Guide
Cloud Migration Checklist for AWS and Azure
A successful cloud migration is rarely just a technical move. It depends on clear scope, risk planning, application mapping, cost visibility, governance, testing and post-migration support.
Migration ownersCTOsPlatform engineersOperations leaders
12 min read Updated June 2026
What this guide covers
- Pre-migration discovery and scope
- The six migration strategies explained
- Cost, security and governance checklists
- Cutover and rollback planning
- Post-migration optimisation
AWS & Azure specialists·80%+ certified technical team·80+ clients supported·£1.8M+ cloud savings identified·Practical support, not just advice
Prepared by IG CloudOps cloud specialists. Reviewed by our AWS and Azure certified engineering team. Last updated June 2026.
Before you start
- Define business reason for migration
- Confirm workloads in scope
- Identify owners and decision-makers
- Map application and data dependencies
- Define success criteria
- Agree downtime tolerance per workload
- Confirm budget and approval path
- Review compliance requirements
- Decide AWS, Azure or hybrid direction
Need a second pair of eyes before migration?
Run a migration readiness reviewApplication and infrastructure discovery
- Applications
- Databases
- Storage
- Integrations
- Users
- Authentication
- DNS
- Certificates
- Firewalls
- Third-party services
- Data flows
- Legacy dependencies
Migration strategy
Most estates need a mix of strategies — not one.
| Strategy | What it means | Best for | Risk level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rehost | Lift-and-shift to IaaS | Speed, deadline-driven moves | Low |
| Replatform | Move with small optimisations | Quick wins on cost or ops | Low–Medium |
| Refactor | Redesign for cloud-native | Long-term scale and cost | High |
| Retire | Decommission unused workloads | Estates with sprawl | Low |
| Retain | Keep on-prem for now | Regulatory or technical lock-in | Low |
| Replace | Move to SaaS equivalent | Commodity workloads | Medium |
Want the checklist version?
Use this guide as a starting point, then speak to IG CloudOps if you want a practical review of your AWS or Azure environment.
Cost and commercial planning
- Current run cost baseline
- Target cloud cost estimate
- Licensing (BYOL, Azure Hybrid Benefit, EC2 BYOL)
- Data transfer / egress
- Reserved instances and savings plans
- Right-sizing assumptions
- Monitoring costs
- Backup costs
- Support costs
- Post-migration optimisation budget
Security and governance
- IAM / Entra ID design
- MFA enforced
- Privileged access controls
- Network segmentation
- Centralised logging
- Encryption at rest and in transit
- Backup policy
- Patch management
- Compliance evidence
- Policy enforcement (SCPs / Azure Policy)
- Audit trails
Cutover planning
- Migration waves defined
- End-to-end testing
- Rollback plan
- Change freeze windows
- Communication plan
- DNS change plan
- Data sync approach
- Go / no-go criteria
- Incident cover during cutover
- Post-cutover monitoring
After migration
- Cost review at 30 / 60 / 90 days
- Security posture review
- Performance review
- Monitoring validation
- Documentation completed
- Support handover signed off
- Continuous improvement plan
How IG CloudOps helps
AWS migration assessment
Azure migration readiness review
Landing zone preparation
Cost governance
Risk management
Modernisation projects
Post-migration managed support
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
Related resources
Need help turning this into action?
IG CloudOps can review your AWS or Azure setup, identify risks, prioritise improvements, and support your team with practical engineering help.