Cloud migration isn't just for enterprise companies anymore. Small and medium-sized businesses are moving to the cloud to reduce costs, improve reliability, and scale without hiring dedicated infrastructure teams. But migration done wrong can be expensive and disruptive.
This guide walks you through the process we use with our clients — from planning to execution to optimization.
Why Migrate to the Cloud?
The business case for cloud migration comes down to three things:
- Cost reduction: Pay for what you use instead of maintaining expensive hardware. Most SMBs save 20-40% on infrastructure costs after migration.
- Reliability: Cloud providers offer 99.9%+ uptime SLAs, automated backups, and disaster recovery that would cost hundreds of thousands to build yourself.
- Scalability: Handle traffic spikes without buying new servers. Scale down during quiet periods to save money.
The 5-Phase Migration Process
Phase 1: Assessment
Inventory everything: applications, databases, file storage, email, DNS, SSL certificates, cron jobs, and third-party integrations. Map dependencies between systems. Identify which applications can move as-is ("lift and shift") versus which need modifications.
Phase 2: Planning
Choose your cloud provider (AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure), select the right service tier, estimate monthly costs, and create a timeline. Plan for a parallel-running period where both old and new systems are active.
Phase 3: Setup & Configuration
Provision cloud resources: compute instances, managed databases (RDS), object storage (S3), load balancers, and networking. Configure security groups, IAM roles, and monitoring.
Phase 4: Migration & Testing
Migrate data, deploy applications, configure DNS, and run comprehensive testing. This includes performance testing under load, security scanning, and user acceptance testing.
Phase 5: Optimization
After migration, monitor usage patterns and optimize. Right-size instances, implement auto-scaling, set up cost alerts, and enable reserved instances for predictable workloads.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Lifting and shifting everything: Some applications benefit from being re-architected for the cloud rather than just moved
- Ignoring data transfer costs: Moving large amounts of data out of the cloud can be surprisingly expensive
- Skipping the testing phase: Never go live without thorough testing in the cloud environment
- Not training your team: Cloud infrastructure requires different skills than managing physical servers
Cost Expectations
For a typical SMB running a web application with a database:
- Small (up to 10K monthly visitors): $50-150/month on AWS
- Medium (10K-100K visitors): $200-500/month
- Large (100K+ visitors): $500-2000/month depending on compute needs
These costs typically represent 30-50% savings compared to equivalent dedicated hosting with similar reliability guarantees.
