A practical checklist for migrating to the cloud

Cloud migrations succeed when they are treated as business change programmes, not just infrastructure projects. Moving servers is the easy part; the hard parts are understanding dependencies, protecting data, controlling costs and helping teams work in a new way. Use this cloud migration checklist to keep yours on track from first assessment to final decommissioning.

Why organisations migrate

Common goals include replacing ageing hardware, improving resilience, scaling with demand, enabling faster delivery and accessing managed services such as databases, analytics and AI. Being explicit about your goals matters, because they determine which migration approach fits each workload.

Phase 1: Before you migrate

Understand what you have

• Inventory applications, data stores, integrations, scheduled jobs and their owners.
• Map dependencies between systems — including the undocumented ones people rely on.
• Record current performance, usage patterns and costs to create a baseline.

Decide the approach for each workload

Agree success measures and constraints

• Define targets for cost, performance, resilience and delivery speed.
• Map compliance and data-residency requirements.
• Agree acceptable downtime for each system.

Build the landing zone

Before moving workloads, establish the foundations: account or subscription structure, identity and access management, networking, logging, monitoring, backup policies, cost controls and security guardrails. Defining these as infrastructure as code makes them repeatable and auditable.

Phase 2: During the migration

• Migrate in waves, starting with lower-risk workloads to build confidence and refine the process.
• Automate infrastructure with code so environments are reproducible and changes are reviewed.
• Rehearse cut-overs and data migrations, with tested rollback plans for each wave.
• Validate thoroughly: functionality, performance, security controls and integrations.
• Communicate schedules and changes clearly to users and stakeholders.

Data migration tips

• Measure data volumes early — transfer time is frequently underestimated.
• Plan for synchronisation between old and new environments during transition.
• Verify data integrity after migration with automated checks.

Phase 3: After go-live

• Monitor performance, errors and costs from day one.
• Right-size resources and use reservations or savings plans where usage is predictable.
• Test backups and disaster recovery regularly — not just once.
• Decommission legacy infrastructure promptly to realise savings and reduce attack surface.
• Update documentation, runbooks and on-call processes.

Security in the cloud

Cloud providers secure the underlying infrastructure, but you remain responsible for how you configure and use it. Prioritise:

• Least-privilege access and multi-factor authentication for all administrative accounts.
• Encryption of data at rest and in transit.
• Centralised logging and alerts for suspicious activity and configuration changes.
• Regular reviews of publicly exposed resources and storage permissions.

Our cybersecurity checklist covers related basics for the wider organisation.

Controlling cloud costs

• Tag resources by application, environment and owner so costs are visible.
• Set budgets and alerts.
• Switch off non-production environments outside working hours where possible.
• Review usage regularly and remove idle resources.
• Choose managed services thoughtfully — they reduce operational effort but have their own pricing models.

Common pitfalls

• Underestimating data transfer time and dependency complexity.
• Ignoring licensing implications of moving software to new infrastructure.
• Lifting and shifting everything without any optimisation, then being surprised by costs.
• Skipping the landing zone and fixing security and governance later.
• Leaving legacy systems running "just in case" indefinitely.

A short assessment upfront avoids most of these. Our cloud computing and migration team runs readiness assessments and phased migrations, and our DevOps practice sets up the automation that keeps environments healthy.

Preparing your team for the cloud

Technology changes are only half of a migration. Teams need new skills and ways of working to get the full benefit:

• Training on the chosen cloud platform, infrastructure as code and cost management.
• Clear responsibilities for security, operations and costs in the new environment.
• Updated processes for change management, incident response and access requests.
• Automation-first habits, so environments are created and changed through reviewed code rather than manual clicks.

Investing in people alongside infrastructure helps the organisation keep improving long after the migration project ends.

Designing for resilience

A migration is an opportunity to make systems more resilient than they were on-premise. Consider:

• Multiple availability zones for critical workloads, so a single data-centre issue does not cause an outage.
• Managed databases with automated backups, point-in-time recovery and failover.
• Health checks and auto-recovery so failed instances are replaced automatically.
• Documented recovery objectives — how much data you can afford to lose and how quickly each system must be restored.
• Regular recovery drills that prove the plan works in practice.

Resilience has a cost, so match the level of protection to each system's importance rather than applying the most expensive option everywhere.

Communicating with stakeholders

Users and leadership care less about servers and more about what changes for them. Share a simple migration calendar, explain any expected downtime well in advance, provide a clear contact for issues during cut-over and celebrate milestones as workloads move. Good communication turns a technical project into an organisational success.

Finally, schedule a review a few months after the last workload moves. Compare costs, performance and delivery speed with the baseline you recorded at the start, and agree the next round of optimisation work based on what you learn.

Key takeaways

• Inventory and map dependencies before choosing a migration approach per workload.
• Build a secure, automated landing zone first.
• Migrate in rehearsed waves with rollback plans.
• Monitor, optimise costs and decommission legacy systems after go-live.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a cloud migration take?

It depends on the number of systems, their complexity and the chosen approach. Phased migrations deliver early benefits while larger refactoring continues over time.

Will moving to the cloud reduce our costs?

It can, especially when combined with right-sizing, automation and decommissioning legacy infrastructure. Without optimisation, a straight lift-and-shift may cost more than expected.

Which cloud provider should we choose?

AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are all capable platforms. The right choice depends on your existing technology, skills, required services and commercial considerations.