Introduction
Cloud migration is one of the most significant infrastructure decisions an enterprise can make. Done well, it unlocks scalability, cost flexibility, and access to cloud-native capabilities. Done poorly, it creates new operational risks, unexpected costs, and disruption to business-critical services.
This article outlines the assessment, migration, and governance framework we use to help enterprises move workloads to the cloud with confidence and minimal disruption.
The Migration Framework
- Discovery & Assessment: inventory workloads, dependencies, and migration complexity
- Migration Strategy: apply the 6R model (Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Refactor, Retire, Retain)
- Wave Planning: sequence migrations to minimise risk and enable rollback
- Landing Zone: establish governance, security, and networking foundations before migrating
Cloud migration is not a destination — it is the starting point for continuous modernisation.
Key Takeaways
- A thorough discovery phase prevents expensive surprises mid-migration
- Not every workload belongs in the cloud — retiring and retaining are valid strategies
- Landing Zone design is the most leveraged investment in a cloud migration programme
- Post-migration optimisation is where the real cost savings are realised
Conclusion
Successful cloud migration requires equal parts technical rigour and change management. The enterprises that approach migration as a programme — with clear governance, phased waves, and a post-migration optimisation commitment — consistently outperform those that treat it as a one-time infrastructure project.