7 Steps for a Cloud Migration Assessment: Are You Ready?

Gartner reports over 85% of enterprises will have most of their workloads in the cloud this year. The numbers suggest this seismic shift in technology adoption — unheard of just a decade ago — is more than a trend. Moving applications to the cloud is a necessary transformation for any organization trying to remain competitive.

The problem? Our cloud migration projects often encounter significant challenges, leading to notable failure rates. Another study revealed that 83% of data migration projects either fail or exceed their budgets and schedules.

With all the promises of flexibility, scalability and cost savings, the path to the cloud isn’t a slam dunk, even for experienced IT teams. The first step toward lessening the risk of a project overrun or outright failure is to conduct a thorough cloud migration assessment. Without it, businesses risk inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities and unmet expectations of the end-users you’re trying to serve.

Red River’s seven steps to cloud migration will help your organization determine whether it’s truly ready to embrace the cloud and reap its rewards.

Cloud Migration Assessment Step 1: Lead with Business Objectives

Before embarking on cloud migration, defining clear business objectives lays the baseline for the entire effort, helping to cement the roadmap in the “why” that your “A players” will need to stay the course. Enterprise organizations understand cloud migration is a key initiative requiring much more than technical execution; it needs alignment with your organization’s broader goals and strategies to succeed. Without clear objectives, businesses risk overspending, failed end-user adoption and other significant disruptions to your business.

What will your cloud assessment uncover? According to Flexera’s 2024 State of the Cloud Report, 82% of enterprises cite cost optimization as a top priority, while 62% prioritize improved performance and scalability. No matter your goal, defining these objectives early sets a strong foundation for a successful migration.

Aligning Objectives with Strategy

A successful cloud migration doesn’t happen in isolation. It must align with your overall business strategy. For example, if your organization hopes to expand into global markets, choose a cloud platform with a strong international data center presence. Similarly, if compliance is a priority in your industry, selecting a provider that adheres to HIPAA, GDPR or similar regulations will guide your migration choices.

Incorporating Interdepartmental Objectives and Organizational Goals

Cloud migration involves more than overarching organizational goals; it must also address the unique objectives of individual departments. For example:

• The IT department may prioritize enhanced security measures and infrastructure modernization.
• The finance team might focus on reducing costs and enabling more predictable budgeting.
• Marketing and sales teams could require tools that improve customer engagement and scalability for digital campaigns.

Enterprises must engage stakeholders from various departments early in the process to effectively incorporate interdepartmental and organizational objectives. Representatives from IT, finance, operations and other critical teams should be included to identify their specific needs and priorities.

But how can organizations move forward from this point? Developing a unified framework across sometimes competing strategies is a process that balances departmental objectives with the company’s broader goals. For example, IT’s need for enhanced scalability should align with the finance department’s focus on controlling costs. A cohesive approach ensures that the migration plan supports individual departments while advancing the organization’s overarching strategic objectives.

Finally, establish shared key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. Metrics such as improved application performance, reduced downtime and increased customer satisfaction can provide a clear picture of the cloud migration’s progress and impact.

Step 2: Assess Your Current IT Environment

We’ve established that you can’t plan your journey to the cloud without understanding where you’re starting from. The second step guiding your cloud migration should be a comprehensive assessment of your existing IT environment. There is simply no better way to identify potential roadblocks before the migration.

Infrastructure

Start by conducting a detailed inventory of your hardware, software and network architecture. Identify physical servers, virtual machines, storage devices and networking components. Pay special attention to their age, performance and scalability limitations. For example, older hardware may not support modern virtualization or containerization technologies required for cloud integration.

Assess virtualization layers like VMware or Hyper-V, as these environments often serve as a bridge to cloud infrastructure. Identify any virtual workloads and evaluate how well they align with cloud-native environments. Additionally, evaluate your network architecture, including bandwidth, latency and connectivity to ensure your existing setup can support increased cloud traffic.

Application Dependencies

Mapping application dependencies is one of the most complex parts of your cloud migration. Applications rarely operate in isolation; they often rely on interconnected databases, APIs and middleware. Use dependency mapping tools such as Dynatrace or AppDynamics to create a clear picture of how applications interact.

Identify latency-sensitive workloads that may face challenges in a distributed cloud environment. Watch for legacy systems dependent on specific on-premises configurations that are not easily replicable in the cloud. Addressing these dependencies ahead of time reduces the risk of performance bottlenecks and downtime during your migration.

Compliance and Security

Compliance and security are non-negotiable aspects of a cloud migration assessment. Start by reviewing your organization’s existing protocols and identifying potential gaps that could lead to non-compliance in the cloud. For instance, industries like healthcare and finance often face strict regulations such as HIPAA, PCI DSS or GDPR. Ensure that your chosen cloud provider offers the necessary certifications and controls to meet these standards.

Conduct a vulnerability assessment of your current environment to identify risks such as unpatched software or unsecured endpoints. Evaluate identity and access management (IAM) practices, encryption protocols and data protection mechanisms. Many cloud providers offer built-in security tools like Microsoft Defender for Cloud, to address these concerns.

Step 3: Evaluate Cloud Options and Providers

The cloud isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Different providers and deployment models offer unique advantages depending on your business needs. During your assessment, it’s vital to research and evaluate the options available to you. Here are some tips to guide your research.

Public, Private or Hybrid?

• Public cloud: Best for scalability and cost efficiency, especially for dynamic workloads.
• Private cloud: Ideal for organizations requiring strict control and compliance.
• Hybrid cloud: Offers the best of both worlds, enabling flexibility and workload optimization. As of 2024, approximately73% of enterprises deploy in the hybrid cloud.

Selecting a Provider

Major cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform each bring unique strengths. Evaluate their offerings based on:

• Pricing and cost models
• Support at service level agreements (SLAs)
• Ecosystem combability
• Industry-specific features
• Data center locations
• Available tools and integrations
• Security features
• Migration and training resources
• Innovation track record

Step 4: Perform a Cost Analysis

While cloud migration can yield significant cost savings in the long term, the transition itself involves upfront investment. A thorough cost analysis ensures you’re prepared for the financial implications of the move.

Current costs should be the starting point. Calculate existing hardware, software, maintenance and IT staffing expenses. For example, on-premises data centers often require significant investment in server upkeep, cooling and power consumption. Understanding these baseline costs helps organizations compare them with projected cloud expenses to determine potential savings.

Migration costs represent the financial outlay required to move workloads to the cloud. Include data transfer, application refactoring and staff training expenses in this calculation. Be aware that legacy applications may need rearchitected or containerized to function optimally in a cloud environment, which can add to the initial cost. Training IT staff to manage and optimize cloud infrastructure also needs to be accounted for.

Operational costs are the ongoing expenses that arise once the migration is complete. Cloud providers typically operate on a pay-as-you-go model. Organizations may also consider reserved instances for predictable workloads to secure discounted pricing. For example, a company running a high-traffic e-commerce platform might benefit from reserved instances for consistent server demand, while leveraging auto-scaling for fluctuating traffic.

Hidden costs are often overlooked but can significantly impact the overall budget. These include potential downtime during the migration process, unforeseen consulting fees or the costs of addressing performance issues post-migration.

One commonly unforeseen expense is data transfer fees. While uploading data to the cloud is typically free, data ‘egress’ or transfer costs can accumulate when moving data out of the cloud, leading to unexpected expenses.

Step 5: Build the Migration Roadmap

With your objectives, current environment and costs in hand, it’s time to create a migration plan. Generally, your roadmap should include:

• Timeline: Set realistic milestones and deadlines for each phase of the migration.
• Migration prioritization: Determine the order in which applications and workloads will migrate. Avoid the “big bang” migration — it’s simply too disruptive.
• Testing and validation: Outline processes for verifying performance and security post-migration.
• Proactive risk mitigation: Identify potential risks (e.g., downtime) and establish contingency plans.

Breaking the migration into manageable phases allows your organization to minimize disruptions and address challenges as they arise.

Step 6: Conduct a Pilot Migration

Before moving all workloads to the cloud, it’s wise to test the waters. By migrating a small, non-critical workload or application first, organizations can identify potential issues, validate their migration strategy and gather invaluable feedback from end-users.

One of the primary benefits of a pilot migration is the ability to test the performance of specific workloads in the cloud. IT professionals can analyze how applications behave under real-world conditions, such as varying traffic loads or fluctuating user demands. For instance, migrating a web-based application with moderate traffic allows teams to assess whether the cloud infrastructure delivers the expected performance gains, such as faster response times or reduced latency.

A pilot migration also enables teams to identify bottlenecks or compatibility issues before they affect mission-critical systems. Legacy applications, in particular, often present challenges during cloud transitions due to outdated configurations or dependencies on specific hardware.

Another advantage of a pilot migration is the opportunity to gather feedback from users and stakeholders. This feedback is invaluable for evaluating the usability, performance and accessibility of the migrated workload. For example, suppose a sales team relies on a migrated CRM application. In that case, their feedback on response times, data availability and interface changes can help fine-tune the migration strategy for similar applications.

Step 7: Monitor and Optimize Post-Migration

Many organizations assume the cloud migration process ends once their applications are up and running in the cloud. However, failing to monitor and optimize post-migration operations can lead to missed cost savings and performance improvement opportunities. In fact, 82% of companies struggle to manage cloud costs effectively, often due to insufficient monitoring and a lack of cost-control strategies. This reality makes post-migration optimization as critical as your cloud journey’s cloud migration assessment phase.

In addition to performance monitoring for uptime, latency, utilization and cost, regular security audits are a mandatory best practice. New vulnerabilities can emerge as workloads transition to the cloud, and existing configurations may no longer suffice. The audits should include reviews of access control policies, enforcing data encryption protocols and monitoring for unusual activity that could indicate a security breach. Cloud providers often offer built-in to assist with these audits.

Red River’s Role in Your Cloud Migration Success

Successfully navigating the complexities of cloud migration and post-migration optimization requires expertise and ongoing support. At Red River, we understand that your cloud journey is a continuous process of refinement and improvement. That’s why we’re dedicated to being your trusted partner in ensuring your cloud environment delivers maximum value over the long term.

Our team provides tailored solutions to address your unique challenges and goals. From implementing advanced monitoring tools to identifying opportunities for cost savings, we ensure your cloud infrastructure remains efficient and scalable.

We also prioritize security and compliance, assisting you with regular audits and proactive risk mitigation. Red River has the expertise to keep your cloud environment secure and aligned with regulatory requirements. Contact us today to learn how we can help you achieve sustained success in the cloud.

Q&A

What are some best practice tips for conducting a pilot cloud migration?
To maximize the effectiveness of a pilot migration, IT teams should adopt several best practices. First, select a workload that represents typical use cases but isn’t business-critical. This approach ensures the pilot provides meaningful insights without jeopardizing operations. Next, document all processes and findings during the pilot, including migration steps, encountered challenges and any solutions you applied. The documentation will serve as a valuable reference for subsequent migration phases.

Also, establish clear metrics to evaluate the pilot’s success. Metrics such as application uptime, latency, data transfer speed and user satisfaction scores can provide quantitative and qualitative measures of the migration’s effectiveness. IT teams should also use the pilot phase to validate security configurations, such as access controls, encryption protocols and compliance requirements, ensuring the migrated workload meets all organizational standards.

What strategies can organizations implement to avoid cloud cost overruns in the long term?

To manage cloud costs effectively, organizations leveraging Microsoft Azure should adopt FinOps (Cloud Financial Operations) practices tailored to the platform. Begin by setting clear budgets and using tools like Azure Cost Management and Billing to forecast and track expenses. Azure’s cost alerts can notify teams when usage exceeds predefined thresholds, enabling proactive budget control.

Consider automating policies with Azure Automation or Azure Policy to shut down idle resources and optimize underutilized virtual machines. Azure Advisor recommendations can rightsize workloads for better efficiency.