Cloud Migration: What to Consider Before You Move

Moving to the cloud can deliver significant benefits—improved reliability, better scalability, and reduced maintenance burden. But a poorly planned migration can result in unexpected costs, extended downtime, and frustrated users. Here is what to consider before you make the move.

Assess Your Current State

Before planning where you are going, you need to understand where you are. Document your current infrastructure comprehensively:

• Inventory all applications, databases, and services
• Map dependencies between systems
• Document current performance baselines
• Identify data sensitivity and compliance requirements

This assessment often reveals forgotten systems, undocumented integrations, and technical debt that will need to be addressed during migration.

Choose the Right Migration Strategy

Not every application should migrate the same way. Common strategies include:

• Rehosting (lift and shift): Moving applications as-is to cloud infrastructure
• Replatforming: Making minor optimizations while migrating
• Refactoring: Rebuilding applications to be cloud-native
• Retiring: Decommissioning applications no longer needed
• Retaining: Keeping certain systems on-premise

The right strategy depends on each application's business value, technical complexity, and how well it fits cloud architecture.

Understand the True Costs

Cloud costs can be unpredictable if not planned carefully. Beyond the obvious compute and storage costs, consider:

• Data transfer costs, especially egress charges
• Licensing changes when moving to cloud
• Training and skill development for your team
• Migration project costs and potential consultants
• Costs of running parallel systems during transition

Build a detailed cost model and add contingency. Cloud costs often end up higher than initial estimates, especially in the first year.

Plan for Security and Compliance

Cloud providers offer robust security tools, but you are still responsible for configuring them correctly and securing your applications.

• Review your compliance requirements and how they apply to cloud
• Understand the shared responsibility model
• Plan identity and access management in the cloud environment
• Design network security and segmentation
• Establish data encryption standards for transit and rest

Develop a Migration Timeline

Migrations take longer than expected. Build a realistic timeline that accounts for:

• Testing and validation at each stage
• Training for operations staff
• Cutover windows that minimize business impact
• Rollback procedures if issues arise
• Post-migration optimization period

Consider migrating in phases, starting with less critical systems to build experience before tackling mission-critical applications.

Prepare Your Team

Cloud operations require different skills than managing on-premise infrastructure. Invest in training before the migration, not after. Your team needs to understand cloud architecture, monitoring tools, and cost management practices.

Have a Rollback Plan

Despite best planning, migrations sometimes go wrong. For each phase of your migration, document clear rollback procedures. Know how you will revert to the previous state if needed, and test those procedures before you need them.