Posted by Keyss
Top Cloud Migration Strategies for Growing Enterprises
“When your on-premises systems groan under growth, the cloud becomes your breathing room.”
As enterprises scale, legacy servers and data centers often start to creak. Performance bottlenecks, rising costs, and limited agility become daily pains. For growing companies, moving to the cloud is no longer optional — it’s essential. But how? Which path or cloud migration strategies will serve you best?
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the top strategies, decision criteria, steps, and best practices — all based on 20+ years helping companies migrate and modernize. You’ll see how to match strategy to your use case, reduce risk, and build a roadmap that scales.
Why Enterprises Migrate to the Cloud
Before we jump into strategies, let’s set the stage:
Scalability on demand: Cloud lets you grow or shrink resources in minutes.
Cost optimization: No more overprovisioning or paying for idle servers.
Global reach & performance: Use data centers close to users.
Security, compliance, resilience: Cloud platforms often offer built-in tools and controls.
Innovation enablement: You can plug into managed services (AI, analytics, etc.) rather than build from scratch.
Still, cloud migration is not magic. Without a solid plan, enterprises risk downtime, cost overruns, data loss, or locked-in architectures.
That’s why cloud migration strategies matter: they give structure to your move, balancing short-term lift with long-term optimization.
The 6 (or 7) Rs of Cloud Migration
One of the most popular frameworks is the “6 R’s” (sometimes extended to 7 Rs) for cloud migration. These represent different paths you can take depending on your constraints and goals. (confluent.io)
Here’s a quick storytelling metaphor: imagine you want to move a house (your applications) to a new neighborhood (the cloud). You can:
Move it as is (rehost)
Make small renovations during the move (replatform)
Rebuild parts of it during the move (refactor)
Buy a new house and move in (repurchase)
Keep some parts where they are (retain)
Demolish unused rooms (retire)
Or pick a hybrid plan to relocate piece by piece (relocate) — for the 7th “R”
Let’s unpack each one.
Rehost (Lift and Shift)
This is the “move your house exactly as is” option. You lift your existing application and data and shift them to cloud servers without changing the code. It is fast, lower risk, and can help you get into the cloud quickly. This is often the default when time or budget is tight. (cisco.com)
Pros
Fastest migration path
Least refactoring effort
Good for legacy apps not ready for deep change
Cons
Doesn’t leverage cloud-native features
May suffer inefficiencies in cost or performance
Use rehost when your priority is speed and you need to exit data centers quickly. Then plan later to optimize.
Replatform (Lift, Tinker, and Shift)
Here you make modest adjustments as you migrate. You keep the core architecture but tweak parts — e.g. switch to managed databases, optimize caching, or reconfigure middleware. The aim: capture some cloud benefits with minimal disruption. (cisco.com)
Pros
Moderate effort
Gains cloud performance enhancements
Less risk compared to full rewrite
Cons
Still limited cloud-native flexibility
Might require some code changes
Use when you want better cost/performance tradeoffs but can’t afford full rearchitecting yet.
Refactor / Rearchitect
This is a deeper transformation. You redesign or rewrite parts (or all) of your application to be truly cloud-native — microservices, serverless components, containers, auto-scaling, event queues.
Pros
Best ability to scale, optimize, adapt
Enables full use of cloud features
Cons
Highest cost and risk
Longest timeline
You use this for high-value, critical apps with future growth needs.
Repurchase (Replace)
Instead of migrating, you ditch your old system and adopt a new SaaS (cloud-native) solution. It could be a CRM, ERP, or tool you replace entirely with a modern cloud service.
Pros
Fast adoption
Maintenance and updates shift to vendor
Often easier licensing
Cons
Loss of custom features
Requires retraining and change management
Use repurchase when your legacy system can’t scale or adapt well.
Retain (Revisit Later)
Some applications don’t make sense for cloud yet — maybe for compliance, latency, or cost reasons. Retain them on-premises for now and revisit later.
This is a valid strategy. Not everything needs to move immediately.
Retire (Decommission)
During assessment, you may find some apps are no longer useful or redundant. Retiring them avoids wasted effort.
Clean house before you move.
Relocate (Lift-and-Shift Pro) — the 7th R
Relocate” is a newer addition. It’s like lift-and-shift, but with virtualization or migration tools, you lift the entire server environment (VM images, etc.) and drop them into cloud infrastructure with minimal rework. (yourshortlist.com)
It sits between rehost and replatform — faster, but more flexible.
How to Choose the Right Strategy
Here’s how I coach clients to decide:
Assess Your Application Portfolio
List all apps, their dependencies, performance needs, security needs, data size, and criticality. Some may be simple, others complex. Tag each as “low risk,” “medium,” or “high risk.”
Align with Business Goals
If your goal is to exit a data center fast, rehosting might dominate. If you want to future-proof key systems, plan for refactor over time.
Cost vs. ROI
Estimate cost, effort, and expected return for each candidate. Some systems will never yield ROI from full refactor — accept that and maybe repurchase or retain.
Risk Appetite & Timeline
If you have tight deadlines, lean toward simpler strategies first, then evolve.w
Hybrid & Phased Moves
You don’t have to do one strategy only. A hybrid approach works — some workloads rehosted, others refactored.
Step-by-Step Roadmap for Cloud Migration
Moving is more art than force. Here’s a reliable 5-phase roadmap:
1. Discovery & Assessment
Catalog apps, data, infrastructure
Map dependencies
Score cloud viability
Set objectives and KPIs
2. Planning & Strategy
Choose which R (strategy) for each app
Define timeline, sequence, fallback options
Decide cloud provider(s) and model (public, hybrid, multi-cloud)
Plan security, compliance, and governance
3. Migration & Execution
Use migration tools and scripts
Move in small batches
Validate each move
Monitor during migration
4. Validation & Testing
Run test suites, performance, integration tests
Ensure data integrity
Do rollback plans
5. Optimization & Operate
Run test suites, performance, integration tests
Ensure data integrity
Do rollback plans
This iterative process ensures you don’t bury your team in surprises.
Best Practices & Pitfalls to Watch
Maintain Clear Communication
Get all stakeholders (developers, security, ops, leadership) aligned. Regular updates build trust and reduce friction.
Embrace a “Migration Mindset”
Don’t treat migration as one shot. Think of it as continuous modernization.
Enforce Strong Governance & Security
Use identity & access management, encryption (in transit + at rest), compliance checks, network design, backups.
Use Migration Tools & Partnerships
There are many tools for migration, monitoring, cost control. (cloudzero.com) Partnering with a cloud migration specialist can reduce hidden risk.
Prepare for Data Transfer Challenges
Large data volumes, latency, missing links — test small moves first. Use bandwidth wisely or offline transfer methods. (datafold.com)
Keep an Eye on Hidden Costs
Egress fees, cross-region traffic, misconfigured services — these can surprise you.
Train Your Team
Cloud is a different domain. Reskill staff to work with cloud provisioning, automation, and operations.
Sample Use Cases & Stories (to build trust and authority)
Story 1 — Rapid Exit, Then Optimize
A mid-sized SaaS company in Austin had to exit its data center lease fast. They chose rehost for most microservices, shifting them with minimal change. Within weeks, they were out of the facility. Once stable, they picked their top three high-load services and refactored them over time. That hybrid tactic saved costs and reduced risk.
Story 2 — Replace the Legacy
A healthcare provider had an outdated clinical records system. Rewriting it was risky and slow. They instead repurchased a cloud-native EHR SaaS solution. Migration included data export, validation, and staff training. The result: faster deployment, modern APIs, compliance built in.
These stories show that real enterprises mix strategies — there’s no one size fits all.
Conclusion
Choosing the right cloud migration strategies is not about copying what others did. It’s about aligning your current state, business goals, risk tolerance, and timeline. Some apps go via rehost, some via refactor, some never move.
To recap:
Use themed frameworks like the 6 (or 7) Rs to map choices
Assess your portfolio, then assign strategies
Follow a phased, tested roadmap — discovery to optimization
Guard against hidden costs, train teams, and iterate
If you plan carefully, migrate in manageable batches, and stay flexible, your cloud move becomes a growth enabler — not a disruptive project.