A successful cloud migration is a business project, not just a technical one.

Stage 1: Assess

– Inventory servers, applications, data, and dependencies

– Identify what is critical, what is outdated, and what can be retired

– Review licensing, security, and compliance requirements, including data residency

Stage 2: Choose a strategy for each workload

– Rehost (“lift and shift”): move as is. Fast, but may not reduce cost.

– Replatform: make small changes to use cloud features, such as managed databases

– Refactor: redesign for the cloud. More effort, more long-term benefit.

– Replace: switch to software as a service (for example, hosted email or accounting)

– Retire: decommission what’s no longer needed

– Retain: keep on-premises for now

Stage 3: Design

Set up the foundation: identity, networking, security controls, monitoring, backups, naming standards, and cost tracking.

Stage 4: Pilot

Migrate a low-risk workload first, learn, and adjust.

Stage 5: Migrate in waves

Group related systems, test thoroughly, plan rollbacks, and schedule cutovers during low-impact times.

Stage 6: Optimize

Right-size resources, review costs, tune security, and train staff.

What drives cost

– Number and complexity of workloads

– Data volume and transfer time

– Application changes required

– Connectivity upgrades

– Licensing

– Downtime tolerance

– Ongoing cloud consumption, which continues after migration

Avoid common mistakes

– Migrating without cleaning up

– Underestimating ongoing costs

– Skipping security design

– No plan for staff training

– Treating the cloud as a cheaper data center without changing how it’s used

DBR Soft plans and manages migrations from assessment through optimization. Contact us for more information.