Cloud MigrationServices

Cloud migration means moving your applications, data and IT systems from your own servers or data centre to a cloud platform such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud. It can also mean moving from one cloud platform to another.

A migration can be as simple as moving a single application or as large as moving an entire data centre. It usually involves assessing what you have, deciding the best approach for each system, moving the systems and data, testing everything and switching users over.

The aim is to run your systems on infrastructure that scales with your needs, without having to buy, maintain and replace your own hardware.

There is no single price that makes sense for every organisation.

The total cost has several parts: the assessment and planning, the migration work itself, any changes your applications need, data transfer, testing and training. For a while, you may also pay for your old systems and the new cloud environment at the same time. After migration, you pay the cloud platform for the services you use.

A company moving a few servers with standard applications has very different costs from one moving hundreds of systems, large databases and older applications that need rework. We would rather assess your environment first and give you a clear estimate than quote a headline number that changes once the work starts.

The cloud lets you scale your systems up or down as your needs change, instead of buying hardware for your busiest day and leaving it underused the rest of the time. You pay for what you use, and you no longer have to replace servers every few years.

The cloud also makes it easier to recover from outages and disasters, support remote teams and roll out new systems quickly. Cloud platforms offer strong security and backup features that would cost a lot to build yourself.

But migration isn't automatically cheaper or better for every system. Some workloads cost more in the cloud than on your own servers. A good migration starts by working out which systems will actually benefit.

It depends on how many systems you're moving, how complex they are and how much change they need along the way.

A small migration of a few standard servers can take weeks. Larger migrations, with many applications, large databases and older systems that need rework, usually take several months and run in phases.

The timeline also depends on preparation. A thorough assessment at the start takes time, but it prevents the delays that come from discovering problems halfway through the project.

Yes, when the migration is planned properly. We protect your data at every stage of the move.

We set up security in the cloud environment before any data arrives, including access controls, encryption and logging. We encrypt data while it moves and once it's stored, use secure transfer methods and give access only to the people who need it during the project.

We also check that your data arrives complete and unchanged, by comparing it against the source after transfer. Your original systems stay intact until we have verified everything in the cloud, so you always have a working copy of your data.

We use each cloud platform's own migration tools, because they are built for the platform and stay current with it.

For AWS, that includes AWS Application Migration Service for moving servers and AWS Database Migration Service for databases. For Azure, we use Azure Migrate and Azure Database Migration Service. For very large volumes of data, both platforms also offer physical transfer devices, which are faster than sending the data over the internet.

Tools only do part of the job. We choose them based on each workload, and our engineers plan, test and verify every step, because no tool understands how your business uses its systems.

Our assessment gives you a clear picture of what you have, what should move and how, before you commit to the full project.

We build an inventory of your applications, servers, databases and storage, and map how they depend on each other. We review performance and usage data to size the cloud environment correctly, check software licences, and identify security and compliance requirements. For each workload, we recommend an approach, whether that's moving it as it is, changing it, replacing it or leaving it where it is.

You receive a migration plan with the order of work, timelines, risks and an estimate of both the migration cost and your ongoing cloud costs.

Cloud platforms usually don't charge you to bring data in. They charge egress fees when data leaves, whether it goes out to the internet, back to your own servers, to another cloud platform or sometimes between regions within the same platform.

If you are moving from your own data centre into the cloud, egress fees are usually small. If you are moving from one cloud platform to another, the platform you're leaving charges for the data you take out, although some platforms now waive these fees for customers who move all their data away, subject to conditions.

We plan data transfers to avoid surprise costs. We estimate data volumes early, choose the right transfer method for the size of the data, compress data where we can and design the new environment so data doesn't cross regions unnecessarily after migration.

The 7 R's are seven approaches for deciding what to do with each system in a migration.

Retire means switching off systems you no longer need. Retain means keeping a system where it is for now. Rehost, often called lift and shift, means moving a system to the cloud without changing it. Relocate means moving a whole virtualised environment to a cloud-based version of the same platform. Repurchase means replacing a system with a cloud-based product, such as moving to a software-as-a-service tool. Replatform means making small changes to take advantage of the cloud, such as moving to a managed database. Refactor means redesigning an application to use cloud services fully.

Most migrations use a mix. Rehosting is the fastest, while refactoring takes the most effort but gives the most benefit. The right choice depends on each system's value, age and future plans.

Vendor lock-in happens when your systems depend so heavily on one cloud platform's services that moving away later becomes difficult and expensive.

Some lock-in is the price of using the cloud well. Platform-specific services, such as managed databases and serverless computing, save time and money, but they don't transfer easily to another platform. Avoiding them completely often means giving up much of the cloud's value.

The sensible approach is to make the trade-off deliberately. Use platform services where they bring clear benefits, use portable technologies such as containers where flexibility matters, keep your data in formats you can export, and understand the cost of leaving before you commit.

Migrating an application means moving the software, its servers, configuration and connections to other systems. Migrating a database means moving the data itself, along with its structure, while keeping it complete and consistent.

Databases usually need the most care. The data keeps changing while the migration runs, so the data in the old and new databases has to stay in sync until the moment you switch over. If you are also changing database technology, for example from Oracle to PostgreSQL, the structure and code often need converting too.

In practice, the two usually move together, because an application needs its database. Planning both as one piece of work avoids broken connections, slow performance and data problems after the switch.

The most common risks are unplanned downtime, data loss or corruption, security gaps from misconfigured cloud services, applications that behave differently in the cloud, costs that run over budget and teams that aren't ready to run the new environment.

We manage these risks through planning and testing rather than hope. Our assessment uncovers dependencies and problems before the move starts. We set up security before data arrives, test each workload before cutover, keep your original systems intact until everything is verified and prepare a rollback plan for every stage.

We also give you a clear estimate of ongoing cloud costs at the start, and we train your team during the project, so the environment doesn't become a problem after we finish.

We usually migrate in phases. Moving systems in planned groups keeps risk low, lets us learn from each phase and means a problem in one system doesn't affect everything else.

A single cutover can make sense for smaller environments or tightly connected systems that must move together. When we use it, we plan and rehearse it in detail first.

Either way, we keep downtime to a minimum. We copy data to the cloud ahead of time and keep it in sync with your live systems, so the final switch only needs to move the latest changes. We test each system in the cloud before cutover, schedule the switch at times that suit your business and keep your team informed at every step.

Yes. Every cutover we run has a written rollback plan, agreed with you before the work starts.

The plan sets clear go or no-go checks, so everyone knows what must work before users switch over. It names who makes the decision to roll back, sets a time limit for fixing problems before that decision is made and lists the exact steps to return to your original systems.

We keep your original systems intact and ready until the new environment is verified. If something fails, we can switch back quickly, with minimal disruption to your business.

Yes. Older and poorly documented systems are common in the migrations we handle, and they don't have to stop a migration.

We start with discovery. We use tools that map how your systems connect and communicate, study how they behave under real use and talk to the people who know them best. We document everything we find, so you end up with a clear record of your systems, often for the first time.

Some legacy systems move best as they are and can be modernised later. Others need changes first, and some are better left where they are or replaced. We recommend the right path for each one and explain the trade-offs, so there are no surprises during the move.