Cloud migration is no longer just an infrastructure decision.
Historically, organisations moved to the cloud to reduce costs, improve resilience and simplify operations. Those benefits still matter, but the rise of AI has changed the business case. Cloud platforms now provide the foundation for data access, analytics, automation and AI-enabled ways of working.
Most organisations are not starting from scratch. They are balancing AI ambitions against legacy technology, fragmented data and existing investments. Before committing to a cloud transformation programme, there are six key questions I always ask leadership teams to consider.
How AI-ready is your data?
AI depends on data that is accessible, well-governed and trusted. Yet many organisations still struggle with siloed systems, inconsistent definitions and unclear ownership.
Before investing in AI capabilities, understand what data you have, where it resides and how it supports business decision-making. A migration initiative is often a good opportunity to improve data quality and governance before moving it elsewhere.
What should you stop doing before you start migrating?
Cloud programmes can become expensive when every application, database and process is treated as a migration candidate.
Take the opportunity to simplify. Retire redundant systems, rationalise overlapping capabilities and reduce technical debt. The less complexity you carry forward, the easier it becomes to modernise and innovate. In my experience it’s not unusual to find 20-30% of business applications aren’t actually being used.
What business outcomes are you trying to achieve?
A technically successful migration does not automatically deliver business value.
You need to define the outcomes first. Whether the goal is faster reporting, improved customer experience, greater operational efficiency or enabling AI use cases, those priorities should shape investment decisions and implementation plans.
Can your governance and security model support AI adoption?
The wider use of cloud and AI increases the importance of data protection, access management, compliance and oversight.
Governance should enable innovation, not slow it down. Establish clear principles for security, data ownership and responsible AI use, while keeping controls practical enough to evolve alongside the technology. One of my FS clients reduced their cloud spend by 20% by automating governance and applying Azure best practices.
Is your cloud architecture designed for future requirements?
Many migration programmes focus on replicating existing environments in the cloud. The risk is that yesterday’s architecture becomes tomorrow’s constraint. I worked with a chartered accountancy firm on an Azure-based modernisation programme. Rather than replicating on-premise designs in the cloud we used cloud-native services to reduce infrastructure complexity and create a more scalable foundation for future growth.
Design for flexibility. Cloud foundations should be able to support future AI, analytics and data initiatives without requiring significant redesign.
How will this change the way your organisation operates?
The greatest value rarely comes from moving workloads alone. It comes from the ability to work differently. I helped a global mining client rethink its cloud migration approach to design multi-region landing zones to enable future growth in data and AI workloads. This was more about business ambition than operational efficiency.
Cloud platforms can enable faster decision-making, greater collaboration, automation and more scalable operating models. Realising those benefits requires changes to processes, ways of working and organisational responsibilities, not just technology.
The migration itself is only the beginning.
