Migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS) is more than just relocating workloads—it’s an opportunity to optimize your computing environment, enhance efficiency, and maximize your IT investment. However, realizing these benefits requires thoughtful planning and expert management.
Many businesses encounter challenges during cloud migration, from navigating complex infrastructures to ensuring cost-effective scalability. These hurdles can often feel overwhelming. That’s where the right partner makes all the difference.
At VAST, we understand the intricacies of AWS migration. With deep technical expertise and a long-standing strategic partnership with AWS, we guide businesses through a seamless transition—helping them avoid pitfalls and unlock the full potential of the cloud. By partnering with VAST, you gain a trusted advisor committed to making your AWS journey smooth, strategic, and successful.
Let’s explore the key factors that drive a successful AWS migration.
Define Clear Business Objectives
Organizations must have clear business objectives that cloud migration addresses. Migrating to keep up with the competition can be an expensive mistake. The move should align with organizational goals and give the company measurable value. Our cloud experts can help you refine your objectives for a successful migration.
The following are examples of realistic business objectives to justify cloud migration.
- Cost reduction – Companies can eliminate capital expenditures for hardware and data centers by paying for cloud services based on usage.
- Access to innovative technology – AWS offers companies cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced analytics.
- Enhance operational efficiency – IT operations can be streamlined with automated and optimized processes available on AWS.
- Improve scalability – AWS provides virtually limitless scalability to address modern businesses’ evolving and fluctuating needs and minimize unnecessary spending.
- Support collaboration and remote work – Cloud-based platforms and applications are accessible from anywhere to promote team collaboration and support a mobile workforce.
- Strengthen resilience and business continuity posture – AWS cloud infrastructures enhance resilience by enabling disaster recovery in different geographic regions.
Perform a Cloud Readiness Assessment
The next key to a successful migration is a cloud readiness assessment. VAST’s discovery and assessment service thoroughly explains your existing infrastructure that will migrate to the cloud. The information gathered is essential for determining the most effective cloud delivery models and resources to meet your business objectives.
Our comprehensive assessment includes:
- Conducting infrastructure and application discovery to identify workloads in the environment;
- Performing cloud-fit profiling of target inventory;
- Gathering performance data and metrics to establish migration goals;
- Identifying the suitability of specific assets for cloud migration;
- Determining the best delivery model (PaaS, IaaS, SaaS) for migrated assets;
- Deciding which assets can immediately migrate and which require remediation;
- Generating software reports to assist with cloud readiness;
- Performing a financial analysis of cloud TCO versus private infrastructure.
Right-Size the Architecture and Cost Optimization
Clear business objectives and a comprehensive cloud readiness assessment provide the foundation for successful cloud migration. Our cloud experts utilize this knowledge to right-size the cloud architecture and optimize costs. We make sure the AWS architecture addresses your objectives.
Businesses can optimize costs using multiple tactics, including:
- Leveraging different AWS storage tiers to minimize expenses;
- Right-sizing resources to avoid over or under-provisioning;
- Auto-scaling to adjust resources to meet current demands automatically;
- Taking advantage of reserved instances or long-term saving plans.
Robust Security and Compliance
Organizations must maintain a robust security and compliance posture in the cloud. VAST’s security lifecycle review will identify vulnerabilities that must be addressed in the cloud. AWS has strong cybersecurity solutions and tools to safeguard your company’s valuable systems and data.
AWS infrastructure supports compliance with many regulatory standards, such as HIPAA and PCI-DSS. Our experts will help identify the specific solutions your company needs to maintain compliance.
Phased Migration Approach
Companies should adopt a phased approach to ensure a smooth and successful migration. It makes sense to begin the cloud journey with small steps rather than leaping into the unknown and taking unnecessary risks. Each phase should build on the success of the previous steps.
Benefits of a phased approach include:
- Reducing risks and identifying potential issues early in the process;
- Increasing control over the migration process;
- Minimizing downtime and business disruptions by not moving everything at the same time;
- Managing costs by modifying timelines and budgets for specific migration phases;
- Promoting stakeholder confidence by demonstrating successful early phases.
A typical migration includes the following phases.
- The assessment and planning phase defines business objectives, assesses the current environment, and determines the most effective migration path.
- Teams should perform a test migration to move a small and non-essential workload to the cloud, testing and validating the process.
- The core migration moves the organization’s key applications and services to the cloud. This phase may include re-platforming applications to leverage the cloud environment and optimize resources.
- The next phase involves migrating all remaining infrastructure to the cloud. Once the migration is complete, companies can sunset legacy systems. Teams must test and validate backup and disaster recovery solutions to protect data resources.
Cloud Automation and Governance
Decision-makers should evaluate workloads for automation and data governance activities after migration. These processes align nicely with a phased migration approach, as teams can gain experience with automation capabilities during test migration. Automation should be targeted to improve operational efficiency and reduce mistakes.
VAST View is our comprehensive cloud management solution that provides real-time logging, monitoring, and tracking of cloud resources. The tool lets companies assess cloud vulnerabilities, deploy governance policies to protect valuable resources, and trigger alerts when incidents occur.
Cloud Success Begins with Cloud Discovery and Assessment
VAST’s managed public cloud services go beyond migration—we help your business optimize, secure, and continuously improve its cloud environment. By comparing performance data, refining infrastructure, and leveraging tools like VAST View, we ensure your cloud delivers on its promises: peak performance, robust security, and cost efficiency.
Why is this so important? Studies show that cost savings from cloud optimization can reach up to 30%, yet over 70% of companies struggle with unexpected cloud costs due to poor management and inefficiencies. Security is another critical concern—83% of organizations report cloud misconfigurations as a leading cause of data breaches. With proper planning and continuous oversight, businesses can avoid these pitfalls and fully leverage AWS’s capabilities.
Take the first step toward a smarter AWS migration by engaging VAST for a Discovery and Assessment. Our experts will evaluate your current environment, identify opportunities for improvement, and design a strategy tailored to your business needs. Ready to make the most of your cloud investment? Schedule your Discovery and Assessment today and download our guide to learn more.
