If you are into business, there seems to be no need to mention how data migration is essential for your business. It is not only your business, but almost every company at some point or the other has undergone the data migration process. And there is not a single reason but many.  
 

When you transfer data from one system to another, it is called data migration. It involves a change in storage and database or application. You can regard it as moving from one server to another or transferring data from one operating system to another or from a database to a database.

Regardless of what data migration process you actuate, you need to follow three necessary steps: Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL). The last two steps--Transform and Load--are followed during all migration processes.

You can now easily figure out that the data you extract has to go through many procedures for preparation, and only then it can be loaded to the target location.

There can be many reasons for you to migrate data, such as overhauling the overall system, upgrading the existing database, merging new data from a newly acquired source, or expanding the existing one.

Make sure that you adhere to a proper migration strategy, regardless of why it is a must for successful data migration.

Why Should You Migrate Data?

Data migration increases the performance and competitiveness of your system. But, bear in mind that it is not a smooth and straightforward affair. It is rather a risky and expensive affair. And it is needless to say that if you fail to do it in the right ways, you will incur money outgo and time consumption. If you do not plan it right, you will likely see problems creeping up instead of solutions to problems. As a result, you are likely to see redundancies, with the migration process failing. As such, you need to implement proper migration strategies at any cost.

How to Implement a Successful Data Migration?

To actuate a successful data migration, it will help if you follow the following steps:

Know the Data

Conduct a full audit of the data at the source to understand your data. It will also help you to avoid issues during migration. Again, do not fall behind in cleaning up the data thoroughly to eliminate the rudimentary and unnecessary data. Cleaning will make your data more compact and manageable.

Security and Conservation

During data transfer, ensure that you pass the data through controlled reliability measures, as data tend to degenerate with time.

Quality Check

Monitor the data to understand data integrity better.

Right Migration Tools

To accomplish a successful data migration, you need to implement the right software tools to fit all migration projects.

Data Migration Strategies

Appropriate strategies are crucial to accomplish a successful migration process. You can classify data migration strategies into two broad categories:

The 'Big Bang' Migration

It is considered the fastest data migration strategy. However, it has some positives and negatives. In this strategy, the entire data gets migrated over a restricted window period. Although you get the advantage of transferring your whole data in a one-go, you are also likely to encounter post-migration issues.

The 'Tickle' Migration

It is a time-consuming strategy but a popular one. This strategy involves migrating data in phases with the source and the host systems running parallelly. However, the process generates less downtime due to the continuous migration in phases.

Best Practices

Another imperative for attaining a successful data migration is the implementation of the best practices, which are:

Data Backup

Get data back up before migrating your data. If, during migration, there is any data loss or gets corrupted, you can have the original data.

Implement the Strategy

You should stick to the data migration strategy you are implementing, even if it is time-consuming or frustrating.

Test Continuously

You need to conduct tests throughout the planning, designing, execution, and maintenance phases to get a successful migration, free of any error.

Identify the Scope of Development

Data migration is transferring content from the source to the host system and improving upon the existing data. As such, you should make efforts to improve the content, wherever necessary.

Communication and Cooperation

When you migrate data, it is not only your IT team that gets involved. It impacts your entire business. Therefore, you should involve all your teams one way or the other before and during the migration process.  

Data Migration Software

You have the freedom to use two kinds of software to migrate your data. One, your IT team can code on their own, and two, you can buy a data migration tool from the market. But, coding such a tool from scratch is challenging and time-consuming, so it is better to purchase an efficient tool.

If you prefer purchasing a data migration tool, then look for the following features that dictate its efficiency:

Connectivity

Ensure that the solution supports the systems and software you use.

Scalability

Check out the data limits for the software and determine whether your data needs can exceed the future.

Security

Examine the security features of the software as you need to protect your data.

Speed

Check out the speed of the tool to figure out how quickly the data can be transferred.

Conclusion

You should not undermine the importance of data migration, as it is essential for your business's growth and development. You need to adhere to a strategic process, or else you will encounter problems rather than solutions. You should handle the entire cycle of migration carefully and cautiously so that it turns out to be an asset for your business.

You should make sure that there are proper planning and the best strategy to elicit a risk-free and cost-effective migration.