A step-by-step guide to cloud migration

Cloud migration is inevitable for most companies; but 'move everything as-is' rarely delivers the expected benefit. A well-planned migration brings flexibility and cost advantages; a poorly planned one inflates the bills.

1. Inventory and assessment

First, clarify what moves: applications, data, dependencies. For each component, decide 'move as-is', 'replatform' or 'rewrite'. This assessment prevents most surprises up front.

2. The right migration strategy

• Rehost (lift-and-shift): fastest, but doesn't fully use the cloud's advantages.
• Replatform: move with small improvements (e.g. a managed database).
• Refactor: restructure to a cloud-native architecture — most gain, most effort.

3. Security and cost from the start

Role-based access, network isolation and backups should be part of the design, not an afterthought. On cost, auto-scaling and right-sizing keep the bill from spiraling.

Cloud migration is not a destination but a start: the real gain comes when you automate processes after moving.

4. Gradual migration and observability

Instead of moving everything overnight, start with a low-risk component, measure, learn and expand. Without metrics, logs and alerting you can't see what's happening in the cloud. At Kerte we keep your software live securely and without interruption through cloud infrastructure, Docker, CI/CD and DevOps.