Migrating to Azure is one of the most impactful decisions an organisation can make, but it requires careful planning to avoid costly missteps. After guiding dozens of migrations, we've distilled our experience into a comprehensive checklist.
Start with a thorough discovery and assessment phase. Catalogue all workloads, dependencies, and data flows. Tools like Azure Migrate can automate much of this, but don't rely on them exclusively — you need conversations with application owners to understand the nuances that automated tools miss.
Architecture decisions made early in the migration have long-lasting consequences. Define your landing zone architecture before moving any workloads. This includes your subscription structure, networking topology, identity integration, and governance policies.
Security must be baked in from the start, not bolted on later. Implement Azure Policy to enforce guardrails, use Azure Defender for threat detection, and ensure all network traffic flows through your security controls. Plan for key management, secret rotation, and certificate lifecycle from day one.
Cost management is an ongoing discipline, not a one-time exercise. Tag all resources consistently, set up budgets and alerts, and review spending monthly. Reserved Instances and Savings Plans can dramatically reduce compute costs once you understand your steady-state usage patterns.