Every cloud migration story starts the same way: optimistic timelines, ambitious cost savings projections, and a vision of elastic scalability. Many also share the same middle chapter: missed deadlines, budget overruns, and the dreaded "we should have planned this better" realization. Here's how to write a different story.
Why Cloud Migrations Fail
Before diving into how to succeed, let's understand why so many migrations struggle. In our experience with DACH enterprises, the failure patterns are remarkably consistent:
- Underestimating complexity: Applications have hidden dependencies that only surface mid-migration
- Lift-and-shift everything: Moving problems to the cloud just creates cloud-based problems
- Ignoring the people: Technical migration succeeds but teams can't operate the new environment
- Cost surprises: Cloud bills that dwarf the "savings" projections
- Security afterthoughts: Compliance gaps discovered post-migration
The most successful cloud migrations we've guided weren't the fastest. They were the best prepared.
Phase 1: Discovery and Assessment
Before moving anything, you need complete visibility into what you're moving. This phase typically takes 4-8 weeks for mid-sized enterprises.
Application Portfolio Analysis
Catalog every application with its business criticality, technical architecture, and dependencies. For each application, determine:
- Business value: Revenue impact, user count, strategic importance
- Technical debt: Age, maintainability, documentation quality
- Cloud readiness: Stateless vs. stateful, scaling requirements, data residency needs
- Dependencies: What does it connect to? What connects to it?
Data Classification
German data protection requirements make this critical. Classify all data by sensitivity, regulatory requirements, and residency restrictions. Some data may need to stay on-premises or in specific geographic regions.
Cost Baseline
Document current infrastructure costs completely: hardware, software licenses, facilities, power, personnel. Without an accurate baseline, you can't measure migration success.
Phase 2: Strategy Selection
The famous "6 Rs" provide a framework for deciding what to do with each application:
Rehost (Lift and Shift)
Move applications as-is to cloud infrastructure. Fast but doesn't leverage cloud-native benefits. Best for: applications with short remaining lifespan or as a first step before optimization.
Replatform (Lift and Reshape)
Make targeted optimizations during migration—like moving to managed databases—without full restructuring. Best for: applications that benefit from managed services but don't justify complete rewrite.
Refactor (Re-architect)
Redesign applications to be cloud-native, with microservices, containers, and serverless components. Best for: strategic applications that need scalability and agility.
Repurchase (Replace with SaaS)
Replace custom or packaged applications with SaaS equivalents. Best for: commodity functions where differentiation doesn't matter.
Retain
Keep on-premises, at least for now. Best for: applications with hard regulatory requirements or those planned for retirement.
Retire
Decommission applications that are no longer needed. Migration is an excellent opportunity to clean house.
Phase 3: Planning the Migration Waves
Don't try to migrate everything at once. Group applications into waves based on dependencies, risk, and learning opportunities.
Wave 1: Foundation
Start with lower-risk applications that help your team build cloud expertise. Dev/test environments, internal tools, new greenfield projects. Success here builds confidence and capability.
Wave 2: Quick Wins
Applications with clear cloud benefits and manageable complexity. Each success builds momentum and organizational buy-in.
Wave 3-N: Core Systems
Business-critical applications requiring careful planning and execution. By now, your team has experience and proven processes.
Plan for six months to get your first production workload running well. Plan for two to three years for complete migration of complex environments.
Phase 4: Building the Landing Zone
Before migrating applications, establish your cloud foundation:
- Account/subscription structure: Separate environments, business units, cost centers
- Network architecture: VPCs, connectivity to on-premises, DNS strategy
- Identity and access: Integration with corporate directory, role definitions
- Security baseline: Logging, monitoring, guardrails, compliance controls
- Cost management: Budgets, alerts, tagging standards
This foundation work seems slow but prevents chaos later. Retrofitting security and governance into an already-migrated environment is painful and expensive.
Phase 5: Migration Execution
With preparation complete, actual migration follows a repeatable pattern:
For each application:
- Detailed technical design: How exactly will this run in cloud?
- Build and configure: Infrastructure as code, not click-ops
- Data migration: Test thoroughly—data issues cause the most rollbacks
- Testing: Functional, performance, security, disaster recovery
- Cutover planning: Rollback procedures, communication plan, success criteria
- Go-live and stabilization: Intensive monitoring, quick response to issues
Phase 6: Optimization
Migration isn't done when applications are running. The first months in cloud are learning opportunities:
- Right-sizing: Actual usage rarely matches predictions—adjust
- Reserved capacity: Once usage patterns stabilize, commit for savings
- Architecture refinement: Replace lifted-and-shifted components with cloud-native alternatives
- Automation: Automate everything you did manually during migration
DACH-Specific Considerations
Cloud migration in German-speaking markets has unique requirements:
Data Residency
GDPR and sector-specific regulations may require data to stay within the EU or even within Germany. All major cloud providers now offer German regions, but verify specific service availability.
Compliance Documentation
German enterprises often need extensive documentation for auditors and regulators. Build compliance evidence collection into your migration process from the start.
Works Council Involvement
If cloud migration affects employees' working conditions or introduces new monitoring capabilities, works council consultation may be required. Engage early.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Migrating without modernizing: If an application is problematic on-premises, fix it before or during migration
- Ignoring training: Your team needs new skills—budget time and money for learning
- Underestimating network: Cloud applications need reliable, low-latency connectivity
- Forgetting about licensing: Some software licenses don't permit cloud deployment or cost more there
- Declaring victory too early: The first month's bill doesn't represent steady-state costs
Getting Started
Cloud migration is a journey measured in years, not months. The organizations that succeed start with clear-eyed assessment, invest in preparation, and maintain discipline through execution.
We've guided DACH enterprises through every phase of this journey. Whether you're just starting to explore cloud migration or recovering from a stalled initiative, we can help chart a practical path forward.