A robust IT infrastructure is essential for the smooth functioning of every organization today, regardless of its size. However, this need for an optimized IT infrastructure is often more critical for mid-level businesses and large enterprises. This optimization requires organizations to integrate their on-premise and cloud-based IT solutions.
While a stand-alone solution may still be functional based on your organization’s size, niche, and mode of operation, you need a hybrid system to optimize it. The latter approach enables you to leverage the benefits of on-premise and cloud systems, giving you the best of two worlds. It ensures greater flexibility and scalability for your organization while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
The only hiccup with integrating your on-premise and cloud-based IT solutions is the integration itself. Successfully integrating these two environments is no walk in the park. It requires careful planning and flawless execution. Hence, seeking the help of managed IT services in Philadelphia is advisable.
Besides, you must know the implications of integrating your on-premise and cloud-based IT solutions. Here are some of the most crucial considerations you must account for before integrating your organization’s IT solutions.
Ensuring an Effective Integration Strategy
The first and foremost consideration before integrating your local and cloud-based IT solutions is formulating an effective strategy. Your integration strategy should cover all essential aspects of the process, including identifying your organization’s goals. Besides that, you must also find which applications your organization uses need to be integrated.
The integration strategy should also focus on different integration methods and create a unique plan. You may have to determine the various APIs and webhooks needed to integrate your on-premise and cloud-based solutions. Furthermore, creating a strategy enables you to understand the total cost of the integration and the time required.
The strategizing stage can also help you determine whether or not you need to use a middleware for a successful integration. You must also align the strategy you create with your business goals while ensuring the integration is technically feasible.
Data Integration and Migration
Data integration and migration is another critical aspect of integrating the local and cloud-based systems. Besides deciding the applications you must incorporate, you must also choose where to keep your data. You must categorize the data that must remain available locally and the one you need to move to the cloud.
You can take several steps or precautions to ensure a seamless transfer of your data. For instance, you must choose a migration strategy that accounts for rehosting and re-platforming. It also involves implementing data encryption to protect sensitive data and creating a practical framework for data governance.
Prioritizing Data Security
Security is one of the most crucial considerations for integrating your business’s local and cloud-based solutions. The security implications of integrating two drastically different systems are undeniable. Without proper security measures like access controls, vulnerability assessments, and data encryption, you are opening the doors to some severe security risks.
Data leaks and unauthorized access to your business’s sensitive information could lead to legal complications, including expensive lawsuits and hefty fines. For enhanced security, consider encrypting the data you transfer from your local and cloud-based system. Besides that, you can also use access control, like two-factor authentication, to protect sensitive information.
Implementing an access control system that provides data access to selected roles or personnel within your organization is also advisable. Finally, you must conduct regular vulnerability tests to ensure your system can withstand the latest cyber attacks.
Ensuring a Data Synchronization Plan
Data synchronization is as important as data security when integrating local and cloud systems. There is no benefit in having an integrated data system if the info you receive is not the data you call. It would help if you created a data synchronization plan that clearly defines the technology, frequency, method, and protocols for the data transfer.
Several situations may require your organization to sync sensitive customer data in your local and cloud systems. You can use an API for secure and sync transferred data in such cases. An expert can help you implement such capabilities in real-time or via bulk data transfer at fixed intervals. Additionally, you must maintain data synchronization to ensure seamless and consistent performance regardless of your method.
Ensuring Scalability
One of the challenges with integrating your on-premise and cloud-based systems is the significantly higher load on your servers and internal networks. It can impact the overall performance and scalability of your business organization. Hence, you must avoid this by ensuring an IT infrastructure that can handle the additional load.
Consider boosting the network bandwidth and enhancing your server capabilities to handle the increased traffic. Ensuring a scalable IT infrastructure enables your organization to grow freely without any hindrances. More importantly, it ensures your integrated system works seamlessly, providing the best performance and zero downtime.
Continuous Testing and Performance Tracking
Regularly testing and monitoring your integrated system is essential to ensure its consistent performance. Regular performance tracking and load testing should be integral to your organization’s functions. Although it is advisable to seek professional help, you can also do this internally as long as you have qualified personnel.
Accurate load testing can help ensure your IT infrastructure can handle increased traffic. However, you should not stop at load testing, as regular monitoring is also necessary to ensure effective handling of errors and slow loading. When you religiously follow this approach, you can ensure top-notch performance of your integrated system with zero downtime.
Ensuring Regulatory Compliances
Organizations must deal with specific regulatory standards depending on their industry niche. For healthcare, it is HIPAA; for customer data in the EU, it is GDPR, and so on. Non-compliance to these standards or regulations could lead to many problems, including class-action lawsuits and hefty fines. Integrating your local and cloud-based data raises several security issues, and aligning with the relevant regulatory compliances is necessary to mitigate those risks.
One way to ensure compliance is to conduct regular in-house audits and reporting. You can use the insights from these reports to implement the necessary security measures for protecting your precious data. Besides that, you can also maintain accurate audit logs or seek professional help to ensure compliance with relevant regulatory standards.