Small businesses are embracing cloud computing for its many benefits, such as reduced IT costs, scalability, flexibility, and business continuity, just to name a few items from a long list. However, before you contact a cloud-computing reseller, you must be aware that cloud migration is not easy. A lot of things can go wrong during the migration.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to make cloud migration as smooth and as problem-free as possible:

1. Upgrade your Internet

Cloud-based systems rely on the Internet, and if your business has a poor Internet connection, you might not get to maximize the benefits of the cloud. Moreover, if your business runs on one connection only, you risk your operations stopping entirely if that connection gets disrupted.

Before migrating to the cloud, assess your Internet provider’s speed, consistency, and reliability. If any or all of these parameters are lacking, it’s advisable to upgrade to a better Internet plan. Also, it is also a good idea to have a back-up Internet connection in case the other one goes out.

2. Determine your goals

What are your goals for migrating to the cloud? What are the critical functions that you want to migrate to the cloud first? What specific objectives do you want to accomplish during and after the migration? After identifying both your short-term and long-term goals, start looking for an infrastructure that can help you achieve them.

3. Start gradually

Cloud migration cannot be done in a single haul-over. That said, start adding the functions to your cloud infrastructure that are the most critical to your business. Some features you might want to prioritize are e-mails, a digital phone system like VoIP, collaboration applications, and cloud-based file-sharing programs.

At the same time, you must test, assess, and modify as needed to ensure that every single function you migrate to is optimized.

4. Prioritize security

With cloud migration comes new security concerns. Even if your provider has security measures in place, it is still crucial that you have your own security in place–especially if you have sensitive data that are regulated by heavy privacy laws. Before you settle on a provider, consult with your IT manager and perhaps an expert to ensure that everything is secure.

5. Involve your employees

During the planning stage, involve the leaders of every line of business. In this way, you can better understand their needs to make cloud computing beneficial for them instead of detrimental. At the same time, your LOB leaders can tell you which processes will be affected during the migration and how they can adapt to it.

Along with your business management team, the rest of your employees should be familiar with the migration and what their work will be like afterward. By doing this, the adoption of cloud computing will be much easier.

Cloud migration is a process that needs proper and individualized planning to be done successfully and with little complications as possible. In the case of small businesses, cloud migration is best done with an expert to help them make the switch efficiently and effectively.