7 Best Practices to Ensure Data Integrity During Cloud Migration

The cloud has rapidly become one of the best hosts for organizations to store sensitive information. However, transferring data comes with several risks that businesses cannot ignore.

Information technology (IT) teams must approach cloud migrations carefully to ensure optimal data integrity and security. These seven best practices will ensure that the information remains of the highest quality from start to finish.

1.   Assess Data Quality

It is every business’s longing to be data-driven. However, this feat requires precision, consistency, reliability and completeness. A 2023 study showed that 40% of over 300 IT professionals encounter 11 to 100 bad information incidents monthly, of which 65% said it delays processes. Poor data quality is also expensive, costing companies about $12.9 million on average and leading to faulty decision-making.

Before migrating information to the cloud, IT teams should thoroughly assess quality by analyzing its totality, validity and structure. They should identify duplicate information, missing values and configuration errors before implementing data cleansing to correct the problem. This step is critical for diminishing risk and maximizing cloud investments.

2.   Select the Best Migration Strategy

The ideal data migration method aligns with a company’s goals, ensuring minimal downtime and a simple transition for optimal efficiency. The process may interrupt workflows, data networks and system performance, so IT managers must confirm they have the appropriate resources to mitigate the impacts.

The more complex an organization’s data is, the more thorough a migration it will require. A migration may also temporarily cease business operations, which companies must prepare for.

3.   Implement Data Validation

Data checks do not end at quality assessments. IT teams should validate and corroborate information at every migration stage to ensure continuous accuracy and completeness. Experts often use several approaches, including the following:

• Full-document comparison: A time-consuming but effective process of comparing each document in the source database to the information in the target database

• Hash validation: Renders a hash value for the source and target database collections and compares the information

• Document count: Counts the records in the source and target databases, but does not compare the actual content

• Data size: Compares the total byte size of the document collections in the source and target databases, but does not guarantee accuracy

• Random spot checks: Random selection and comparison of document subsets in the source and target databases, but does not deliver absolute certainty

• Statistical sampling: Utilizes statistical methods to analyze sample size and data integrity

4.   Utilize Secure Transfer Methods

Migrating data to the cloud is risky without proper security. Technicians should encrypt sensitive information to protect it from unauthorized access and data breaches during transfer. Common encryption methods include Transport Layer Security and Secure Sockets Layer. Other security measures include HTTPS, SFTP and VPNs.

IT managers must regularly update security protocols and encryption keys to ensure a tamperproof framework. Monitoring systems for suspicious behavior and limiting who can access the information during and after the migration are also critical.

5.   Develop a Comprehensive Backup and Recovery Plan

Anything can happen during a cloud migration, even with comprehensive preparation and security. Before it happens, IT managers should create a backup and recovery plan. Data backups should occur incrementally during the migration process, with a final one performed after completing the transfer.

It is important to secure the backups in a separate, guarded location. Technicians should also test these recovery features frequently to ensure they work. A strong recovery plan will reduce data failure and downtime if something happens to the system, including errors or corruption.

6.   Establish Governance and Compliance Rules

Data governance and compliance help maintain the integrity of information during cloud migrations. One expert recommends that organizations create a central data governance team to establish guidelines and educate others. Bimonthly board meetings with senior management will ensure everyone understands the current state of cloud migration and areas for improvement.

IT managers should define specific access controls, responsibilities and protocols for data management during the migration process. For instance, they must ensure data quality benchmarks meet regulatory requirements and that information security remains a top priority. The policies should guarantee proper information handling, lowering the risk of mistakes and other violations.

7.   Continuously Monitor and Optimize Data Migration

Maintaining data integrity during cloud migration is not a one-off situation. IT specialists must continuously monitor information using real-time dashboards and notifications. These systems identify and document errors, count transfer rates and detect breaches that may compromise the data. Automated tools can also help regularly compare source and target databases to uncover discrepancies.

IT technicians can stay ahead of issues by establishing margin-of-error parameters. This will alert them to problems early, giving them enough time to investigate and resolve anomalies and reduce data loss.

Putting Data Integrity First During Cloud Migration

Although cloud hosts benefit organizations, it is critical not to underestimate the importance of data integrity when transferring information. IT managers should carefully maintain the highest quality information and guarantee protection when taking these measures to gain superior efficiency.

##

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zac writes for ReHack as the Features Editor and covers cybersecurity, IT, and business tech. His work has been featured on publications like AllBusiness, CyberTalk, and BLR. For more of his writing, follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.