Migrating to the cloud is a transformative step for any organisation. Yet research shows that over 60% of cloud migrations either exceed budget, miss deadlines, or fail to deliver expected value. Here are the most common pitfalls — and how to sidestep them.

1. Poor Infrastructure Mapping

Many teams rush to move workloads without fully understanding their existing dependencies. This leads to broken integrations, latency surprises, and costly rework. Solution: Conduct a thorough dependency map and classify workloads by complexity before touching a single server.

2. Underestimating Cost of Data Egress

Cloud providers charge for moving data out of their environments. These egress fees can balloon silently. Solution: Model your data flows in advance. Use cost calculators and consider a multi-cloud or hybrid strategy for high-volume data transfer scenarios.

Did you know? Over 30% of cloud spend is wasted on idle or over-provisioned resources. Right-sizing from day one saves more than you'd expect.

3. Security Alignment Gaps

Your on-premise security policies don't always translate to the cloud. Misconfigured storage buckets, weak IAM roles, and unencrypted traffic are among the top causes of cloud breaches. Solution: Adopt a "security-by-design" approach. Automate policy enforcement with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools.

4. The "Lift and Shift" Trap

Moving legacy applications to the cloud without refactoring often negates the benefits of cloud elasticity. You end up paying premium prices for what is essentially an on-premise setup in a remote data centre. Our approach: We prioritise "Lift and Shift" only where strictly necessary, focusing instead on "Refactoring" to leverage cloud-native features that drive long-term cost efficiency and performance.

5. Ignoring Compliance Early

Regulatory requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2) vary by industry and geography. Discovering non-compliance mid-migration can halt the entire process. Solution: Involve your compliance team from the planning phase. Always perform a rigorous security audit before the final cutover.

At OZAVEX, we bring method to the migration. Our structured frameworks de-risk every phase — from discovery to go-live and beyond.