How to Safely Upgrade Your Legacy ERP System to the Cloud
JULY 15, 2022 03:00 AM
Modernizing a legacy ERP system can be vital to stay competitive in any industry; it is especially crucial for supporting the large-scale demands of businesses operating from various geographical locations. While cloud migration has become a necessity for organizations of all sizes, many are hesitant to implement a new ERP system due to the significant upfront capital expenditure, lengthy implementation period, and security risks. However, with the proper knowledge and service provider, businesses can develop a safe and affordable migration strategy to drive their business forward.
Indicating Signs that it's Time to Replace your Legacy ERP:
- It's challenging to integrate your ERP System with new technologies to pull in relevant data
- The ERP system becomes outdated and slow as it needs to be updated manually
- There is a lack of adaption for new functionalities like frequent updates to keep up with rapidly changing technologies
- The system is unable to support business acquisitions (not able to combine data from two companies), resulting in purchasing a second instance to manage data
If your system shows any or all the signs above, it's time to start seriously considering an upgrade.
Five Approaches to Legacy ERP System Modernization
- Rehost: Also known as Lift and Shift, rehosting is all about lifting the present hosting environment and shifting it entirely towards an infrastructure in the public cloud. This strategy is best for you if you are starting your migration journey.
- Refactor: In this strategy, alterations are made to the code and architecture of your system before it is moved to Cloud. With this, the applications can milk in the benefits provided through the Cloud. For this strategy to be accomplished, advanced knowledge and fore planning are needed.
- Rearchitect: The migration is done to a pre-build application, which is of a third party and is offered by the vendor. Only data is migrated from the current application, while other things are new in the system.
- Rebuild: In this, there is optimization done to the applications while you are migrating to the Cloud.
- Replace: In this, the services and assets, which can be turned off, are identified so that the organization can focus on new services that offer greater business value.
Tips for a Successful Migration to the Cloud
There are many benefits of the cloud, one of the most important is that it will allow you to take advantage of the latest and greatest technologies. However, not all legacy systems are compatible with the cloud, and as a result, they must be migrated to the cloud. This is a process that can take months, if not years. One of the most important steps when migrating legacy systems to the cloud is to plan it out thoroughly and make sure that you have an established strategy in place before you start moving anything over. Here are a few tips on how to safely migrate your legacy system to the cloud:
1. Understand your current system
Identify what your current system is and what it does by conducting a thorough assessment of the applications, data, and infrastructure. This will help you determine if it can be migrated or not. If it cannot, then you should consider cloud computing as a possible solution. If your legacy ERP system is old, then you'll need to first upgrade it and build the appropriate data warehouse before even considering cloud computing.
2. Get to know your options
Once you have a clear understanding of the capabilities of your current ERP system, you can decide on one of the three types of migration options - an "all-in" approach, an incremental approach, or a hybrid approach, migrating to and from the cloud as appropriate.
3. Understand what is required
Before migrating data to the cloud, one of the foremost steps to consider is to check which Cloud service providers offer excellent DRT protocols and backup plans in case any of your business locations fails through a disaster. The important factors such as critical application data, legacy data, and application interoperability are the factors that will help to create a plan for the tools required during migration.
4. Compare service providers
Research and compare the relevant cloud migration services and their costs offered by different cloud providers. Examine the expected benefits concerning operational benefits, cost savings, and architectural improvements to know the actual long-term cost of your cloud migration.
5. Create a timeline for migration & define deadlines
A common question asked by companies is, "How long does an ERP implementation take after selecting it as a legacy system replacement?" This answer may vary for many companies, but the usual timeline for implementing a new cloud ERP system may take anywhere between 6 -12 months and depends on the amount of effort put into your cloud migration strategy.
6. Plan for contingencies
If your data becomes unavailable to users while performing a migration, it will risk impacting the business operations. Every migrated workload element should function in the new environment before migrating another element. Try to find a way to synchronize changes that are made to the source data while the migration is in progress.
7. Perform Regular Checks
After migrating the data, it is essential to ensure your sensitive details are optimized, secure, and retrievable. Monitor real-time changes to critical infrastructure, regularly predict workload fluctuations and assess the data's security to ensure that data works safely in the new environment.
Why Oracle ERP Cloud:
The best ERP system for your company depends upon your company's needs. That said, there are a few top players, and
Oracle Cloud is one of the environmentally conscious data center providers. With Oracle ERP on Cloud, organizations can reduce the cost and complexity of this process while maintaining the same level of data security.
Conclusion:
Cloud transformation involves a lot of intricate planning, and one size does not fit all. For a successful cloud journey, having the right
Oracle solutions partner who offers
cloud advisory services is essential to avoid disruption with a well-planned and managed implementation effort.
SMACT Works is a technology-focused systems integrator and IT/ERP consulting firm. We deliver end-to-end consulting, managed, and implementation services for Oracle Cloud Applications, IaaS & PaaS, On-Premise PeopleSoft & EBS Applications. Headquartered in Dublin, OH, we have a global presence with North America and Asia offices. We are an Oracle Gold Partner Cloud Standard, ISO 9001, and 27001 certified delivery organization serving customers with Excellence and Integrity.
