Cloud migration is often sold as a silver bullet for cost savings and agility. But without a solid strategy, it can quickly turn into a nightmare of spiraling costs and security gaps.
Having migrated over 50 enterprise workloads to Azure and AWS, we've compiled this essential checklist for technical leaders.
1. Pre-Migration Assessment (The 6 R's)
Before moving a single byte, audit your existing application portfolio. Categorize each app into one of the "6 R's":
- Rehost (Lift & Shift): Move "as-is" to cloud VMs. Fast, but misses cloud-native benefits.
- Replatform: Optimizations without changing core code (e.g., moving self-hosted SQL to Amazon RDS).
- Refactor: Rewriting code to use cloud-native features (Serverless, Containers). Highest ROI.
- Repurchase: Switch to SaaS (e.g., Exchange Server -> Microsoft 365).
- Retire: Turn off unused legacy apps.
- Retain: Keep on-premise (due to compliance or latency).
2. Infrastructure & Connectivity
- [ ] Bandwidth Analysis: Do you have enough uplink bandwidth to handle the data transfer? Consider AWS Direct Connect or Azure ExpressRoute for serious workloads.
- [ ] Landing Zone Setup: Define your VNet/VPC structure, naming conventions, and resource tagging strategy upfront. It's painful to fix this later.
3. Security & Compliance
- [ ] Identity Management: Integrate your on-prem Active Directory with Azure AD (Entra ID) for seamless authentication.
- [ ] Encryption: Ensure all data is encrypted at rest (managed keys) and in transit (TLS 1.2+).
- [ ] Data Sovereignty: For Libyan regulations, verify where your data will physically reside (e.g., EU datacenters vs. US).
4. Cost Optimization Strategy
The #1 shock for new cloud adopters is the bill.
- Reserved Instances: Commit to 1 or 3 years for predictable workloads to save up to 70%.
- Auto-scaling: Configure scale-out/scale-in rules so you don't pay for idle capacity at night.
- Budgets & Alerts: Set up hard billing alerts to notify you if spending spikes unexpectedly.
5. The Migration Wave Plan
Don't move everything at once.
- Pilot Phase: Move low-criticality internal apps first (e.g., Dev/Test environments).
- Wave 1: Simple, standalone web applications.
- Wave 2: Business-critical apps with complex dependencies.
- Wave 3: Legacy databases and high-volume transaction systems.
Conclusion
Cloud migration is complex, but the rewards—scalability, disaster recovery, and innovation speed—are worth it. The key is planning.
Need a partner who has done it before? Explore our Cloud Services or book a Migration Assessment Workshop with our cloud architects.