Strategies and Checklists for Successful Software Migration

9 min readApr 3, 2024

Ready to evolve and explore the intricacies of successful software migration. Let us explain, how it is done.

Each industry is undergoing digital transformation- adopting new technologies to cope with growing market demands and changing customer preferences.

But, is it possible with the existing systems and applications running in a traditional environment? Does it allow your business to scale and thrive in high-end competitive markets?

The answer is simple, NO!

You require modern platforms, tools, and technologies to power your business to provide exceptional experience. You need to break silos and migrate to better and more efficient platforms.

This is why software migration has been in demand and every industry is prioritizing it. However migrating software or applications on your own comes with challenges, and you might not be technically strong enough to manage it alone.

Thus, consult experts for software migration planning for your business, providing a strategic approach and leveraging the latest tools to achieve your goals.

So, here we are to help you with a cost-effective software migration plan with a roadmap, strategies, and tools.

What do you mean by Software Migration?

Software migration does not only mean migrating software, it includes data, settings, configurations, and credentials from the existing system to the new system. It can be a new software version, moving from traditional systems to cloud premises, or entirely new software.

Software migration is typically driven by the fact that your older or existing systems are no longer compatible with current trends. Your software is not fulfilling current customers’ demands and needs an upgrade.

Thus, 82% of organization leaders recognize that updating the system and enabling digital transformation are the primary motivations for software migration.

When Do You Need a Software Migration Plan?

Some business scenarios give you reasons to migrate your software and applications to modern systems.

You are using traditional and legacy systems.
No vendor support is available for your existing system, applications, and hardware.
Complying with the latest security regulations to safeguard the user’s identity and data.
You have a scaling business which is not possible with old systems.

With a 98% Success Rate, Our Software Engineers Ensure a Hassle-Free Transition to Modern Technologies. Explore Our Services.

Business Benefits of Software Migration

Software migration is critical for every business and offers several benefits for long-term success if handled properly.

Here are some top advantages of software migration.

Improved user experience

Migrating software or applications to its latest version typically enhances user experience as it delivers new features, functionalities, and platforms as per the changing user’s preferences. Leveraging new technologies makes software responsive, intuitive, and fast, enhancing the overall experience.

Reduced cost

Cost-cutting is one of the primary reasons for migration. This just not only includes the licensing fees but also reduces labor costs, management, and maintenance tasks. New systems ensure automation, resulting in fewer manual tasks and their associated costs.

Better performance

Your traditional systems might not be efficient enough to work on the latest hardware and require continuous updates and maintenance. But, once you migrate from an older system to a newer version, you will witness improved performance as software is optimized to run smoothly on modern hardware.

Improved security

Cyberattacks have evolved, if you are still using your traditional platform to run software then you are likely to be more prone to cyberattacks. With new systems come new security features, ensuring overall protection of your software, data, and crucial information.

Improved Return On Investment

Investing in technology and its changing trends is a solid investment, and migrating software is a way to ensure that. Adopting new technologies provides businesses with the right tools to serve long-term goals which is merely possible with outdated systems.

Scalability

Traditional systems are not scalable enough to support businesses’ growing demands and might crash frequently incurring business losses. Migrating software to the latest systems will consider your growth and its capability to scale with time. Modern platforms ensure great scalability by offering the right tools, hardware, platforms, and resources.

Increased opportunities

The first criterion of digital transformation is to adopt new technologies and bring internal change. If you are not keeping up, you will lose opportunities. By taking advantage of updated systems, businesses have more chances to explore new technologies and expand their goals.

These benefits will influence businesses to adopt new technologies and software migration to bring digital transformation.

Also read- Cloud Migration: Prepare Your Business to Scale and Evolve

Popular Software Migration Strategies

Choosing the right software migration strategy is crucial in leveraging its true benefits. Here are some tried and tested strategies that you must consider.

Rehosting (Lift and Shift)- Transfer applications as-is to a new environment without significant modifications. This approach is quick but might not fully utilize the capabilities of the new platform.
Replatforming (Lift, Tinker, and Shift)- Adapt applications to take advantage of some features of the new platform while retaining core functionalities. It balances speed and optimization.
Refactoring (Rearchitecting)- Restructure applications to leverage cloud-native features and optimize performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. It offers long-term benefits but requires significant investment and time.
Rebuilding (Full Rewrite)- Completely rebuild applications using cloud-native technologies for maximum scalability, flexibility, and efficiency. It provides the most benefits but is the most resource-intensive and time-consuming strategy.

Apart from these most popular software migration strategies, some others are-

Phased Migration- Move parts of the application gradually, reducing disruptions and allowing testing at each step.
Hybrid Model- Blend on-premises and cloud environments for flexibility and cost efficiency.
Big Bang Strategy- Move everything at once, requiring careful planning but potentially faster deployment.
Parallel Approach- Run old and new systems together for a seamless transition and easy fallback if needed.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)- Design applications as independent services for easier migration and maintenance.

How to Choose the Right Migration Strategy?

Choosing the right software migration strategy is a crucial part of software migration. You must follow a systemic approach in selecting the right strategy that complies with specific business needs and goals. Below are key factors that you must consider.

Assess Your Current Environment- we start with analyzing and assessing your current systems, functionalities, dependencies, limitations, and performance. You will get a clear picture of its strengths and weaknesses to understand the scope for improvement and identify drawbacks.
Define Goals and Priorities- we work closely with you to identify what you aim to achieve with the migration- understanding your migration goals, such as cost savings, improved performance, new features, reduced maintenance, or scalability. The well-defined goals help us choose the right migration strategy that complements your business goals.
Evaluate Risks and Constraints- our experts will evaluate your system to identify potential challenges associated with the migration, such as data security, downtime, or compatibility issues, and assess their impact. This helps us create a mitigation plan to minimize the transition risks.
Analyzing technical requirements- we thoroughly analyze technical requirements, including target infrastructure, compatibility, and integration risks. We also check whether the existing system aligns with your target system and what technical changes we might have to make during the software transition.
Consider Timing and Resources- while choosing the migration strategy, we check what time will it take and resources for successful migration, including budget, manpower, and technology. These factors help us filter down the choices and find the suitable strategy.
Understand Available Strategies- we closely discuss different migration approaches with you to understand if they match your business goals. Some common strategies are rehosting, re-platforming, refactoring, or rebuilding.
Match Strategy to Goals- then we finally choose the right strategy that best aligns with your goals, constraints, and timeline while minimizing risks.
Plan and Test Thoroughly- then our experts will plan a detailed migration plan, including testing procedures, rollback strategies, and contingency plans to ensure a smooth transition.
Monitor and Iterate- to ensure that the software and applications are running smoothly on the target system, we continuously monitor the migration process, address potential issues, and find ways to optimize performance and achieve desired outcomes.

Now that we have the right migration plan in hand, it’s time to plan our migration.

How to Create a Successful Software Migration Plan?

At OnGraph, we understand the complexities that come with software migration. We strive to offer seamless and cost-effective services that help you transition from old traditional systems to modern-age platforms, breaking siloes to drive digital transformation.

We walk you through the software migration plan, defining the steps to ensure a successful transition.

Create a plan- collaborating closely with businesses, we create a detailed migration plan that outlines the steps, timeline, resources, and budget required for the project. Define specific milestones and dependencies. We also analyze factors such as data migration strategies, system integrations, testing procedures, and contingency plans.
Build a migration team- based on the transition plan and strategy, we build a cross-functional team with the required expertise to conduct the migration. It includes IT, operations, finance, and project management teams. We then assign roles and responsibilities within the team to ensure clear communication, accountability, and collaboration throughout the project.
Migrate data- the dedicated team will conduct the migration plan to transfer data from the old system to the new system. Follow the defined procedures and protocols to ensure data integrity, consistency, and security throughout the migration process. We constantly monitor the migration closely to address any issues or errors promptly.
Test and validate migration- we thoroughly test and validate each step of the migration process before jumping to production. Test various scenarios, including data migration, software compatibility, and system performance. We check whether the migration meets the business objectives without impacting business operations.
Train employees- not only this, but we also train employees with comprehensive training and support to adapt to the new system and its functionalities. Ensure that they are familiar with the new software’s features, functionalities, and workflows.
Complete the migration- check if the data and all information have been transferred successfully while ensuring that the software and applications are working smoothly and providing the expected results. The migration must fulfill the purpose.
Evaluate the success of the migration- that’s not all, without measuring the success of the migration, we should not consider it as completed. We assess the migration based on the predefined objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Gather feedback from stakeholders, users, and the migration team to identify areas of improvement. We then use this feedback to refine processes and strategies for future migrations.

Popular Software Migration Tools

Challenges Faced During Software Migration

Software migration is crucial and comes with certain challenges that you must consider.

Migrating software might impact your system’s availability, leading to downtime. You must ensure that there will be minimal to zero downtime.
Migrating software is crucial as it exposes the system to new potential threats that must be identified before they impact crucial information. You must have advanced security practices to make the system risk-free.
Another potential challenge of migration is budget. Making advanced solutions needs integrating the latest technologies which might be costly. So you must consider budget as a factor while defining business goals for migration.
Migration is not a single-person task. Everyone within the team might not have the mindset towards adapting new systems and managing new tasks. So to foster change, everyone should adapt.

Hire OnGraph Experts for Seamless Software Migration

Software migration is not a single-day task. It might take months to years based on your business requirements. But with a strategic approach, you can ensure a seamless software migration, eliminating risk factors.

At OnGraph, we believe in digital transformation and help business transform their legacy systems into modern-age systems, catering to changing customer demand.

We have helped businesses move to new platforms, ensuring

Cost reduction up to 32%
99.9% uptime
48% increase in system capacity utilization

If you want to upgrade your existing traditional systems, we offer a seamless experience of system migration using the latest methodologies and strategies.

Connect with OnGraph to build future-proof systems.

Also read- Why You Must Hire a Digital Transformation Company?