Moving to the cloud is a business decision as much as a technical one. A practical, low-risk path from assessment to optimisation.
The cloud promises flexibility, resilience and faster innovation. But a migration without a plan can lead to higher costs, unexpected downtime and security gaps. A structured approach avoids those surprises.
1. Assess what you have
Start with an inventory of applications, databases, integrations and dependencies. Understand which systems are business-critical, how they perform today and what they cost to run.
2. Choose the right strategy for each workload
Not everything should move the same way. Common options include:
- Rehost — move as-is for a quick win.
- Replatform — make small changes to use managed services.
- Refactor — redesign for cloud-native scalability.
- Retire or replace — remove what is no longer needed or switch to SaaS.
3. Design the landing zone
Before moving workloads, set up a secure foundation: accounts, networking, identity and access management, logging and cost controls.
4. Migrate in waves
Begin with less critical systems to build experience, then move more important workloads. Test thoroughly, keep rollback plans ready and communicate clearly with users.
5. Optimise continuously
Migration is the beginning, not the end. Right-size resources, automate scaling, use reserved capacity where it makes sense and review costs regularly.
Security throughout
Encrypt data, apply least-privilege access, monitor activity and back up regularly. Cloud providers secure the infrastructure; securing your applications and data remains your responsibility.
The result
A well-planned migration delivers more than new infrastructure. It enables faster releases, better resilience and a platform ready for analytics, AI and future growth.
