As the cloud continues to gain prominence in enterprise IT, more and more companies are facing the difficult task of figuring out how to get there. That can be especially nerve-wracking when dealing with your organization’s most mission-critical data and databases (such as Oracle, SQL Server, and NoSQL). A challenge that most organizations face is that the cloud simply doesn’t make sense (yet) for all data loads, and it’s rare that a company is able to move all of its data to the cloud in one fell swoop. For that reason, the hybrid cloud is becoming the new normal.

What many organizations don’t understand, however, is that the hybrid cloud should be a strategic choice, not an accidental circumstance. Implementing this new cloud architecture with purpose is of the utmost importance as missteps at this critical stage could haunt you and your IT department for a long time if not handled properly.

As the saying goes (more or less), the journey is just as important as the destination. Organizations can set the tone of their journey to the cloud from the beginning with a well-planned cloud migration strategy for their databases. Here are some points to remember as you shape your organization’s migration roadmap:

• Assess the Situation - Setting realistic goals from the start may seem like common sense, but it’s a step we frequently see overlooked that can have ongoing repercussions with budget, IT resources, and the list goes on and on. And preparation needs to go beyond having a plan. Performing a thorough assessment of your existing on-premise databases their data can help you get ahead of any existing issues and avoid carrying them with you to the cloud.

• Be Realistic - The personalization that is required when implementing a hybrid cloud solution likely means a time-intensive process, and that may not be feasible for all companies from a cost or personnel perspective, particularly in the case of small businesses.

• Don’t Rush Into Anything - With the speed of business, everyone wants just about everything done yesterday, but rushing into or through an integration can end horribly (outages, latency issues, etc.). It can be tempting to migrate all of your data at once to simply “get it over with.” Don’t. Even if you’ve followed best practices to a T, there’s always a chance that something has been missed, and if you upload all at once, you’ll never know otherwise, until you find that corrupted data down the road. Budget your time realistically from the start and make sure to allow for ample time to run test loads.

• Practice Makes Perfect - It’s rare to get something perfect on the first try, but when you’re handling your company’s most vital data you can’t afford to make careless mistakes. That’s why validating and testing your migration process is absolutely necessary.

• Have the Right Players in Place - There’s an app for just about everything these days and the world of enterprise data management is no different. That can make complicated processes much simpler, yes, but it can also result in a false sense of expertise if your team is relying too heavily on the tools possibly without even realizing it. That’s why having someone on your team—whether that’s in-house IT or the help of a remote DBA or managed service provider—that truly understands the inner workings of your databases is absolutely necessary.

Whether you’re taking your first steps into the cloud or tightening an existing hybrid setup, it’s a large task and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Ultimately you’ll need to determine what the right solution is for you and what combination of clouds and IT will allow you to operate most effectively at the lowest cost. Learn more about the hybrid cloud and insights on shaping a hybrid cloud strategy that’s right for your company in this complimentary eBook:

Or download this webinar recording on Database Management for Hybrid Cloud.