Cloud Migration is a Strategy, Not a Step: Mapping Your Path with the 6 R’s

Cloud migration is one of the most critical and complex projects a business leader will face. It’s not simply a matter of moving data from one server to another; it's a fundamental decision that dictates the operational agility, scalability, and financial health of your business for the next decade.

Because the stakes are so high—and mistakes so costly—an experienced, documented strategy is non-negotiable.

The most effective, risk-averse organizations approach migration not as a single checklist, but as a series of calculated decisions, where every application and workload is individually assessed. This process is known as application rationalization, and it relies on an industry-standard framework: The Six R’s of Cloud Migration.

Adopting this framework allows you to map a specific, deliberate path for every digital asset in your portfolio, ensuring resources are allocated smartly and the highest ROI is captured from your cloud investment.

Understanding the Six R’s: The Cloud Migration Framework

The Six R’s define the six primary strategic options for dealing with an application, database, or workload when considering a move to the cloud.

1. Rehost (Lift and Shift)

• What it is: Moving an application as-is from an on-premise server to a cloud-based Virtual Machine (VM). No changes to the code, architecture, or operating system are made.

• When to use it: This is the fastest and cheapest initial move. It’s ideal for applications with low business criticality or those you need to move quickly to retire aging hardware. It offers immediate infrastructure cost savings but minimal cloud-native optimization.

2. Replatform (Lift and Tinker)

• What it is: Moving an application to the cloud, but making small, non-disruptive changes to leverage cloud-specific services. For example, moving an application’s database from a self-managed server to a managed service like AWS RDS or Azure SQL Database.

• When to use it: When an application is important but doesn't warrant a full rewrite. It offers a balance: you get faster performance, improved stability, and reduced management overhead without the cost and risk of deep code changes.

3. Refactor (Re-architect)

• What it is: Reimagining and rewriting significant portions of the application code to fully utilize cloud-native features, such as containers, serverless functions, and microservices architecture.

• When to use it: This is the most expensive and time-consuming path, but it offers the highest long-term ROI. It's reserved for mission-critical applications that define your business and require maximum agility, scalability, and performance.

4. Repurchase (Drop and Shop)

• What it is: Deciding to abandon the existing on-premise application and adopting a new, cloud-native Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.

• When to use it: Commonly used for commodity applications like CRM, ERP, or HR management systems where a commercial off-the-shelf SaaS provider offers better functionality, reduced complexity, and lower TCO than maintaining your own system.

5. Retain (Revisit Later)

• What it is: The strategic decision to keep an application exactly where it is for the foreseeable future, either on-premise or in a co-location.

• When to use it: Applications that require ultra-low latency, have compliance or regulatory constraints prohibiting cloud movement, or are simply not yet due for a hardware refresh and function perfectly as is. This is a deliberate part of a hybrid strategy.

6. Retire (Decommission)

• What it is: The decision to turn off and decommission applications that are no longer being used, are redundant, or provide minimal business value.

• When to use it: This is often the most overlooked "R," but it yields immediate savings. Decommissioning unused systems removes maintenance costs, licenses, and security surface area, freeing up resources for the actual migration effort.

The Crucial Step: Application Rationalization

Before the first line of code is moved, the most vital strategic step is application rationalization. This assessment determines which of the Six R’s applies to each asset.

This process involves asking tough, objective questions:

• Business Value: How critical is this application to revenue or core operations?

• Technical Health: How old is the code? Is it tightly coupled or modular? How well is it documented?

• Cost/TCO: What is the true Total Cost of Ownership of the application, including maintenance, licensing, power, and IT labor?

• Future Requirements: Does this application need to scale ten-fold next year? Does it need to integrate with future AI/ML tools?

The answers to these questions move an application from the low-risk Rehost category to the high-ROI Refactor category, or simply to Retire. Getting this diagnosis wrong is the number one source of costly, drawn-out, and over-budget cloud projects.

Strategy, Security, and Vendor Management

When you move applications to the cloud—whether through Rehost or Refactor—you inevitably enter the complex world of the hyperscale providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform™) and dozens of specialized private, hybrid, and professional services firms.

Choosing the right migration strategy requires more than technical knowledge; it requires impartial expertise to navigate the vendor landscape. The complexity of managing workloads across dedicated hosting environments, public cloud platforms, and private infrastructure like VMware® and OpenStack® can quickly overwhelm even seasoned IT teams.

An experienced, vendor-neutral adviser can help business leaders make decisions confidently and quickly. By utilizing a proprietary portfolio of providers and professional services firms, an impartial adviser can help you evaluate and compare appropriate solutions and vendors—the right partners for your chosen R-strategy—eliminating months of labor and ensuring your final decision is both agile, highly-available, and secure. The goal is to move from decision paralysis to informed clarity.

Technology. Driven. Outcomes.

Next Step

If your cloud initiative has stalled, or you are facing the strategic decision of which 'R' applies to your most critical applications, this is the time to bring in an objective guide.

If you are ready to build a pragmatic, risk-mitigated cloud migration strategy and connect with the providers that align with your plan, get in touch to explore your options.