Cloud migration: how to avoid technical pitfalls and critical interruptions?

Cloud migration has become almost mandatory for growing businesses. It's more flexible, more cost-effective in the long run, and better suited to modern collaboration workflows. Moving to a cloud environment is often seen as a natural evolution—but in reality, it's a delicate operation.

The benefits are real, but so are the risks: service disruption, data loss, or poor integration. Companies that dive in without proper preparation often find themselves in unstable—or even critical—situations.

At ONYX IMK, we help organizations migrate in a structured, secure way, with no downtime. Here's how we do it—and what you must anticipate.

Why cloud migration isn’t something you can improvise

Cloud migration is not just a matter of "moving files" or "lifting servers."

It requires rethinking your entire IT architecture—its dependencies, performance, vulnerabilities, and how your teams rely on it daily.

A poorly scoped project can lead to:

• unexpected service outages,
• irreversible data loss,
• overconsumption of cloud resources (and ballooning costs),
• loss of control over data ownership or location.

This is especially true for legacy infrastructures (on-prem hosting, outdated Windows servers, undocumented hardwired connections...).

Many organizations don’t realize they’re still hosting critical, non-cloud-compatible components—or that migrating them could silently break key business processes.

The cloud is not an elevator to modernity. It’s an architecture project.

The most common mistakes (and their real-world consequences)

Our experience shows that four mistakes come up repeatedly:

1. No functional mapping or dependency inventory.
   Result: a key component is left behind, breaking workflows or access routes.

2. Underestimating technical debt.
   Apps running on Access 2003, hardcoded database links, forgotten admin credentials… These things blow up fast when the environment changes.

3. Skipping staging and testing environments.
   Migrating in a single leap without test replication is risky—especially when critical tools are in play.

4. Thinking it’s fully outsourceable.
   Migration is a business and technical process. It only succeeds with coordination between your internal teams and external experts. No one knows your systems better than you.

Our method: a migration that starts long before the move

At ONYX IMK, we never launch a migration without an upfront diagnostic phase. Our approach has three key steps:

1. Assessing your existing infrastructure

We perform a full system audit:

• app and service mapping,
• database inventory,
• internal flow review (APIs, scripts, cross-service connections),
• performance and bottleneck analysis.

This lets us determine what can be migrated “as-is” (Lift & Shift), what needs refactoring, and what should be retired or replaced.

2. Designing the target architecture

Based on your usage, security priorities, and budget, we select the right cloud platform (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

We then define:

• staging and production environments,
• automation tools (Terraform, Ansible),
• security strategies (encryption, access control, monitoring),
• cutover/rollback conditions.

3. Operational migration and validation

We migrate progressively, with automated testing at each step (integration, load, and performance tests).

Once everything is validated, we provide:

• active post-migration monitoring (CPU, memory, app-level errors),
• full documentation,
• knowledge transfer to your internal teams.

A smart cloud migration is also cost-optimized

One of the cloud’s biggest traps is hidden overconsumption: idle services left running, bloated storage, no shutdown policies...

Result: unexpected costs.

That’s why we integrate governance early in the process:

• resource quotas,
• budget alerts,
• serverless setups when appropriate,
• tiered storage rules.

A good cloud project reduces costs. It doesn’t just move them elsewhere.

Not ready yet? You can still begin

Every smart migration starts with a clear, honest assessment. Even if you’re not ready to move today, it’s worth knowing where you stand.

We offer short diagnostics (1–2 days), no commitment, to give you a roadmap:

• what’s ready to migrate,
• what needs fixing first,
• what to postpone or refactor later.

With that in hand, you stay in control—fully informed.