Organisations that rush to the cloud without assessing readiness face cost overruns, performance issues, security gaps, and failed migrations. This assessment evaluates your readiness across five dimensions, produces a readiness score, and guides your migration sequencing.
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The 5 Readiness Dimensions
Cloud migrations fail 70% of the time
Gartner estimates that through 2025, 99% of cloud security failures are the customer's fault. Readiness assessment prevents the most common failure modes.
- 1
Technical Readiness
Are your applications cloud-compatible? Do you have the networking knowledge (VPC, subnets, security groups) to build a secure landing zone? Are your workloads containerisable or virtualisable?
- 2
Financial Readiness
Do you understand cloud pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot)? Have you run a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis? Cloud can cost more than on-prem if poorly optimised.
- 3
People & Skills Readiness
Does your team have cloud certifications or hands-on experience? Have you identified skills gaps? Do you have a plan to upskill or hire? Consider a cloud partner for the initial migration.
- 4
Process & Governance Readiness
Do you have change management? Can you enforce tagging policies, budget alerts, and security baselines in cloud? Is there a cloud Centre of Excellence (CoE) or governance team?
- 5
Compliance & Security Readiness
What compliance frameworks apply (PCI-DSS, GDPR, ISO 27001, HIPAA)? Does your cloud provider have the relevant certifications? Can you meet your obligations in a shared-responsibility model?
Application Portfolio - The 7Rs Framework
| Strategy | Description | When to Use | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retire | Decommission the application - no cloud migration needed | App is end-of-life, unused, or replaced by SaaS | Low |
| Retain | Keep on-premise for now - do not migrate | Regulatory constraint, recent investment, or dependency on physical hardware | None |
| Rehost (Lift & Shift) | Move to cloud without code changes (VM to IaaS) | Fast migration, limited time, app is compatible with cloud VM | Low-Medium |
| Replatform | Move with minor optimisations (e.g. MySQL → RDS) | Want managed services benefits without full refactor | Medium |
| Repurchase | Replace with a SaaS equivalent (e.g. CRM → Salesforce) | Better SaaS alternative exists at lower TCO | Medium (data migration) |
| Refactor / Re-architect | Redesign to be cloud-native (microservices, serverless) | Need cloud-native scale, agility, or resilience | High - long-term benefit |
| Relocate | Move infrastructure between cloud providers or regions | Cost optimisation, sovereignty, or DR requirements | Medium |
Retire
- Description
- Decommission the application - no cloud migration needed
- When to Use
- App is end-of-life, unused, or replaced by SaaS
- Effort
- Low
Retain
- Description
- Keep on-premise for now - do not migrate
- When to Use
- Regulatory constraint, recent investment, or dependency on physical hardware
- Effort
- None
Rehost (Lift & Shift)
- Description
- Move to cloud without code changes (VM to IaaS)
- When to Use
- Fast migration, limited time, app is compatible with cloud VM
- Effort
- Low-Medium
Replatform
- Description
- Move with minor optimisations (e.g. MySQL → RDS)
- When to Use
- Want managed services benefits without full refactor
- Effort
- Medium
Repurchase
- Description
- Replace with a SaaS equivalent (e.g. CRM → Salesforce)
- When to Use
- Better SaaS alternative exists at lower TCO
- Effort
- Medium (data migration)
Refactor / Re-architect
- Description
- Redesign to be cloud-native (microservices, serverless)
- When to Use
- Need cloud-native scale, agility, or resilience
- Effort
- High - long-term benefit
Relocate
- Description
- Move infrastructure between cloud providers or regions
- When to Use
- Cost optimisation, sovereignty, or DR requirements
- Effort
- Medium
Technical Readiness Checklist
Readiness Scoring Matrix
Score each dimension from 1–5. Multiply by the weight to get a weighted score. Sum all weighted scores for your overall readiness out of 100.
| Dimension | Weight | Sample Score (1–5) | Weighted Score | Band Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | 30% | 3 | 9/15 | 1–2: Not ready (6+ months work). 3: Partially ready (3–6 months). 4–5: Ready to begin. |
| Financial | 20% | 4 | 8/10 | |
| People & Skills | 20% | 2 | 4/10 | < 50 total: Do not migrate yet. 50–70: Proceed with partner support. |
| Process & Governance | 15% | 3 | 4.5/7.5 | 70–85: Solid foundation, proceed with low-risk workloads first. |
| Compliance & Security | 15% | 4 | 6/7.5 | 85–100: High readiness - proceed with confidence. |
| TOTAL | 100% | 31.5/50 | Divide total by 0.5 to get /100 score |
Technical
- Weight
- 30%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- 3
- Weighted Score
- 9/15
- Band Interpretation
- 1–2: Not ready (6+ months work). 3: Partially ready (3–6 months). 4–5: Ready to begin.
Financial
- Weight
- 20%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- 4
- Weighted Score
- 8/10
- Band Interpretation
People & Skills
- Weight
- 20%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- 2
- Weighted Score
- 4/10
- Band Interpretation
- < 50 total: Do not migrate yet. 50–70: Proceed with partner support.
Process & Governance
- Weight
- 15%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- 3
- Weighted Score
- 4.5/7.5
- Band Interpretation
- 70–85: Solid foundation, proceed with low-risk workloads first.
Compliance & Security
- Weight
- 15%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- 4
- Weighted Score
- 6/7.5
- Band Interpretation
- 85–100: High readiness - proceed with confidence.
TOTAL
- Weight
- 100%
- Sample Score (1–5)
- Weighted Score
- 31.5/50
- Band Interpretation
- Divide total by 0.5 to get /100 score
What’s next?