Stop Just Lifting & Shifting: The 6 Cloud Paths
A beginner roadmap to modernize your applications, exploring the benefits, drawbacks, and real-world examples of the six common migration paths.
Are you considering migrating your applications to the cloud?
You’re not alone. With the increasing demand for scalability, agility, and cost-effectiveness, more and more organizations are moving their applications to the cloud.
But with so many application migration strategies available, how do you know which one is right for your business? Beyond operational logistics, any path you choose must build upon core principles for securing public cloud environments.
In this post, we will explore the 6 most common application migration strategies and their benefits and drawbacks, so you can make an informed decision and ensure a successful migration. Whether you’re looking to re-host, re-platform, re-architect, re-purchase, retire, or retain your applications, we’ve got you covered.
Key Concept: Migration Decision Tree
Summary of the 6 Common Migration Strategies
| Strategy | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Re-hosting (Lift and Shift) | Moves applications to the cloud without changes. Quickest and easiest, but doesn’t offer cloud-native benefits or long-term cost efficiency. | A global industrial manufacturer saved ~30% of its costs by re-hosting its legacy systems. |
| Re-platforming (Lift, Tinker, and Shift) | Involves minor cloud optimizations without changing core architecture. Provides immediate benefits at a lower cost than re-architecting. | A media company migrated web servers to AWS, saving millions by switching to open-source containers. For instance, see this case study on migrating legacy tools to SaaS. |
| Re-architecting (Re-factor / Re-architect) | Re-imagines the application using cloud-native features. Offers full cloud-native benefits but is the most expensive and time-consuming option. | Netflix re-architected to run natively in the cloud to scale globally with zero downtime. |
| Re-purchasing | Moves from perpetual licenses to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Provides immediate benefits but is less suitable for custom applications. | A company migrated its CRM to Salesforce to reduce costs and improve engagement. |
| Retiring | Removes applications that are no longer needed. Frees up resources and reduces security risks, but requires careful planning. | A financial services company retired unused legacy applications to focus on core systems and cut costs. |
| Retain | Keeps critical applications on-prem when migrating them now would create more risk than value. This is a deliberate hold, not an architecture outcome. | A healthcare provider retained critical patient care legacy systems while planning a later modernization path. |
Conclusion
Selecting the right migration strategy is crucial for the success of any application migration project. As you evaluate strategies, align your technical choices with foundational scalability and system architecture rules to ensure resilient operations. It is important to carefully evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy before making a decision.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!