Your cloud isn’t a destination, it’s a decision chain

Map your workloads to provider strengths: AWS for broadest services and ecosystem, Azure for Microsoft integrations/enterprise hybrid, GCP for data/AI/ML workloads. Audit current tech stack, compliance needs (HIPAA/GDPR/SOC2), and regional data sovereignty requirements first. Run PoCs on shortlisted providers using their free tiers to benchmark cost, latency, and tooling fit. Factor in pricing models (reserved instances, spot VMs), exit strategies, and partner ecosystem maturity. Prioritize providers aligning with your 12-24 month roadmap over short-term discounts.

Use the 6 R's framework: Rehost (lift-and-shift) for low-risk apps, Replatform for minor optimizations, Refactor for cloud-native gains, Repurchase (SaaS), Retire obsolete systems, Retain on-prem. Start with discovery—inventory apps, dependencies, data flows, and business criticality. Migrate in waves using blue-green deployments or canary releases with automated rollback. Leverage managed migration services (AWS DMS, Azure Database Migration) and parallel run testing. Monitor cutover with synthetic traffic and maintain fallback plans for 30 days post-migration.

Implement FinOps practices: tag resources for cost allocation, set budgets/alerts, and review usage weekly. Right-size instances using metrics-driven recommendations (AWS Compute Optimizer), reserve capacity for predictable workloads, and use spot/preemptible for dev/test. Enable auto-scaling, serverless (Lambda/Functions), and storage lifecycle policies. Containerize with Kubernetes + autoscaling, and consolidate underutilized resources. Track savings via cost explorers and aim for 20-30% reduction quarterly without SLA impacts.

Adopt multi-cloud/hybrid from day one using open standards (Kubernetes, Terraform IaC, CNCF tools). Containerize apps early and use managed Kubernetes services (EKS/AKS/GKE) for portability. Abstract infrastructure with IaC (Terraform/Pulumi) and service meshes (Istio) instead of native APIs. Standardize on open protocols (REST/gRPC, Kafka) for integrations, avoid proprietary lock-ins like vendor-specific databases. Design for data portability with regular exports and test migrations annually.

Public cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP) offers shared infrastructure with pay-as-you-go, massive scale, and managed services but less control over underlying hardware. Private cloud runs dedicated infrastructure (on-prem or hosted) for compliance-heavy workloads needing isolation and customization. Hybrid combines both, core apps stay private while burstable/dev/test leverage public, using consistent management planes (VMware Tanzu, Anthos). Choose based on regulation (public for most, private for finance/healthcare), cost tolerance, and agility needs.

Implement zero-trust architecture: identity-first (IAM roles, MFA), network segmentation (VPCs, security groups), and encryption everywhere (TLS 1.3, KMS). Deploy WAF, DDoS protection, and container security scanning (Trivy/Falco). Use compliance-as-code (OPA, Sentinel) and automated audits against CIS benchmarks, SOC2/HIPAA/GDPR. Enable logging (CloudWatch/Stackdriver) with SIEM integration and conduct quarterly pen tests. Train teams on shared responsibility model—provider secures infra, you secure apps/data.

Core infra: CPU/memory utilization (>70% waste signal), storage IOPS/efficiency, network throughput/latency. Cost KPIs: cost per transaction/user, reserved vs. on-demand ratio, savings plan coverage. Availability: uptime SLAs, error rates, recovery time/point. Scaling: auto-scaling events, queue depths, cache hit ratios. Business: revenue per compute hour, developer velocity (deploy frequency). Dashboard via CloudWatch/Grafana with weekly reviews.

Lift-and-shift (rehost) for stable, non-critical apps with 6-12 month migration deadlines—quick wins preserving code. Modernize (refactor/replatform) when facing scalability limits, high licensing costs, or needing cloud-native features like serverless/microservices. Assess via migration readiness: if app is monolithic/stateful/DB-heavy, rehost first. Modernize if stateless, API-driven, or needing auto-scaling/ML integration. Hybrid approach: rehost database, refactor app layer over 18 months.