5 Steps for Pulling Off a Successful Data Migration

Is Your Company Preparing for a Large Data Migration? Remember to Include These Steps in Your Plan

In most cases, getting from Point A to Point B is pretty straightforward. Whether you are walking to the store or transporting supplies to a new location, you can refer to a map for help. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for data migration. No matter how or why your company needs to migrate its data, this can be an intimidating and complex process to tackle.

Luckily, we know a thing or two about planning a successful data migration. That’s probably why you clicked on this blog post in the first place. So, for this blog post, we’ll review:

• The basics of data migration
• 5 steps for successfully pulling off a data migration
• Advice for picking data migration tools for your company

Everything from the data migration tools you use to the strategies you follow plays a crucial part in the overall migration process. Without further ado, let’s get started!

What is Data Migration?

If your company needs to upgrade its systems or move to the cloud, it will need to perform a data migration at some point in the near future.

The concept of data migration is simple. A company may migrate data to a new warehouse or a cloud platform. But the actual process of migrating the data is a bit more complicated. Before you can even load the data into its target location, you need to properly prep it. During this step, your team needs to clean and transform the data it is planning to transfer. You may need to reformat it or combine different data sets.

So, if data migration is such a pain, why bother performing it at all? Data migration is necessary for a number of reasons. A company might perform data migration because it needs to:

• Merge new data from a business acquisition
• Upgrade their current database
• Move to a new data warehouse
• Deploy a new system alongside existing applications

Different Types of Data Migration

You can break down data migration into three different types:

• Storage Migration — a process of moving data to a more modern system
• Application Migration — occurs when a company moves data to a new application
• Cloud Migration — a team transfers data to a cloud platform

Each strategy varies in terms of its time commitment and staffing needs.

5 Steps for Planning a Successful Data Migration

You have multiple strategies to follow when it comes to planning a data migration.

1. Assess the Data Being Moved

First things first, you need to learn what data your company is moving and how it fits into the target platform. You might be able to leave some data behind. On the other hand, you might find that you’re actually missing some data. To do this, we recommend performing a full audit of the data you plan to move.

2. Outline and Plan the Steps for Your Migration

Data migration is a complex process. The last thing you should do is underestimate the time and effort it will take to perform successfully. During this step, you will need to draw out a plan for the data migration project. You’ll need to look at the data you plan to migrate, its target system, any potential roadblocks, and costs.

3. Transform the Data

Once you’re finished planning the data migration process, you need to transform the data. During this preparation phase, you will clean and transform your raw data. This step is essential for fixing any errors before the migration process starts.

4. Test it Out First

Before starting the migration process, you need to break down your data into subsets and perform a test migration.

5. Perform an Audit

When the testing process is over, you should set up an audit. Performing an audit will help ensure that the migration goes smoothly and accurately.

How to Choose the Right Data Migration Tools

Investing in the right data migration tools can make a huge impact on the costs and timeline of your project.

There are hundreds of data migration tools out there that your company can use. Of course, not all tools are made the same. Some will be a better fit for your team than others. As a result, you should take some time to properly research different data migration tools on the market.

Common Types of Data Migration Tools

There are several different types of data migration tools you can choose from:

• Self-scripted — best for small, quick projects
• On-premises — in-house data migration technique best for people who want full control over the process
• Cloud-based — pay-as-you-go method that is best for companies looking to scale up

When researching them, you need to take pricing, security, scalability, and reliability into consideration. If you have a tight budget, a cloud-based migration tool might be best for your company. If you just have a small data migration to tackle, self-scripted might be the way to go.

Out of all the tasks you can perform for your company, data migration is probably the most tedious. But it’s a crucial task for helping your company improve its operational efficiency. Without properly planning your data migration, you can easily find yourself going over budget and dealing with an overwhelming process.

Is your company preparing for big data migration for 2021? Tell us how it’s going!