# Cloud Migration Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide
Moving to the cloud is no longer optional—it's a strategic imperative. But a poorly planned migration can lead to cost overruns, security issues, and business disruption.
## The 6 R's of Cloud Migration
1. **Rehost** (Lift and Shift)
2. **Replatform** (Lift, Tinker, and Shift)
3. **Repurchase** (Move to SaaS)
4. **Refactor** (Re-architect)
5. **Retire** (Decommission)
6. **Retain** (Keep on-premises)
## Building Your Migration Plan
### Assessment Phase
- Inventory all applications and dependencies
- Identify business drivers and constraints
- Evaluate cloud providers
### Planning Phase
- Prioritize applications for migration
- Choose migration strategies for each workload
- Plan for security and compliance
### Execution Phase
- Pilot migration with non-critical applications
- Monitor performance and costs
- Iterate and optimize
## Best Practices
- Start with quick wins to build momentum
- Automate wherever possible
- Plan for disaster recovery from day one
- Train your team on cloud technologies
## Conclusion
A well-executed cloud migration can reduce costs, improve agility, and enable innovation. Take the time to plan it right.
Tags
Cloud MigrationAzureEnterprise Architecture