Moving Your Data to the Cloud? Read This First

According to Gartner, 75% of all databases will have been deployed or migrated to a cloud platform by this year, with only five percent ever considered for a return to on-premises infrastructure.

Moving data to the cloud allows companies to access, store, and query expansive datasets quickly and cost-effectively. Data scientists see this as an opportunity to combine internal PII and financial data with external third-party datasets in the cloud to build new models for customer behavior. These insights will help build more effective marketing campaigns, identify areas of improvement for customer services, and streamline operations.

But this shift to the cloud poses two vital questions: Is this personal and sensitive data secure once it’s on the cloud? And can it be kept safe during the migration process?

Analytics leaders must figure out how to navigate and answer these questions with confidence and to the satisfaction of information security, privacy, and compliance teams. With the help of process improvements and modern data access tools, sensitive data can be managed securely during the migration process and once stored on the cloud.

See also: Visibility into Costs Critical for Cloud Migration Success

The Highs of Migrating Your Data

Large enterprises mainly turn to the cloud for flexibility and reduced operations costs, while smaller, high-growth companies want scalability and faster insights. Whether moving your data to a public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud environment, key benefits include:

Speed and flexibility: Seventy-one percent (71%) of companies migrate for speed improvements and 63% for greater flexibility. Teams can get data queries returned faster with less latency.

Scalability: When companies go through an enormous period of growth, they need a solution that will scale accordingly and provide enough storage for the future. Moving data allows high-growth companies to remain agile without significant investment.

Enhanced collaboration: Storing data on the cloud enables data sharing, version control, and easier backups regardless of where your team is located. Teams can be confident that data is always up to date.

Time and cost savings: Migrating data means there are no costly data centers or on-site servers to set up, maintain or replace. IT teams no longer have to spend countless hours backing up and maintaining these data centers. Moving data to the cloud frees up these vital resources so they can focus on the day-to-day running of the business and doing what they do best – innovating.

Better insights: Companies can access and analyze proprietary data along with external third-party datasets in the cloud to power BI, analytics, and machine learning projects and build more effective digital experiences and marketing campaigns.

Read the rest of this article on RTInsights.