Insightful Cloud Data Migration Testing for Tool Finalization

Before finalizing a cloud data migration tool, it is best to test the waters through a pilot run or a POC. This approach helps assess the migration tool’s capabilities and know if it is the right fit for your specific business needs.

It also enables your IT team to uncover the issues that might arise during a specific scenario during the migration.

In this post, we will describe a methodical approach for cloud data migration testing through a POC before finalizing a particular data migration tool.

Conduct thorough cloud data migration testing by following the below steps in a pilot run.

1. Understand the Migration Requirements

During a POC migration, it is critical for businesses to understand the migration requirements of their company.

Having such insights is essential to ensure the tool can migrate all the necessary file features, data volume, and data types.

2. Assess the Migration Tool’s Capabilities

By assessing the migration tool’s capabilities during a POC run, organizations can determine whether it suits their migration needs and identify any limitations or gaps in its functionality.

Check out the points below on what aspects to inspect in a data migration tool during a POC run.

Data Compatibility

The first factor to consider in the cloud data migration testing phase is whether the tool can handle any kind of data you need to migrate. Understand whether it can manage the specific data volume, complexity, and format.

For example, some business scenarios might require your IT team to migrate only the source files to the destination cloud. Some cases might need you to transfer email account data, perform link migration, or transfer data from collaboration platforms like Slack to Teams.

Whatever the case, the cloud data migration testing should ensure that the migration tool can meet the particular migration needs of the business.

Technical Competency

Assess the technical competencies of the migration tool and decide whether your IT team can finalize it for performing the data migration from your company’s source cloud to the destination cloud.

Perform the cloud data migration testing by checking for the below technical capabilities:

• Migrating file features like timestamp, version history, permissions, links, comments, etc.
• Capable of seamless user account mapping.
• Source cloud-specific functionalities like migrating Box Notes or Dropbox Paper.

Security and Compliance

As part of the cloud data migration testing efforts, ensure that the migration tool can meet your business’s security standards. It is crucial to assess if the migration tool encrypts data during transit and rest and meets data compliance regulations like GDPR.

Migration Speed and Reliability

Evaluate whether the migration tool’s performance is reliable and fast. Check if it can scale up and down based on the requirements and transfer data without any downtime or errors.

Compatibility with Multiple Cloud Platforms

When choosing a migration tool, it is important to consider whether it is compatible with multiple cloud platforms. This can be especially important for organizations that are using different source cloud platforms or planning to migrate to various destination cloud platforms in the future.

For example, the migration tool must handle cloud-to-cloud migrations like Google Drive to OneDrive, Citrix to SharePoint, etc.

Delta Migration or Incremental Migration

Delta migration or incremental migration transfers only the latest data that has been added or updated since the last migration. This can be a more efficient and cost-effective way of migrating data, especially when the business has a time-sensitive project deadline.

So, when assessing a cloud data migration tool, it is vital to ensure that it is capable of executing delta or incremental migration.

3. Verify the Results and User Impact

After conducting a pilot run, it is paramount to validate the migration results. Based on this result, your IT team can identify the user impact of the migration. This step guarantees that the migrated data is precise and complete and that users can access and use it as planned.

Migration reports help validate the migration attributes and evaluate them. Hence, the cloud data migration tool should provide exhaustive reports, including status updates of the migration tasks and errors or warnings messages that may have occurred during the process.

The reports should also include key metrics like migration start and end time, data transfer rate, and data accuracy assessments. In addition, it enables companies to understand the migration results and take appropriate corrective measures as needed.

Our data migration team can assist you in coming up with a customized POC strategy. Contact us now.