Cloud Migration Services

Why companies migrate

• Servers or data-centre contracts are reaching end of life
• Scaling for peaks means buying hardware that sits idle most of the year
• Disaster recovery is weak or untested
• Teams want managed databases, CI/CD and modern tooling
• Security and compliance are easier with cloud-native controls

The 6 Rs of cloud migration

Each application gets its own strategy, chosen in the assessment phase.

Our migration process

1. Assess2–4 weeks

   Inventory of applications, dependencies, data volumes and costs; target architecture and business case.

2. Foundation2–4 weeks

   Accounts, networking, identity, security baselines and CI/CD in the target cloud.

3. Migrate in wavesWeeks to months

   Applications moved in planned waves, starting with low-risk systems; data synced before cut-over.

4. OptimiseOngoing

   Right-sizing, autoscaling, cost reviews and decommissioning of old infrastructure.

Keeping downtime low

• Rehearsals — every cut-over is practised in a test environment first.
• Continuous data replication — databases are kept in sync so the final switch takes minutes, not hours.
• DNS and traffic switching — gradual or instant switch-over with a rollback path.
• Off-peak windows — cut-overs scheduled with your team for the quietest time.

Building the business case

A credible migration plan starts with an honest cost comparison. We gather what the current environment really costs — hardware depreciation, data-centre or colocation fees, licences, support contracts, power and the staff time spent on maintenance — and model the target cloud environment with realistic sizing rather than a one-to-one copy of every server. We include one-off migration costs and a period of running both environments in parallel.

The business case also captures benefits that are harder to price but often matter more: faster provisioning for new projects, better disaster recovery, managed databases that remove patching work, and the ability to scale for seasonal peaks without buying hardware. Leadership gets a clear picture of cost, timeline and risk before committing.

Common migration pitfalls

• Lifting and shifting everything — copying oversized servers into the cloud often increases cost. Right-size during or soon after migration.
• Ignoring dependencies — undocumented connections between systems cause outages at cut-over; we map them first.
• Underestimating data transfer — large databases and file stores need replication or physical transfer planned in advance.
• Skipping the landing zone — without good account structure, identity and networking foundations, problems multiply as more workloads move.
• No post-migration ownership — someone must own cost reviews, patching and monitoring after the move.

The discovery phase in detail

Every successful migration starts with knowing exactly what you have. Discovery combines automated tools that map servers and network traffic with interviews that uncover what tools cannot see: undocumented scheduled jobs, hard-coded IP addresses, licence restrictions and the people who know how each system really works.

• Inventory of servers, applications, databases and storage volumes
• Dependency map showing which systems talk to each other
• Performance baselines for CPU, memory, storage and network
• Licensing terms for operating systems, databases and third-party software
• Compliance and data-residency requirements per application
• Business owner, criticality and acceptable downtime for each system

Planning migration waves

Moving everything at once concentrates risk. We group applications into waves, starting with lower-risk systems to prove the process, then moving business-critical workloads once the team and tooling are proven.

Groupings vary by organisation; dependencies decide what must move together.

Cutover weekend checklist

• Rehearsed cutover with timings recorded
• Final data sync and integrity checks
• DNS TTLs lowered days in advance
• Rollback criteria and decision time agreed
• Business testers available to sign off
• Monitoring and alerts live before traffic switches
• Communication plan for users and support teams

After the move: optimise

• Right-size instances using real utilisation data from the first weeks
• Buy savings plans or reserved capacity for steady workloads once usage is clear
• Move suitable databases to managed services to reduce operational work
• Shut down non-production environments outside working hours
• Decommission old servers and cancel data-centre contracts and licences

A rule of thumb: the first cloud bill after a lift-and-shift is rarely the lowest. Savings come from the optimisation that follows.

Questions to answer before migrating

• Which applications should be retired instead of moved?
• What downtime is acceptable for each system?
• Are there data-centre contract or hardware renewal dates driving the timeline?
• Who will operate the cloud environment after migration?
• How will success be measured — cost, reliability, speed of change?

Choose a destination with AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, and consider cloud-native development for applications worth modernising.

Migrating databases safely

Databases are usually the hardest part of a migration because they hold state and are shared by many applications. For small databases, a backup and restore during a maintenance window is often enough. For larger or busier systems, we use continuous replication — for example AWS Database Migration Service, Azure Database Migration Service or native replication — so the cloud copy stays in sync until cutover, reducing downtime to minutes.

• Compare row counts and checksums before switching
• Test application performance against the cloud database before cutover
• Plan for changes in latency if some systems stay on-premises
• Keep the source database read-only for a period as a fallback

Security during and after migration

• Encrypted connections between on-premises and cloud (VPN or private link)
• Identity integration so staff use existing accounts with MFA
• Least-privilege roles for migration tooling, removed afterwards
• Logging and threat detection enabled before production data arrives
• Updated incident response plan covering cloud resources

Typical migration timelines

Typical ranges; dependencies, data volumes and modernisation choices change the timeline.

Timelines are driven less by the number of servers than by dependencies, testing windows and how many applications are modernised rather than moved as they are.

We share a wave plan with dates and owners early, update it after each wave and keep business stakeholders informed, so every cutover is expected rather than a surprise.

Lessons from each wave feed straight into the next runbook.

Which cloud?

We migrate to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud and help you choose based on your existing licences, skills and services. See AWS cloud development or the comparison on our cloud and DevOps page.

This page is part of Cloud & DevOps Services — see the full overview for related services, approach and pricing.