In information technology (IT) terminology, a key stakeholder is any individual who participates in fulfilling the requirements of the project. This can range from executives and project leads to any team member who functions as a subject matter expert (SME) — the term “stakeholder” doesn’t necessarily indicate that the individual has specific experience or knowledge. 

The purpose of identifying key stakeholders is simple: In order to keep the project within its timeframe and budget while achieving all of the goal outcomes, you’ll need a well-defined team. Below, we’ll introduce some important considerations to keep in mind during this phase of your project.

Datarecovery.com provides extensive resources for data migration. Whether you’re migrating to a new data tape format or moving mission-critical systems to the cloud, our team can help you accomplish your goals — while reducing the workload for all key stakeholders. 

To learn more, call 1-800-237-4200 to speak with a data migration expert or submit a request online.

Related: Data Migration to the Cloud: Best Practices

Key Stakeholders in Data Migration

Your list of key stakeholders will help you establish roles and responsibilities. When unexpected issues occur — and during a data migration project, issues inevitably occur — you’ll need to track the resolution of those issues. If you haven’t established the responsibilities of each team member, remediation can become a bottleneck. 

Some common key stakeholders for data migration projects include:

Executive Stakeholders

A CTO or other executive typically approves the plan for data migration and provides the necessary resources for a successful outcome. 

Data migration may affect nearly every aspect of an enterprise’s core IT systems, and as such, multiple executive stakeholders may be involved. However, most methodologies recommend assigning the ultimate accountability of the project to a single executive sponsor — otherwise, the scope of the project may grow considerably.

Project Leads and Project Coordinators

The project lead is chiefly accountable for the success of the project. In some cases, the executive stakeholder is also the project lead — but in most enterprises, the project lead will be a manager with defined authorities. The lead is often responsible for monitoring milestones and maintaining control of the scope of the project.

Project leads are often accommodated by project coordinators. Coordinators may use management methodologies to keep the data migration project moving forward. The project coordinator usually has fewer authorities than the project lead, but is responsible for escalating risks and identifying key issues that could affect timelines. 

Technical Leads

Technical leads are accountable for the success of specific technical areas of the database migration. For example, a technical lead may be assigned to ensuring that archives remain accessible and available after the migration occurs. 

Generally, technical leads may assign work to individuals and allocate resources as needed to accomplish their goal objectives. 

Many enterprises assign crucial data migration steps to individual technical leads — which can be a costly mistake. For instance, if a single team member is responsible for ensuring the availability of archived data post-migration, the outcome of the entire project rests on a single person’s shoulders. Working with a data migration partner can help your enterprise allocate workloads effectively, improving outcomes substantially.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

SMEs have established skills in a given area. Web developers, programmers, business analysts, and other staff members may function as SMEs in the course of a data migration project. 

Generally, every department who will be affected by data migration should be represented in your SME group. This may include people from outside your IT department who can identify pain points that occur post-migration (for example, a customer service manager might be able to identify database migration problems that wouldn’t be immediately apparent to a sysadmin).

Data Migration Success Requires Comprehensive Planning

The first step of data migration is the accurate identification of key stakeholders. Of course, this isn’t the only important step: You’ll also need to identify the target data, establish the scope of the project, locate dependencies within datasets, analyze potential bottlenecks, and monitor metrics from the outset of the project.

Needless to say, data migration is an enormous undertaking. Many enterprises put off migration until it’s absolutely necessary — then rush through the process, which can have a disastrous impact on data availability and overall performance.

We strongly recommend working with an experienced data partner from the first stages of data migration. A qualified partner can limit the necessary resources for a successful migration, simplifying the project substantially. 

At Datarecovery.com, we have decades of experience with database migration, tape archive conversion, and media recovery. We leverage this experience to provide our clients with peace of mind, and by working closely with your IT team, we can ensure the integrity of your data throughout the process. 

Our team can help enterprises address the challenges of at-scale migration, which may include:

• Converting data for older datasets
• Mapping archival databases to newer systems
• Recovering data from physically damaged storage media
• Maintaining compliance with relevant security and privacy regulations

Learn more by calling us at 1-800-237-4200 or submit a request with our online case form.

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Veritas Backup Exec  is a unified data backup and recovery solution for small to midsize businesses. The software enables organizations to protect critical data across multiple systems, and thanks to integrated cloud connectors for all major cloud vendors, Veritas has become an industry standard for establishing redundant backups and archives while maintaining compliance with security & privacy regulations.

However, over time, storage media changes and evolves. By migrating data from one medium to another (for instance, from data tape archives to the cloud), businesses can reduce the cost of key systems while improving data availability. Organizations may also need to upgrade from an earlier version of Veritas to enjoy enhanced performance and security.

Below, we’ll address some of the unique challenges of Veritas backup migration. For more guidance, contact Datarecovery.com at 1-800-237-4200 to discuss your organization’s needs.

All Veritas backup migration projects need an established scope.

With all forms of data migration, appropriate planning is critical. Most pain points can be preemptively addressed, but all too often, data migration is rolled into a larger project — or administrators have too much confidence in the capabilities of their database migration solutions.

Some tips to keep in mind:

Data migration requires time.

Even if you’re planning to complete the process in a single operation (the “big bang” approach to data migration), you’ll need enough runway to plan for unexpected events such as data conversion issues, damaged physical storage media, and the complex nature of unstructured data.

Veritas provides data migration tools to make the process easier — namely, Veritas Backup Exec Migration Assistant. Even so, automation has limitations. No software can repair a damaged tape set or instantly bring decades of archives into a new format.

Data migration requires logical sequencing.

For most organizations, the goal is to improve data availability. If your business needs to retain archives for compliance, migrating to a new solution will enable access to more powerful search tools — essential during eDiscovery and other legal processes — but if compliance requirements have expired or you have a large amount of redundant data, migrating every archive could be an unnecessary expense.

Additionally, most Veritas data migration projects will necessarily require some degree of prioritization. In general, a phase-based approach is better than a “big bang” migration. Even if your business completes the primary phase of data migration in a single operation, you’ll likely focus on highly usable data — archives might need to remain on legacy systems for some time.

Establishing your priorities will help you make logical decisions during the planning phase. Think logically about your migration project. What datasets are essential for avoiding downtime? What data provides the most value to the business?

Data migration requires robust benchmarking and backups.

Key stakeholders will expect to see the results of the Veritas backup migration project — after all, data migration is a major undertaking with significant expenses. If you’re not able to demonstrate improvements, you’ll have trouble making the case for future investments.

Accurate benchmarking is essential. Track the performance of your current systems (including legacy archival media) prior to the first phase of the project. While you may also run the old system in parallel with the new system, some processes completed during migration may affect the results.

Finally, remember that the most important steps in a successful data migration are backup and verification. Datarecovery.com frequently receives cases from enterprises that encountered errors during migration that resulted in data loss — potentially leading to data retention compliance violations.

Common sources of data loss during migration include:

• Data formats are inaccurately mapped from the old system to the new system
• Data is mistakenly marked as redundant or obsolete
• Archives include data in unexpected formats
• Physical media damage (for instance, to data tapes) prevents the migration of certain datasets
• Data security settings are not accurately translated, resulting in potential exposure to unauthorized users

No two data migration projects are identical, but in every case, security and integrity are extremely important considerations. Working with a third-party migration expert can help you avoid common mistakes.

Datarecovery.com can help your business manage Veritas Backup migration.

As leaders in eDiscovery, data migration, data recovery, and data loss prevention, Datarecovery.com offers expert services for Veritas backup migration. Regardless of the complexity of your project, we’re here to help.

Contact us at 1-800-237-4200 to learn more or click here to submit a request online.

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Odds are, we’ve all had one of those pesky backup reminders pop up on our phones, our tablets, and our laptops at one point or another. Whether you dismiss them immediately or actually take the time to back up your device, you’re familiar with the concept: Backups make a copy of the important information stored on your tech and save that information — whether to a hard drive or to the cloud — in case something happens to your device and you need to restore what was lost.

Backups are regarded as one of the only ways to truly protect your devices and your information, but this raises the question: What if something happens to the backup? Then what? A cloud-to-cloud backup is one possible answer.

What Exactly Is the Cloud?

To explain how cloud-to-cloud backups work, it’s necessary to have a firm grasp on what the cloud actually is. Now, of course, you likely know by now that the cloud is a way to store information — it’s not as novel a concept as it once was when it first began to gain widespread popularity with the advent of Dropbox and iCloud in the late 2000s and early 2010s, respectively. But where exactly is the cloud?

While your information isn’t stored on your device with cloud storage, it has to be stored somewhere. Typically this is in logical pools, a phrase that means a collection of various physical volumes that span multiple servers and even multiple locations owned by the hosting company. Whether it be Apple, Amazon, Google, Dropbox, or some other host entirely, these cloud storage companies are the ones dedicated to keeping your data readily available and easily accessible while also freeing up space on your device.

How Does Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Work?

Jumping off of this definition, a cloud-to-cloud backup is the process of backing up your cloud backup. Think of it like the reserve parachute to your main parachute, or the airbag to your seatbelt: it’s an extra precaution that is not a bad idea to take when dealing with your important personal data. All it takes to initiate a cloud-to-cloud backup is simply saving the information stored on one cloud storage host onto another for additional safekeeping.

The backup created during a cloud-to-cloud backup is essentially the third copy of the information: the first being the original, primary copy, the second being the initial backup, and the third being that backup of the backup. While it might seem redundant to some, cloud-to-cloud backups are popular for several reasons. For one, it provides some extra peace of mind that your information will be safe even if something happens to your backup. It also eliminates the need to invest in physical storage hardware by backing up your cloud backup to another cloud backup. They’re also popular for the simple fact that there are plenty of hosts to choose from and they’re all accessible to anyone with an internet connection, making them remarkably convenient.

Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Compared to Other Backups

While these reasons are certainly valid, it’s worth taking a look at how cloud-to-cloud backups stack up against other forms of backups (namely physical hard drives).

Physical forms of backups like external hard drives have the upper hand over cloud-to-cloud in a couple major ways: Because they don’t require an internet connection in order to work, these hard drives are much safer from any unwanted snooping or hacking and are still able to be accessed even if you’re without a connection. However, they pale in comparison to cloud storage when you think about how susceptible they are to physical damage and deterioration over time.

Cloud-to-cloud backups, on the other hand, have the advantage in several different ways. In a worst case scenario, they’re not going to be a cause for concern should you suddenly have to evacuate your home or office — everything’s stored off-site and away from you over the internet, so there’s nothing you need to grab in a rush. This fact even comes in handy in much less serious scenarios, like when you’re in a rush to get out the door in the morning and forget to grab something. Cloud-to-cloud backups are accessible from any device that connects to the internet, so it’s not like you need your own personal device to get into it. They also boast much more intricate forms of encryption, which hard drives might not come equipped with.

The Bottom Line: You Can Never Be Too Safe

On that note, it’s also a good idea to occasionally check in on your backups to make sure that everything truly is backed up and up-to-date. Many people will backup once, then forget to check those backups as the years go on, and then find themselves without years’ worth of vital info. To combat this, you can often enable automatic backups to the cloud — and, in the case of cloud-to-cloud backups, enable automatic backups from one cloud host to the second cloud host.

Looking at both cloud-to-cloud backups and other forms of backups, it’s obvious that the one true storage solution is probably a mix of both online and physical storage. After all, when it comes to your information and your data, you can truly never be too safe or have too many backups. Should you ever end up in a scenario where you need to access your backups, it wouldn’t hurt to have the option to plug in your hard drive or log into your cloud storage host of choice — whatever is the easiest in the moment. What ultimately matters most is that your info is backed up in the first place. Cloud-to-cloud is just one of many reliable ways to do so.

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