is the Information Asset Inventory (IAI), which will employ a systematic procedure by organizations in order to identify, classify, and manage their information assets. This process is critical for understanding the extent of the data belonging to an organization and enables good handling of data as well as making strategic decisions concerning security, conformity with rules and regulations, or otherwise mitigating losses that may arise out of hostile actions aimed at said data.

Analyze your data migration project

The main base for any undertaking related to data movement is represented by assessments. When a migration assessment is conducted properly, organizations are able to understand everything about the transfer of data from various sites, formats, and systems. These types of evaluations play an important role in determining potential risks and opportunities, finding the existing repositories for the data or systems in question, and determining what should be moved where.

Excitingly, this phase should clarify if either an all-at-once or gradual transition should be employed. That's also when you should determine the approximate amount of money needed and the time frame, so that a project schedule can be developed early on.

Evaluating essential elements such as backup procedures, target systems, security measures, and support infrastructure is indispensable during a data migration assessment. Organizations need to think about how their cloud provider could potentially go down. Parametrix stated in its report that the major cloud service providers experienced 1,190 performance interruptions in 2022, with 492 disruptions deemed critical.

Engage stakeholders outside of the IT department

The significance of actively involving stakeholders outside of information technology during the first steps of migration is paramount. When it comes to this type of transfer process, you should consider informing all workers about its possible effect on daily functions and asking for their views as well. On numerous occasions, operational staff from other departments are instrumental in such projects. These people have first-hand knowledge that, with proper utilization, they would significantly contribute to improving data asset usage across the organization, thus making them the focal point of discussion concerning migration strategy.

Test In-Depth in a Controlled Environment

There are usually questions you could ask the providers regarding their tools, which can help improve user confidence via repeatable and user-friendly testing mechanisms. Nevertheless, such kinds of tests ought to be simplified in such a way as to reduce vast inputs by expert users, enabling easy usage as well as efficacy in the assessment system’s credibility.

Backup your valuable data before the migration process

The original data or system must remain unchanged throughout the migration process, irrespective of any significant issues concerning it. Companies must take comprehensive backups to prevent possible damages, change, or corruption and allow access to trusted copies whenever they need them.

Prioritize security throughout the process

Data migration cannot be done without the encryption of data because it anchors the safety and trustworthiness of a database as it shifts from one platform to another. Data is changed into an impenetrable coded form and can only be accessed or decoded by users who have the correct key for that specific encryption. Unauthorized access, stealing of information, and other digital threats are avoided this way.

Encryption secures data while it is being transferred from the old computer systems to the new ones in terms of transferring data; encryption at rest protects information that remains on storage devices even after migrating to a different machine at all times within a single organization’s premises. Moreover, the Tzunami Deployer solution guarantees customers’ privacy as well as safeguarding their information since it does not have direct access to customers’ information, making sure there is no way through which their sensitive information may leak, thus making the whole exercise secure against any malicious activity with regard to transferring files across platforms.

Test your migration continuously

Organizing your migration into distinct phases is wise. By breaking down the migration into smaller, more manageable segments, it becomes much easier to monitor the progress and identify any obstacles sooner. Perform in-progress testing at each stage, as this gives you a way to check whether your initial assessments and plans hold in reality with those of the migration process being undertaken. There’s nothing like a Tzunami since it has various comprehensive documents about migration, exportation, and deployment processes available to users. This guarantees them that everything was indeed migrated accurately.

Migration optimization is necessary

Your understanding is based on knowledge accumulated only until the month of October, which falls in the year 2023. Migration optimization directly enhances the productivity and efficiency of your applications and services. Small adjustments you make to your cloud structure after migrating will improve performance levels, lead to cost savings, and therefore enhance its sustainability. It also helps mitigate any potential data loss or downtime risks.

Once you migrate to SharePoint using the Tzunami migration tool, Reality Tech can help optimize your SharePoint environment. This award-winning provider specializes in SharePoint migration, deployments, intranets, workflows, and custom solutions, among others, that greatly improve efficiency, speed, and agility, among other things.

A Deep Dive into Data Migration Trends for 2024

The process of data migration remains essential for companies of all sizes. Some thrilling trends that will influence the manner in which organizations migrate their data between systems can be anticipated in 2024 :

Cloud Migration Takes Centre Stage : As the cloud offers modes of scaling up resources in terms of high availability and performance as well as lower costs than conventional methods such as on-premises storage, flexibility, and other advantages that come with it are also making it popular among businesses, hence a rise in data migration solutions by 2024, not forgetting the fact that those who want these benefits will have to switch from internal systems to platforms like SharePoint, Office 365, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), AWS, or Azure. This means even further growth for hybrid and multi-cloud approaches, making durable tools necessary for navigating intricate movements of information through various ecosystems.

Data transfer is still necessary for every company. In 2024, we expect some impressive tendencies that will guide how institutions transfer data among systems :

Cloud migration is now a main concern. The increasing prevalence of cloud computing by companies as a consequence of scalability, segregation of costs, and bargaining power is witnessed. This obviously means that there’ll be more data migration solutions towards the end of 2024. Some companies would, for instance, transfer their files from local storage to SharePoint, Office 365, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Microsoft Azure, thereby unlocking these advantages. Moreover, as hybrid and multi-cloud methodologies gain dominance, there is a need for strong instruments that can assist in orchestrating complex data transfers across different environments.

Automation : The Efficiency Engine : Manually shifting information is like trying to swim through an ocean without any floatation device. To help this situation out, there will be new automated systems in 2024 intended for simplifying such transfers. Even tasks such as extracting information from its point of origin, changing it into another form, adding it somewhere else, and verifying its accuracy can now be done by machines.

Security : A Constant Vigil : Although shifting between clouds and automation processes seems easier, security still reigns supreme. Data confidentiality and adherence will always stay on organizations’ priority lists throughout their migrations. That entails employing strong encryption methods, access regulation mechanisms, and involving localities where data could be processed by cloud service providers. Furthermore, because of contemporary digital circumstances, Microsoft, as well as SharePoint Online, lead the market with respect to safeguarding information by offering supportive parameters that cater to today’s technological demand.

In summary, the change in data migration solutions noticeable in 2024 proved that a successful planning process is of paramount significance, and this calls for evaluating all risks that might be involved as well as making use of the latest technologies. With practical data migration and information asset inventory processes being embraced by organizations, managing complicated data environments has become easier. These also reflect good practices while at the same time offering new solutions to data migration to ensure there are successes when moving forward with metadata migration and Extended ECM.

For more information about how Tzunami can assist with your data migration needs, visit https://tzunami.com/.