Before You Move to the Cloud: Five Questions to Resolve

A workload-led approach to migration, ownership and recovery.

What business problem are you solving?

Start with a clear reason for change. The objective might be replacing ageing infrastructure, supporting remote access or improving recovery. Define what success looks like before selecting a platform. A migration without an agreed outcome is difficult to evaluate after the move.

Which dependencies must move together?

Applications rely on databases, identity, file storage and connectivity. Map those relationships and confirm who understands them. A hypothetical application may appear self-contained but still depend on a local file share and a scheduled import. Discovering that during cutover creates avoidable risk.

Who will operate the environment?

Cloud infrastructure still needs ownership. Agree who handles access, updates, monitoring, backup and cost reviews. Separate the migration project from the ongoing operating service. The handover should include documentation and a clear route for incidents.

What does recovery require?

Define acceptable data loss and recovery time for each important workload. Then discuss the architecture, backup and testing needed to support those objectives. A backup copy and a disaster recovery service are different commitments; neither should be assumed from the word cloud.

How will you validate the move?

Agree test cases with business users, a cutover plan and a rollback decision point. Confirm what evidence is needed before the old environment is retired. Include integrations and access paths in the tests, not only whether a virtual machine starts.

A practical next step

Prepare a short workload inventory, a dependency map and your business priorities. Those inputs make an assessment more useful and help you compare proposals on a consistent basis. Request a plan that identifies assumptions, recurring costs and responsibilities as clearly as the technical design.

Discuss your requirements with AXO

Contact our team to discuss a scope that fits your business.