ERP migration to the cloud: how to free up IT to innovate

Is your IT team driving innovation or just putting out infrastructure fires?

The Brazilian cloud computing market continues to expand, driven by the digitalization of companies and the need to increase data processing, storage, and analysis capacity.

But while companies plan artificial intelligence, automation, and modernization initiatives, many IT teams still need to dedicate a significant portion of their time to maintaining existing infrastructure.

Local servers require constant maintenance, updates, and monitoring. Hardware failures, capacity limitations, and difficulties with remote access can compromise the availability of systems essential to operation.

This scenario creates a gap between the ambition to innovate and the ability to execute strategic projects.

For companies that rely on an ERP system to manage critical processes, modernizing the infrastructure can be an important step in regaining efficiency and preparing the technological environment for new demands.

Why does traditional infrastructure overburden the IT team?

Local infrastructure gives companies direct control over their equipment, but it also requires resources for the acquisition, maintenance, upgrading, and protection of servers.

As operations grow, existing capacity may no longer meet business needs. Expanding the environment requires planning, investment, and time, while systems need to continue functioning.

Among the most common challenges are:

• Recurring maintenance: updates, component replacement, and fault correction.
• Capacity limitations: difficulty keeping up with the growth in user and data volume.
• Risk of downtime: physical or operational problems affecting critical systems.
• Remote access: the need to provide secure connectivity for distributed teams.
• Infrastructure costs: investments in equipment, energy, physical space, and specialized support.

When these activities take up most of the routine, there is less time left for automation projects, systems integration, data analysis, and innovation.

What changes when migrating ERP to the cloud?

Migrating to the cloud allows you to run applications and store data on an infrastructure accessed through network connections, reducing dependence on physical servers maintained exclusively by the company itself.

In the case of management systems, the change can simplify the maintenance of the environment and offer more flexibility to keep up with operational needs.

Read also: ERP migration without rewriting code: how it works

More flexibility to keep up with growth

In an on-premises infrastructure, expanding capacity may require the purchase and installation of new equipment. In cloud environments, resources can be scaled according to the contracted architecture and the company's demand.

This flexibility helps plan for growth without relying solely on hardware acquisition cycles.

More predictability in financial planning

Owning your own infrastructure can require significant initial investments, as well as recurring maintenance and upgrade costs.

In the cloud, the business model can transform some of these investments into recurring expenses, according to the resources and services contracted.

This change can make financial planning easier, although the actual savings depend on the size, consumption, contract, and migration costs.

More attention to operational continuity

The availability of an ERP system depends on several factors, including infrastructure, connectivity, configuration, redundancy, backups, and recovery procedures.

A well-dimensioned cloud environment can help structure these components, but availability and recovery levels need to be aligned with business needs and the conditions of the contracted service.

Skyone Autosky: cloud infrastructure for management systems

Skyone Autosky offers cloud infrastructure to run enterprise applications, including management systems that need to continue operating securely, efficiently, and with high availability.

The proposal aims to facilitate infrastructure modernization without necessarily requiring the company to abandon its current applications and restart the entire technological environment.

For organizations that rely on legacy ERPs and applications, this approach allows for evaluating migration by considering the characteristics of the systems, operational needs, and modernization objectives.

ERP migration without rebuilding the application

Not all modernization needs to begin with replacing the management system.

In certain scenarios, it is possible to migrate the ERP runtime environment to the cloud and preserve the existing application, provided it is compatible with the target architecture.

This alternative can reduce the need for simultaneous changes to management software and infrastructure, making the transition more aligned with business priorities.

Planning should consider technical dependencies, integrations, performance requirements, connectivity, and validation procedures before going into production.

Managed infrastructure to reduce operational burden

By using a specialized infrastructure service, the company can transfer support activities foreseen in the contracted scope to a team responsible for the environment.

This allows for a reorganization of internal IT operations, freeing up more time to focus on initiatives related to business processes, systems integration, and the strategic use of data.

The success depends on a clear definition of responsibilities between the client and the provider, including support, monitoring, security, updating, and environment recovery.

How to prepare for ERP migration to the cloud?

Migration should begin with an assessment of the current environment and the objectives the company intends to achieve.

Before defining the target architecture, it's important to answer a few questions:

1. Which systems are critical to the operation?

Map the ERP, databases, integrations, and applications that depend on the current environment. This analysis helps identify risks and define the migration order.

2. What are the performance and availability requirements?

Assess the volume of users, peak hours, expected response times, and the impact of any potential downtime.

This information guides the sizing of the infrastructure and the definition of continuity requirements.

3. How will the data be protected?

Define backup, retention, access control, and recovery policies. It is also important to establish recovery objectives that are consistent with the impact an outage could have on the business.

4. How will the migration be validated?

Plan functional, integration, performance, and access tests before going live. A transition plan should also outline responsibilities, communication, and procedures for handling any potential issues.

With these steps, migration ceases to be merely an infrastructure change and becomes part of a planned modernization strategy.

From support to innovation: the next step for IT

When the infrastructure meets the operational needs, the technology team gains more scope to work on projects with a greater impact on the business.

This can include systems integration, process automation, data quality improvement, and preparing the environment for artificial intelligence initiatives.

The cloud, by itself, does not guarantee these results. The benefit lies in combining an adequate infrastructure with a clear modernization strategy and priorities aligned with the company's objectives.

Looking to reduce infrastructure complexity and prepare your ERP to keep pace with business growth? Discover Skyone Autosky.

Written by Skyone