Data centre migration is a complex process involving the movement of an organisation’s computing infrastructure from one location to another. While the process offers many benefits for businesses, such as enhanced security, cost-savings and better performance, it also comes with significant challenges and risks that must be taken into account.
Why Undergo Data Centre Migration?
Let’s start with the advantages of data centre migration:
Cost reduction
Organisations choose to undergo data centre migration to reduce costs. The costs associated with operating a data centre include power, maintenance and cooling requirements and can quickly become a revenue drain. By migrating to a new data centre, organisations can increase efficiency and, vitally, reduce operating costs.
Restructuring opportunities
Migrating to a new data centre gives you a chance to rethink your infrastructure. For example, maybe one area of the business might benefit from being placed in the cloud (where physical servers are maintained by the provider), removing the need to maintain the welfare of the server. Additionally, data centre migration could give your organisation room to manoeuvre for business decisions in the long term without being boxed in, which spreads out the risk should anything go awry.
Increased capacity
Organisations move to new data centres when they require more capacity. Data centres that reach maximum capacity start to experience problems—they are less responsive, susceptible to power outages and hardware failures and increase the risk of security breaches. For this reason, organisations migrate to larger data centres to improve data capacity and ensure critical data is accessible and secure at all times. Plus, businesses need to be able to scale operations, and with no data centre capacity, businesses have no hope of scaling upwards.
Better performance
Migrating to a new data centre results in better performance thanks to upgraded equipment, enhanced network connectivity, improved power and cooling and reduced network congestion. New data centres often feature the latest and most advanced equipment on the market, including servers, storage and networking hardware, resulting in faster processing and increased capacity for scaling upwards. Additionally, network connectivity is better, with higher bandwidths and improved latency, improving application performance and user experience for all who need to access the data centre.
But that’s not all—migrating to a new data centre allows businesses to make the most of better power and cooling systems which increase efficiency and reduce downtime that occurs with ageing data centres. Finally, data centre migration reduces irritating network congestion, leading to faster data transfers and less latency that may impact efficiency and productivity.
Meets compliance requirements
Organisations may also need to comply with various regulatory requirements relating to data centres. Examples of regulations relating to data centres in the UK include General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). Migrating to a new data centre may make meeting these requirements easier, allowing organisations to avoid fines and reputational damage.
Risks Associated With Data Centre Migration
Unfortunately, migrating to a new data centre isn’t without its challenges and risks:
Downtime
One of the biggest risks associated with data centre migration is downtime because migration requires dramatic changes to an organisation’s IT infrastructure. During migration, organisations may experience service disruption or, in some cases, full downtime where applications are not accessible. This can significantly impact day-to-day operations, which may lead to a loss of productivity and revenue. To reduce the risk associated with downtime, organisations should consider the sensitivity of the business area being migrated and schedule ways to reduce its operational impact.
Security vulnerabilities
Migrating to a new data centre may expose organisations to security risks, such as cyber-attacks, data breaches and other forms of unauthorised access to IT systems. However, migrating to new data centres decreases the likelihood of security threats, making it a worthwhile exercise when completed correctly. To reduce the chance of security vulnerabilities, conduct a security audit pre-migration, encrypt all sensitive data, use a secure network and limit access to sensitive data.
Data loss
One of the worst disasters imaginable during a data centre migration is data loss. During the migration process, it is possible that data gets lost or becomes corrupted, leading to the loss of crucial information that organisations rely on. In the worst cases, it may even have legal or regulatory implications. To reduce the chance of data loss, create a failsafe by backing up data in a secure location.
Unexpected costs
Data centre migration can be an expensive exercise, and unexpected costs can occur during the process. However, the likelihood of costs piling up is reduced significantly if organisations employ experts to undertake the data centre migration process properly. To reduce unexpected data centre migration costs, plan and budget carefully to ensure all possible costs are accounted for, conduct a cost-benefit analysis and train your staff to properly manage the new infrastructure to reduce the need for costly external support.
Undergo a Successful Data Centre Migration With Evolvere
The likelihood of a successful data centre migration, with limited downtime and data loss, is improved significantly when organisations hire experts to complete the process. At Evolvere, we have the tools, such as Service Mapper and ACI Runner, and the expertise to ensure your organisation’s data centre migration is a success. Contact us today so we can discuss your organisation’s requirements in depth.