Create Superior CX Part Two: 5 Steps to Migrate Your CMS to the Cloud
Create Superior CX Part Two: 5 Steps to Migrate Your CMS to the Cloud
In my last post, I discussed the importance of moving your CMS to the cloud as a way to improve customer experience (CX) by making it easier and faster to deliver experiences that engage, inspire and compel customers to action on any digital channel. Moving to the Cloud also provides an opportunity to transition to newer hybrid headless CMS and DXP technology. To put the rush to cloud services in perspective, according to Statista, in 2024, cloud IT infrastructure spending is expected to reach 110.5 billion U.S. dollars. Once you’ve decided to take the leap and move your CMS to the Cloud, it’s time to implement. Here are five steps you should take when migrating your CMS to the Cloud.
1. Create a Migration Team
It’s critical to have a seasoned team in place to manage the entire migration process. Select a team leader (an executive, IT leader, or business leader) who will serve as the project champion of the Cloud throughout the entire organization. Next, identify a project manager to track KPIs and serve as the motivator and guide to provide support for the entire team. To round out the team, select a solutions architect with cloud experience plus a security specialist and compliance expert.
2. Build a Project Timeline
Keeping to a schedule is particularly important when migrating to the Cloud. When you develop the timeline, be sure to pick deadlines that are realistic and make sure that you have proper staffing. As for selecting a go-live date, you can use iterative steps for a phased roll-out or a “big bang” approach with one go-live date.
3. Create a Pilot Program
Once you have a proof-of-concept in place, start testing and migrating assets in manageable increments. It helps to build consensus across the executive team if you deliver small yet tangible results to highlight progress. The cloud migration team will track technical milestones and use the data to update timelines, as well as showcase potential business outcomes.
4. Decommission Existing On-Premises Infrastructure
Once you have tested the cloud migration and are comfortable with the results, it’s time to put to rest your existing on-premises system. Complete the acceptance testing to ensure that every step along the migration has been finalized. Work with your financial department to address financial write-offs, adjust data center lease agreements or reclaiming server rooms, and perhaps selling useful hardware.
Decommissioning equipment in a hybrid deployment, where some services are kept running to support a cloud deployment, is more complex. A robust and thorough discovery and inventory phase, completed earlier, should ensure a worry-free realignment. An up-to-date and tested disaster recovery plan provides a safety net for any difficulties your organization may face.
5. Optimize, Secure and Manage Your Migrated Workloads
Once the migration is complete, it’s time to identify any opportunities to optimize the deployment. Take the necessary steps to create measurable optimization goals, which also include avoiding unnecessary resource utilization and expense. It’s also important to audit the system to ensure that security best practices are in place. Ask your Cloud CMS or DXP provider to provide convenient tools to assist in this process.
Voila! You’ve Now Implemented Your CMS Migration to the Cloud
The move to the Cloud that I’ve outlined isn’t just about saving money and reducing IT maintenance. The larger your brand’s digital footprint becomes, the more difficult it is to protect on-premises environments from attacks, maintain the servers, and launch in new regions. Moving to the cloud will enable your company to more easily scale for growth and improve security. From a business performance perspective, it will allow your company to increase agility and adjust to changing market needs for a better and more competitive customer experience.
If you want to dig deeper into the nuances of a successful CMS migration, download our 24 Point Checklist for Migrating Your CMS from On-Premises to the Cloud to learn about best practices.
Michael Gerard
Based in Boston, Michael has over 20 years of marketing and sales experience in the technology industry, with 10 of those years having been at IDC managing their CMO and Sales Advisory Practices. Michael is responsible for leading the global marketing strategy for e-Spirit.