Five common cloud migration mistakes and how to avoid them

Migrating an application changes where it runs and how it is operated. Moving servers is only part of the work: dependencies, permissions, costs and procedures also change. These five mistakes help structure decisions before the first change.

1. Moving workloads without an objective

Start with the business outcome: continuity, capacity, reduced operational effort or modernisation. Record users, integrations, data, scheduled jobs and latency requirements. Decide what to retain, adapt or retire before choosing the destination architecture.

A specific acceptance criterion, such as completing a critical process within an agreed time, is more useful than declaring success because the servers have started.

2. Estimating compute costs alone

Include storage, data transfer, backups, observability and support in the cost scenario. Assign consumption owners and review estimates after the move. The AWS Cost Optimization Pillar treats financial management as an ongoing practice.

3. Assuming security is resolved

Shared responsibility depends on the selected services. Document what the provider manages and what remains with the organisation. Review administrative identities, service accounts, secrets, configuration and data protection before enabling the environment.

4. Postponing recovery

Agree how long the service can be unavailable and how much data loss is acceptable. Rehearse restoration, data consistency and a rollback decision point. Architectural reliability requires preparation and testing as well as infrastructure.

5. Handing over without preparing operations

The receiving team should be able to investigate errors, manage access and restore the service. Include documentation, alerts and a knowledge transfer session in acceptance criteria.

A complete migration leaves a workload the organisation can operate and maintain. Explore our Cloud Solutions approach to connect architecture, security and continuity.