Why Cloud Migration for Small Business?

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are a crucial part of innovation and tech advancement, with startups all over the world creating the solutions that will shape tomorrow! One of the driving forces behind growing SMBs is cloud computing, with cloud adoption amongst SMB leaders being 48% and growing in 2025. With the ability to scale at a moment’s notice, cloud computing has been the go-to hosting solution for many, justifying the increase in cloud migration for small business. 

Cloud computing is not a new innovation and has proven itself to be a mainstay in innovation for years, but does this mean that all SMBs should transition to the cloud? Cloud computing is not necessarily the end all be all solution, though it is convenient and powerful for many companies looking to establish their footing. SMBs looking to transition from on premise to cloud and even from cloud to cloud may see the benefits of migration, but can overlook the challenges of migration.

Startups or SMBs looking to migrate to and from cloud should consider these points before making the jump.

7  Rs of Cloud Migration

Cloud migration is a tricky process, and rightfully so. Moving an entire application and its databases is not easy, with the migration process itself even posing a threat to an application and its data if conducted incorrectly. That being said, cloud migration has been done countless times by companies of all sizes, leading to the establishment of the 7 Rs of cloud migration.

The 7 Rs of cloud migration are the 7 most common cloud migration practices. Proven to be extremely effective and foundational for any competent cloud migration roadmap, the 7 Rs are as follows:

Rehost

Also known as ‘lift and shift’, the rehosting strategy involves redeploying workloads onto cloud instances, typically with the help of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Rehosting does not change an applications infrastructure from one cloud to another, enabling safe data and service transfers that are approachable by many companies that lack migration expertise.

Relocate

Relocating transfers servers responsible for hosting applications from an on-premise platform to a cloud version of that same platform. Companies would engage in relocation to minimize downtime and disruption, with relocation directly connecting transfer clients.

Like rehosting, relocation is a great migration strategy for companies lacking in cloud expertise; relocation is seamless and does not require intense configuration changes, moving applications with as little downtime as possible.

Retain

Retaining involves either keeping applications in their original environments or retaining the applications that aren’t migration ready yet. Perfect for applications that need to run within their existing framework, retaining does not have quite the sense of urgency as the other Rs of cloud migration, but can be crucial when migrating an application that relies on a retained app for operational reasons.

Retire

It is important to consider what is actually worth migrating, and for some companies, not all applications make the transition into a new infrastructure.

As the name suggests, retiring refers to the decommissioning or archiving of applications that are not migrated. Retirement happens for many reasons, with some of the major ones being that these applications provide no business value and that operating these applications can be costly and requires tons of maintenance. 

Repurchase 

Also known as ‘drop and shop’, repurchasing involves replacing current internal systems with an entirely new service or an updated version of that same system. Out with the old, in with the new.

For teams struggling to migrate from legacy systems, repurchasing helps transition to modern services, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cutting costs and reducing maintenance. The best part is, because a new system is simply onboarding instead of migrating current systems, cloud migration becomes expedited, reducing downtime. 

Replatform

The replatform approach sees organizations migrating their applications as normal, utilizing platform optimization capabilities. Legacy systems and applications and source code remain untouched, with replatforming adding new technology to the mix.

For organizations not looking to remove their legacy systems, replatforming is a great way to modernize while being picky and flexible. Organizations can pick and choose the cloud services they desire while hosting their applications on infrastructure that works for them.

Refactor

When companies refactor, they move their application onto a different cloud and modify its architecture, using features native to the cloud to scale and reduce costs. Despite refactoring being the most complicated migration tactic, it is also the most futureproof option, as applications will have cloud capabilities baked into their architecture.

Refactoring is not for the faint of heart, its initial costs are going to be higher than previously mentioned approaches and it will be more difficult to achieve. However, the ROI for refactoring is the best of the cloud migration strategies.

Cloud migration is certainly possible and has been done time and time again- the 7 Rs of cloud migration is proof of that. However, why should companies even consider migrating to the cloud in the first place? 

Pros and Cons of Cloud Migration

As mentioned, despite many SMBs making the switch to the cloud, cloud computing might not be for everyone. However, those who have successfully migrated to the cloud have cited strong benefits and great ROI.

Benefits of Cloud Migration

There is a reason why organizations of all sizes are moving to the cloud in hordes. For SMBs especially, building with a cloud environment can solve many scaling issues down the line while making applications flexible and ready to adapt to anything. Cloud migration benefits include:

• Escaping Cloud Vendor Lock: switching clouds removes cloud vendor lock, opening user applications to open source alternatives
• Greater Flexibility and Scalability: cloud providers handle large and random demand spikes, letting organizations adapt to workload changes while making simplifying the scaling process
• Increased Innovation: the world of cloud computing is vast, discover countless solutions and services that meet any operational need through cloud providers
• Stronger Security Measures: cloud platforms often have top-tier security features built in, with specialized tools from some of the biggest companies protecting cloud assets
• Streamlined Management: cloud platforms come with their own all-in-one management interface, letting users manage their varying resources within a single pane of glass
• Resource Efficiency: cloud providers enable efficient resource management and allocation, often with automated resource management tools at user disposal
• Data and Application Backup: oftentimes, users switch to cloud from one cloud or an on premise deployment to upgrade their data backup and recovery features
• Worldwide Compliance: perhaps one of the best reasons to migrate to the cloud is to meet global compliance requirements, which can be extremely useful especially for highly regulated industries.

All too often, startups can be enticed by special startup credit from huge cloud providers, resulting in vendor lock in and high cloud spend. By migrating from one cloud to another, startups can access enhanced scalability while keeping their options open for open source cloud tooling. 

Challenges in Cloud Migration

While strong benefits may attract first-time cloud users into making the switch, the challenges of cloud migration may deter many. The truth of the matter is, cloud migration can be risky if conducted incorrectly, even potentially jeopardizing an organization's applications and data in the process. Here are some of the biggest challenges of migrating to the cloud:

• Downtime: although some migration tactics minimize this, service downtime is unavoidable when migrating between cloud, leading to a temporary pause in operations
• High Initial Costs: cloud computing CAN have positive ROI, however, migration costs and the work involved are extremely off putting and can destroy any cloud initiatives
• Incompatible Infrastructure: when moving from one cloud to another, infrastructure that an application is hosted on might not be operable in another environment, requiring a total infrastructure overhaul
• Migrating Apps with Dependencies: some applications might be built on proprietary tech hosted only in certain cloud providers, figuring out how to remove dependencies and proprietary tech can be a nightmare when trying to ensure a secure migration process
• Organizational Adoption: moving to the cloud is one thing, having an entire team adopt new technology and platforms while funding this training is another story
• Planning: while this is not necessarily a challenge, planning the move to cloud requires strong strategy and participation from everyone in an organization
• Cloud Migration Risk: in a general sense, the action of migrating to the cloud itself can threaten user applications and data if conducted incorrectly

For startups especially, these cloud migration risks can outweigh the benefits of cloud migration. From high initial costs to even operational downtime, migrating to the cloud from either another cloud or an on-premise deployment is a difficult decision. For startups suffering from the effects of vendor lock and generally high cloud bills, or for SMBs looking to level up their business, migrating to the cloud is a no-brainer.

Why Migrate to Cloud? Cloud Migration Considerations

Applications are bound to grow, with cloud computing offering a strong solution in hosting scalable applications. That being said, do ALL applications have to be hosted within a cloud environment? Not necessarily no, here are some things organizations should ask themselves before migrating to the cloud:

• What do you hope to achieve with cloud computing?
• Does your current tech stack require special services only offered in the cloud?
• How long can your application be down? And how will this affect your business?
• Can your team learn cloud services quickly? 
• Does your current budget support cloud computing services?
• What are your business goals with regards to a migration to the cloud?

There are countless questions that organizations should be asking themselves, however, these are a great starting point before drafting a cloud migration plan.

Reaping the Benefits of Migrating to the Cloud with Lyrid

The mass migration to the cloud from SMBs and startups alike is not a coincidence; cloud computing has provided tons of benefits and opportunities for applications to scale and grow! The problem with cloud migration is that it's difficult to approach, one wrong move can disable an application or worse, wipe its data.

With Lyrid, organizations of all sizes can migrate between clouds and from on premise deployments with a peace of mind! Our engineering team is dedicated to bringing all applications and data from their original environment into the Lyrid environment as seamlessly as possible. 

Lyrid helps migrate your precious data and services from your current cloud provider or on-premise environment onto Lyrid infrastructure! With our engineering support plan, we help any organization move from monolithic development into a microservices support cloud infrastructure, offering features such as:

• Seamless database migration with minimal downtime
• Data security
• Tailored migration process
• 24/7 support
• Integration with Lyrid cloud services
• Local data centers that ensure security and compliance
• And so much more!

Looking to bring your startup or SMB to the cloud? Check out our cloud migration checklist, and when you’re ready, book a meeting with one of our cloud migration specialists!