What is Data Migration? — Types, Advantages, and Procedure

According to a report by Forbes, tremendous amounts of data are generated every single day, there are a surprising 2.5 Quintilian bytes of data generated every single day. What’s more, in the same report the writer also reveals that more than 3.7 billion humans use the internet in the present day and Around 40 thousand search activities happen on Google every single day.

Simply putting, the amount of data generated across the globe is immeasurable and it is only going to grow in the coming years. But the major question arises that how do companies continuously upgrade their hardware to suit the ever-increasing data demands without losing their data?

What is data migration?

Data migration is a process in which the mission-critical data of organizations is moved from one location to another. This process generally takes place when the business upgrades its equipment or changes its location.

Businesses or organizations as mentioned earlier generate a lot of data and all of that is mission-critical data. Any loss of data for online businesses means an interruption in the business and hence resulting in financial loss. Data migration is a handy way when it comes to upgrading equipment for businesses. Datacenter service providers offer data migration services for businesses & organizations that help them move data from one server to another without any hassle.

There are several data migration services that data centers commonly offer:

Server Migration: A server migration process is the one in which your critical data is transferred from one server to another. One of the primary reasons for a server migration is the up-gradation of equipment as the business continues to grow and so does their consumer demand.

E-mail migration: E-mail migration is the method in which a large number of emails are transferred from one email client to another client. Another term for email migration is Mailbox migration, in email migration details like contacts appointments and tasks might be transferred.

Database migration: The process allows for the easy transfer of data from different systems to databases. During the process, the user’s source database operates optimally while the crucial information is being transferred to the said destination.

Hybrid Migration: The hybrid migration process allows users to migrate on-premise mailboxes on-site. The process includes transferring the existing mailbox between exchange servers and exchange online.

Backup migration: A backup migration allows you to move all files, databases, and email backups from an old backup hosting account to the new account with easiness.

Advantages of Data Migration

Some advantages reaped by businesses from database migration include:

• The procedure ensures complete data integrity
• Reduces media & storage costs with significant enhancements in ROI
• Minimizes disturbance to daily business operations with minimum manual efforts
• Upgrades underlying applications & services while boosting efficiency & effectiveness
• Helps in the scaling of resources to meet up growing needs of business datasets

While offering several benefits to businesses, data migration also helps in building the customer base as it removes various complications that may hamper the customer-company relationship.

Steps to a Successful Data Migration

Data migration is a complex process. Since it’s more than just transferring data from one place to another, it needs the expertise of globally recognized certified consultants to successfully implement a data migration process. Here are the steps involved in the procedure:

• Development of strategies that solidify objectives
• Overall assessment and analysis of the content
• Preparation
• Classification, extraction, and categorization of the content
• Validation, staging, and checking of content
• Exportation
• Decommissioning and disposing of old systems

Database migration automates data synchronization with minimal disruptions and turmoil. It helps enterprises to meet recovery point objectives while ensuring smooth and efficient functioning.