As a business picks up the pace of digital transformation and cloud migration, cutting edge data strategy is one of the topics that should be top of mind. The journey to the cloud is an opportunity to embrace smarter data architecture, management, and governance approaches that will enable the business to accelerate data democratisation.

Empowering people with data is the crux of digital transformation. Harmonising cloud migration with modernising data strategy is thus essential for any business that wants to simplify its IT environment, gain the agility to innovate faster, and, ultimately, use data to drive automated processes and better decision-making.

Yet gaining control over data is far from simple when organisations are rapidly moving to hybrid, multi-cloud models where their information might be scattered across numerous public and private clouds as well as on-premises systems. Smarter organisations will implement robust data strategy that encompasses migration, maintenance, management and governance.

Here are some steps to guide businesses that want to accelerate cloud migration while gaining better control over their data:

1. Map and audit data

With organisations running such complex environments today, they might not have a clear view of the data in their business. An initial audit can help them understand which data they collect and create, where it is stored, when and where it is archived and destroyed, and who has access to it. Mapping these data flows is essential for planning a cloud migration and data modernisation programme.

2. Define a governance framework

Security and compliance are high on the agenda for any company that manages data, especially sensitive financial data, intellectual property or personally identifiable information. It’s important to create a cutting edge cloud-based governance structure with clear policies that ensures safe and compliant collection, processing, management and storage of data.

Governance is about defining the processes, tools, skills, and capabilities that will enable the organisation to safely migrate data to the cloud as well as to manage it wherever it is in accordance with data regulations. Such a programme will encompass roles, structures, responsibilities, policies, principles, measurements and frameworks for assured security and compliance.

3. Craft the data migration strategy

The audit and governance framework lay the foundation for a multi-cloud data strategy. Working with knowledgeable partners, an enterprise can decide where data should be stored and processed, as well as how it will be managed and secured. Business concerns and regulatory constraints will guide the decisions, in line with the data governance framework.

The goal should be to balance the trade-offs between exploiting the value of the data, and compliance, risk and security demands. A key element of getting it right is choosing the right cloud services for each application and its associated data, along with the tools needed to tie it all together and manage it. The right governance framework will simplify the choices.

4. It’s not just infrastructure

An effective cloud strategy isn’t just about infrastructure—it also affects data flows within the business. Data democratisation, data privacy, governance and cybersecurity should all be front of mind as the business accelerates digital transformation. At Nebula, we have helped many organisations to simplify cloud migration and implement smarter tools and processes.

Get in touch to learn more about how our knowledgeable team can support your digital transformation journey.