The 7 Rs of Cloud Migration Strategies
The 7 Rs of cloud migration strategies are a set of approaches used by organisations to move applications, data and infrastructure to the cloud. Each ‘R’ represents a different method based on complexity, cost, risk and business goals.
Rehost (Lift and Shift)
Rehosting, otherwise known as lift and shift, involves moving your applications from an on-premise infrastructure onto the cloud without making any significant changes to the underlying architecture of your online ecosystem. This process is typically used when an organisation needs a fast, low-risk migration with minimal disruption to daily activities.
This strategy is ideal for legacy systems, projects with a smaller timeframe, or a company that is looking to gain cloud benefits like better scalability.
Relocate (Hypervisor-Level Lift and Shift)
Relocating is a similar process to rehosting that involves the moving of entire virtual machines from an on-site location to a cloud infrastructure using hypervisor-based tools, hence the name hypervisor-level lift and shift. Compared to standard application-level changes, this method will preserve your workloads as a complete unit which makes the whole process far faster.
This approach is ideal for any organisation using virtualised environments and wanting to migrate data centres with minimal downtime and disruption.
Replatform (Lift and Reshape)
Replatforming is also known as lift and reshape, and is the cyber migration policy where applications are moved to the cloud while small elements of optimisation are also being made. These improvements can be done for scalability, cost efficiency and/or performance.
These selective readjustment strategies work great for businesses looking to modernise their cyber systems without the time, complexity and expenses of full redevelopment.
Refactor (Rearchitect)
Refactor, or rearchitect, involves fundamentally redesigning applications to fully leverage cloud-native capabilities like microservices, automation and elastic scaling. This is the most complex and resource-intensive migration strategy but delivers the greatest long-term benefits in performance, flexibility and scalability.
Organisations choose this approach when their incumbent legacy systems limit innovation or when they require significant transformation to meet modern business demands.
Repurchase (Drop and Shop)
Repurchase, also known as drop and shop, involves replacing existing applications with cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. Instead of migrating legacy systems, organisations adopt new platforms that deliver similar functionality with built-in maintenance and updates.
This strategy is the most appropriate option for when your existing systems are outdated, costly to maintain or when you want faster deployment, improved features and reduced operational complexity.
Retire
The Retire strategy focuses on identifying applications, services or whole workloads that no longer provide sufficient business value and can be decommissioned. Removing outdated or redundant systems helps organisations lower operational expenses, reduce security vulnerabilities and simplify IT management.
During this method of cloud migration planning, this approach is commonly used to eliminate unnecessary assets, creating a more efficient technology environment and allowing resources to be directed toward systems that actively support business objectives and growth.
Retain (Revisit)
The final of the 7 R’s of cloud migration strategies is Retain, which is occasionally known as revisit. This process describes keeping certain applications or workloads within their current environment without immediate cloud migration. This approach is chosen when systems need further evaluation, if a full migration is not cost-effective, or if there are compliance requests to think about.
Organisations often retain workloads temporarily while planning future modernisation strategies or awaiting improved cloud readiness, infrastructure maturity or business alignment.
