Cloud Modernization Services

Hire cloud modernization services when on-premise infrastructure renewal costs exceed cloud TCO over a 3-year horizon, when a new product requires elastic scale that on-prem cannot deliver, or when a company acquisition introduces cloud-native systems that must integrate with existing infrastructure.

• On-premise infrastructure renewal costs exceed cloud TCO over a 3-year horizon — hardware refresh cycles, data centre lease renewals, or end-of-support dates are forcing a decision
• A new product or feature requires elastic scale that on-premises infrastructure cannot provide within budget — burst capacity, global distribution, or rapid provisioning are blockers
• Compliance or data residency requirements are driving a multi-cloud or sovereign cloud decision — and internal teams lack the architecture experience to design a compliant solution
• Acquiring or integrating a company whose systems are cloud-native — and you need to establish a unified cloud operating model rather than running parallel infrastructure strategies indefinitely

Engagement Model Matrix

Cloud migrations fail in three predictable patterns: lift-and-shift without re-architecture creates immediate bill shock, egress costs are excluded from TCO models until the first invoice arrives, and 18 months post-migration unexpected costs drive repatriation — a pattern now affecting 53% of enterprises.

Cloud migration partner selection matters most for re-architecture and regulated-industry engagements. For straightforward lift-and-shift under 50 workloads, cloud vendor PSOs (AWS Professional Services, Azure Consulting) typically offer the fastest path. For complex re-architecture, specialist SIs with hyperscaler-independent track records outperform vendor-aligned consultancies.

How we evaluate: Ratings reflect verified delivery outcomes weighted by post-migration cost accuracy — the delta between estimated and actual cloud bill at 6 months is the single most predictive indicator of partner quality. Firms with consistent FinOps practices score highest. Ratings are updated quarterly.

Cloud migration vendors who propose no FinOps plan, who lack multi-cloud delivery evidence, or who offer fixed-price contracts for open-ended refactoring scope are the leading sources of post-migration cost overruns. These five red flags identify the proposals most likely to produce bill shock at month six.

Five Interview Questions to Ask Shortlisted Vendors

1. 01

   "Show us a FinOps model from a previous engagement — what was the initial estimate versus the actual cloud bill at 6 months, and what drove the variance?"

2. 02

   "What's your recommendation for reserved instance strategy on our workload profile — and how do you balance commitment risk against cost savings?"

3. 03

   "When do you recommend replatforming versus re-architecting, and what's the decision criteria — specifically, what data do you need to make that call for our workloads?"

4. 04

   "How do you model cloud egress costs in your TCO analysis — specifically for workloads that have heavy outbound data transfer to on-prem systems or third-party SaaS?"

5. 05

   "Have you had a migration fail or require partial repatriation? What happened, what was the primary cost driver, and what did you build into your process to prevent it recurring?"

A 50-server lift-and-shift takes 3–4 months; a 200-server re-architecture takes 12–18 months. Projects that compress timelines by skipping the assessment phase typically add 4–8 months through rework — the readiness assessment is the cheapest insurance against mid-migration surprises.

Key Deliverables

• Cloud readiness assessment report — workload inventory with migration strategy recommendation (rehost/replatform/refactor/retire/replace) and risk classification per workload
• TCO model with 3-year projection — compute, storage, networking (including egress), licensing premiums, reserved instance requirements, and support costs modelled separately
• Landing zone architecture — network topology, security baseline, identity federation, and account structure documented for the target cloud environment
• Migration wave plan — sequenced migration schedule with wave composition, parallel-run duration, rollback procedure, and go/no-go criteria for each wave
• FinOps runbook — cost monitoring dashboards, alerting thresholds, right-sizing cadence, and reserved instance review schedule for Day 2 operations
• Per-workload cutover runbooks — step-by-step cutover procedures with rollback steps, validation criteria, and escalation contacts for each migrated workload