Cloud migration is one of the most impactful technology decisions an SME can make — and one of the most commonly mishandled. The promise is compelling: reduced infrastructure costs, infinite scalability, global reach, and access to enterprise-grade services like AI and managed databases without the corresponding headcount.
The reality is that over 60% of cloud migrations go over budget and many deliver far less value than expected. This guide will help you avoid the most common mistakes and make the right decisions from the start.
Phase 1: Assessment — Know What You're Migrating
Before choosing a cloud provider, you need a complete inventory of your current infrastructure. This sounds obvious, but many organisations start shopping for cloud services before they understand what they actually have.
Key questions to answer in your assessment:
- What applications are you running, and what are their dependencies?
- What are your current storage volumes and growth rates?
- What are your peak compute requirements?
- What compliance and data residency requirements apply (GDPR, HIPAA, India's PDPB)?
- Which applications are suitable for cloud-native refactoring vs. simple lift-and-shift?
"The most expensive cloud migrations are the ones that discover unexpected dependencies and compliance requirements mid-project. Invest in discovery — it pays for itself within the first month."
Phase 2: Choosing Your Cloud Provider
| Dimension | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market share | Largest (31%) | Second (25%) | Third (11%) |
| Services breadth | 200+ services | 200+ services | 150+ services |
| India data centres | Mumbai, Hyderabad | Pune, Chennai, Mumbai | Mumbai, Delhi |
| Microsoft integration | Good | Native (AD, Office 365) | Good |
| ML/AI services | Excellent (SageMaker) | Excellent (Azure ML) | Best (Vertex AI, TensorFlow) |
| Pricing | Moderate | Moderate | Often cheaper |
| Developer experience | Good | Good | Excellent |
Choose AWS if:
- You need the broadest service catalogue and the most mature ecosystem
- Your team has existing AWS certifications or experience
- You need the widest selection of managed database and serverless services
Choose Azure if:
- Your organisation is heavily invested in Microsoft products (Office 365, Active Directory, .NET)
- You need strong enterprise compliance and governance tools
- You're in a regulated industry (healthcare, finance) with India data residency requirements
Choose GCP if:
- AI/ML workloads are central to your business
- You need superior big data and analytics capabilities (BigQuery)
- Cost optimisation is a primary concern
- You're building on Kubernetes (GCP invented it)
Phase 3: Migration Strategy — The 6 Rs
Not all workloads should be migrated the same way. The industry-standard "6 Rs" framework helps you categorise each application:
- Rehost (Lift & Shift): Move the application to the cloud as-is. Fast, low-risk, but doesn't capture cloud-native benefits.
- Replatform: Make minor optimisations (e.g., move to managed database) without changing core architecture.
- Repurchase: Replace with a SaaS product (e.g., move from self-hosted CRM to Salesforce).
- Refactor: Re-architect the application to be cloud-native. High effort, maximum long-term benefit.
- Retire: Decommission applications that are no longer needed.
- Retain: Keep some applications on-premise for now (compliance, latency, cost).
Phase 4: Cost Management
Cloud cost overruns are almost always caused by the same handful of mistakes:
- Over-provisioning compute: Start smaller than you think you need and scale up. Reserved instances and Committed Use Discounts can save 40–70% vs on-demand.
- Orphaned resources: Implement resource tagging from day one. Set up billing alerts at 80% of budget.
- Data transfer costs: Egress fees are often underestimated. Design your architecture to minimise cross-region data transfers.
- No FinOps practice: Designate a cloud cost owner and review billing weekly, especially in the first three months.
"We helped a Bangalore-based fintech client reduce their AWS bill by 43% simply by right-sizing their EC2 instances and implementing scheduled scaling for non-production environments."
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Migrating everything at once instead of piloting with non-critical workloads
- Skipping the security review — cloud security defaults are not production-ready
- Ignoring staff training — cloud operations requires different skills than on-premise
- No rollback plan — always define success criteria and a rollback procedure before going live
- Treating cloud migration as an IT project rather than a business transformation
Getting Expert Help
Cloud migration is complex, and the cost of mistakes is high. Working with a certified cloud partner — one with experience in your industry and data residency requirements — typically reduces project timelines by 30–50% and substantially lowers the risk of cost overruns.
Redonix has delivered cloud migrations for clients across healthcare, fintech and e-commerce, with certifications across AWS, Azure and GCP. If you're planning a migration, a free assessment call is a good starting point.
