Rehost (lift-and-shift) for speed; replatform for quick wins (managed DBs); refactor only where cloud-native pays; repurchase when SaaS beats owning; retire the surprising 10–20% nobody uses; retain what regulation or physics pins down.
Dependency mapping, data gravity, and license implications per workload — the week of analysis that prevents the quarter of surprises.
Move in dependency-ordered waves with rollback windows; prove the pattern on low-risk workloads before the crown jewels travel.
Lift-and-shift without follow-up optimization recreates the datacenter at cloud prices — schedule the replatforming pass or watch the bill prove it.
Skipping the discipline this article describes until an incident, audit, or stalled project forces it — every practice above is cheaper adopted early than retrofitted under pressure.
Let's discuss how we can help you with cloud migration 6rs.