Cloud migration is not a destination — it is a transformation. When done well, it delivers dramatic improvements in scalability, resilience, and cost efficiency. When done poorly, it can lock organisations into expensive technical debt and disrupt operations for months.
For UK enterprises navigating this journey, regulatory requirements (UK GDPR, FCA, ICO), data residency obligations, and the complexity of legacy infrastructure create a more nuanced challenge than cloud vendors’ marketing materials typically acknowledge.
Step 1: Define Your Cloud Strategy
Before touching a single workload, you need clarity on:
- Why you are migrating — cost reduction? Scalability? Developer velocity? Your answer shapes every decision that follows.
- Which workloads to migrate first — not everything should go to the cloud simultaneously.
- Which cloud model suits your needs — public (AWS, Azure, GCP), private, or hybrid.
Step 2: Assess Your Workload Portfolio Using the 7 Rs
- Retire — decommission workloads no longer needed
- Retain — keep workloads on-premises that should not move
- Rehost (lift and shift) — move as-is to cloud infrastructure
- Replatform — make minor optimisations without changing core architecture
- Repurchase — move to SaaS
- Refactor — redesign for cloud-native patterns
- Relocate — move between cloud providers or regions
Step 3: Address UK Data Residency Requirements
Post-Brexit, the UK has its own data protection framework distinct from EU GDPR. Key considerations:
- Sensitive personal data should ideally remain in UK-based data centres (AWS eu-west-2 London, Azure UK South)
- Financial services firms must comply with FCA operational resilience requirements
- Public sector organisations must meet UK Government security standards
Step 4: Build Your Migration Factory
Successful enterprise cloud migrations are programmes of work requiring dedicated teams, tooling, and governance:
- A Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) setting standards and guardrails
- Automated discovery and dependency mapping tools
- Landing zone setup with pre-defined security controls and networking
- Wave-based migration planning, typically 3–5 workloads per wave
Step 5: Optimise After Migration
Post-migration optimisation typically yields 25–40% additional cost savings through:
- Right-sizing compute resources (most initial cloud deployments are over-provisioned)
- Implementing Reserved Instances or Savings Plans
- Leveraging managed services to reduce operational overhead
- Implementing FinOps practices for ongoing cost visibility
AWS vs Azure: Which Is Right for UK Enterprises?
- AWS has the broadest service catalogue and strongest developer ecosystem. Preferred by digital-native companies.
- Azure has the strongest Microsoft integration and is often preferred by enterprise organisations with significant Microsoft investments.
- GCP has particular strengths in data analytics, machine learning, and Kubernetes.
Nexith is cloud-agnostic and will recommend the platform that best fits your specific workloads. Speak to our cloud team today.