Ready to Move Your On-Premise ERP to Azure Cloud? Here’s How

Overnight, the way most of us conduct business has changed dramatically. There had been a steady trend toward Cloud computing, but all of a sudden and with little warning, remote working became mandatory. Restrictions are slowly lifting, but I think we all got a good taste of what it means to be prepared for times of uncertainty.

If there’s good news in the current work environment, it’s that we have the tools we need to accommodate a mobile, distributed workforce. Years ago, it would have been impossible; now it’s just a detour that many companies were already investigating. Those that view this shift as an opportunity to innovate and adapt will learn to thrive through ongoing transformation.

With significant change comes great opportunity

As a Microsoft Gold-certified partner, BroadPoint is working with many organizations to meet the challenge of supporting remote, mobile, and distributed workforces. We’ve helped many companies to migrate their on-premise ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems to Microsoft’s Azure Cloud.

Legacy applications were not built to operate efficiently for remote workers, and there was a significant risk in exposing an organization’s data outside of its on-premise firewall. With the right Cloud solution, organizations can seize this migration opportunity and ensure long-term growth and agility.

4 steps to a successful Cloud migration

BroadPoint’s offering on Microsoft Azure is a safe Cloud environment that can host any applications currently running on-site. The move to Azure Cloud could be a long-term destination or a stopgap to tide you over until your organization chooses a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution.

We recommend the following four steps for migrating your applications and workloads to the Azure Cloud:

1. Evaluate - Consult with relevant stakeholders to establish a plan for your migration. Determine priorities, assess your environment using automated cloud migration tools, and begin with applications that have few dependencies. Now you can create a business case for migration by calculating the total cost of ownership of on-premise applications vs. Azure Cloud.
2. Migrate. Before you initiate the move, determine the migration strategy you will use. Four widely employed approaches are rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, and rebuilding.

• Rehosting allows you to move your existing applications to the Azure Cloud quickly. All applications are moved as-is without code changes.
• Refactoring may involve changes to the application design but no wholesale coding change.
• Rearchitecting allows you to modify or extend your application’s codebase to scale and optimize it for the Cloud. You can modernize your app into a resilient, highly scalable, independently deployable architecture and use Azure to accelerate the process.
• Rebuilding has you rebuilding an application from scratch using cloud-native technologies. With this migration strategy, you’ll manage the apps and services you develop, and Azure will manage everything else.

3. Optimize. Now the application will be reviewed for functionality and possible improvements. Monitor costs and performance to ensure the new cloud environment is meeting the goals you set in step one—there’s still time to adapt if necessary. This is also the time to plan future actions to achieve new capabilities beyond migration.
4. Secure and manage. This fourth step is the most critical because it involves data security. Once application operations are up and running, protecting data through encryption, backup, and disaster recovery will be primary concerns. Monitoring performance also takes priority at this final stage, and with the Azure Cloud, you gain real-time data review capability.

BroadPoint delivers optimal migration benefits 

The benefits of migrating your ERP system to the Azure Cloud go beyond simply allowing you to accommodate your dispersed workforce. You’ll no longer be reliant on in-house IT resources or faced with the expense of new server hardware. You can scale your solution up or down as required by business growth and enjoy full integration with other Cloud and on-premise applications. Updates will be performed automatically and remotely so they won’t disrupt your business. Learn about BroadPoint’s award-winning application management and support services.

Are you ready to make the move to the Cloud? BroadPoint can help transition your applications and data quickly and reliably, providing secure access 24/7 from any location. Learn how certified BroadPoint professionals can support you along the way.

By BroadPoint, www.broadpoint.net