You decided to move to the cloud — but what comes next? A successful migration doesn’t start with moving your first workload; it starts with solid planning. Only with a well-thought-out roadmap and a structured Cloud Adoption Plan can strategic goals be translated into measurable results.
In this second part from our blog series Successfully Migrate & Modernize with the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, we show you how to prepare your migration in a targeted way — through five consecutive steps tailored to your organization.
Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (© Microsoft)
Why Planning Is the Key to Cloud Success
A cloud migration affects not only servers and data but also people, processes and responsibilities. Without a clear plan, the risk of budget overruns, project delays, resistance within departments or security and compliance violations increases. The planning phase helps address these risks systematically — through structured work packages for startups and enterprise organizations alike.
Before defining goals or selecting technologies, you need a clear view of your current IT landscape. A structured analysis includes:
- System Inventory: Which applications, databases, servers and networks are in use?
- Dependencies: Which systems depend on each other? Which can be decoupled?
- Shadow IT & Legacy: Which systems are undocumented or outdated?
- Costs and Operations: Which systems currently require the most effort?
💡 Tip: A Cloud Readiness Assessment
helps identify weaknesses and develop realistic migration paths.
The 5 Steps of Cloud Adoption Planning 🛠️
1. Prepare the Organization – Define Roles, Responsibilities and Structure
A successful cloud migration starts with clear structures and responsibilities. A well-designed Cloud Operating Model defines how governance, security and operations interact — forming the organizational foundation for change. Depending on maturity and company size, different models apply: from centralized control to shared responsibilities or decentralized approaches for experienced teams. It’s important to choose a model early that fits the current state and to evolve it as cloud experience grows.
Equally crucial is clarifying responsibilities: Who defines the cloud strategy? Who ensures security, compliance and governance? Who operates applications and infrastructure? These questions should not only be answered but also documented and regularly reviewed — ideally with executive support.
Even during planning, governance, security and operations should be considered: from policies on cost control and resource use, to security requirements and operational processes like monitoring and support. These topics accompany the cloud journey permanently and should be considered from the start.
💡 Tip: A clear organizational foundation is key to successful cloud migration — invest early in structure, roles and responsibilities.
2. Prepare People – Identify and Develop Skills
The success of your cloud migration largely depends on your employees’ skills. Get a clear overview of existing competencies to plan targeted training and development. Identify the skills needed for architecture, security, operations and development and systematically close knowledge gaps.
- Plan Trainings & Certifications: Create individual learning paths with suitable training, certifications and hands-on projects. This prepares your teams for cloud technologies and modern ways of working.
- Continuous Skill Management: Because cloud environments change rapidly, ongoing training is essential. Ensure regular skill updates to remain competitive long-term.
💡 Tip: Involve not only IT — departments like Security & Compliance also need to be “cloud-ready.”
3. Plan the Migration – Inventory and Migration Strategy
A successful cloud migration starts with a complete inventory of your existing IT systems and workloads. Only those who know exactly what they have can develop a sound migration strategy.
- Record IT Inventory: Document all systems, applications and their dependencies to create transparency about complexity and interfaces.
- Choose Migration Strategies: Depending on workload requirements and condition, select suitable approaches: Rehost (Lift & Shift), Refactor, Rearchitect or others. This strategy should balance business goals and technical prerequisites.
- Evaluate Workloads: Assess workloads by complexity, dependencies and business value to prioritize effectively and plan effort realistically.
- Estimate Cloud Costs: Include cloud costs in your planning and create a budget plan. Use FinOps principles to make costs transparent and manage them sustainably.
💡 Tip: Start with manageable workloads to gain experience and gradually optimize your migration.
4. Plan Architecture – Define the Target State
A clear and well-documented architecture is the basis for successful cloud adoption and reliable cost planning. Only with a clear target state can technical requirements, governance and budget be realistically represented.
- Define Platform & Workload Architecture: Define both the platform architecture (e.g., Azure Landing Zone) and the architecture of individual applications to ensure technical and business requirements align.
- Azure Landing Zone as Foundation: Use an Azure Landing Zone as a secure, scalable starting point for your cloud environment. It includes core components such as identity, networking and governance, supporting long-term scalability and compliance.
- Select Services and SKUs: Choose appropriate Azure services and service tiers (SKUs) based on performance, security policies and cost optimization. Consider managed services for cloud-native workloads to reduce operational costs.
- Plan Regional Deployment: Decide whether workloads will run in one or multiple Azure regions — depending on availability, latency and compliance requirements.
- Estimate Costs Realistically: Use tools like the Azure Pricing Calculator and pilot projects to precisely estimate costs and identify optimization potential.
💡 Tip: Start small and gradually expand your architecture with increasing cloud maturity and business growth.
5. Document the Cloud Adoption Plan – A Roadmap with Substance
A comprehensively documented Cloud Adoption Plan creates transparency, ensures clear responsibilities and guarantees alignment among all stakeholders. It is the central control instrument for your cloud journey.
- Integrate Standards and Frameworks: Use proven templates and adapt them to your individual requirements — whether migration or cloud-native development. Ensure your plan aligns with company-wide policies and governance frameworks.
- Clearly Describe Organization and Teams: Document roles, responsibilities, and required skills. Define how cloud operations, security and governance are organized and plan targeted training.
- Detail Azure Landing Zone and Workloads: Keep architecture, workload inventory, migration strategies and cost estimates transparent. This helps you track priorities, dependencies, and progress at all times.
- Define Timelines and Milestones: Plan realistic windows for migration and rollout, including dependencies and key milestones. Set up a process to regularly review and adjust schedules.
💡 Tip: A living plan is a success factor — update it continuously to respond agilely to changes.
Conclusion: Better Planning Means Better Migration
Cloud migration doesn’t start in the data center — it starts in the mind. Systematic planning reduces risks, builds internal trust and accelerates implementation. With the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, the transition is structured and scalable.
Take advantage of the opportunities of digital transformation and start your cloud journey with a strong partner by your side. We analyze your existing infrastructure, develop a tailored Azure strategy and support you every step of the migration.
📅 Looking ahead: Blogpost #3 – Technically Ready for the Cloud
Next week, we’ll cover how to prepare your infrastructure: networks, identities, security — and first technical quick wins.