The stages of a cloud transformation – and what not to forget
Why we do cloud transformation, not cloud migration.
Let’s jump into some definition-gymnastics.
We often tell our customers that we don’t do cloud migration. We do cloud transformation.
The difference?
Most of our customers are smart enough to spot the benefits of one over the other.
Cloud migration is when you move your digital estate from on-premise to the cloud.
When this migration is executed without any prior changes to the digital estate, it’s a lift-and-shift migration.
Some consider this a simple way of executing a cloud migration. In our modest opinion, it’s the opposite. It’s a certain way of complicating your IT.
And although there are several advanced services that support a well-executed and intelligent journey to the cloud (we humbly provide one of those), some organizations still choose to do this simple migration, where they move everything within their digital estate to the cloud. Without thinking twice. Sigh.
When organizations move the entire digital estate to the cloud in a headless lift-and-shift, they always bring a lot of stuff that they don’t need anymore. Shadow IT. Zombie servers.
You would be surprised how much unused IT is left lying around in the shadows of most IT infrastructures.
We find that up to 5% of servers are no longer in use and can be decommissioned. No need to move that to the cloud. And pay a good load of money to store it there. Obviously.
Moving everything without prior assessment and optimization never pays off. You’re just pushing the problems in front of you. Your future self will slap your forehead.
Cloud transformation is cloud migration's more intelligent cousin. This is when you clean up and optimize your digital estate before you move it to the cloud.
All we say is this.
Want to move your IT to the cloud? Go for it. Just make sure to map out what you have first.
Do an automated mapping of your IT infrastructure. Know what you have.
Now, clean it up before you move anything.
Dust off those servers. Eye out what is no longer in use. Get rid of that.
Really, what we’ve added to the conventional method of cloud migration, is the option for you to improve your IT.
Most of the organizations we work with, end up optimizing their digital estate before they transform.
- For some, that means reevaluating their resource utilization.
- For others, it means rightsizing by shutting down excess servers.
- For most, it means reducing costs on operations and maintenance.
The common denominator is that they improve now to ensure their future IT.
Since you are transforming your IT by moving to the cloud anyway, take this opportunity to improve it.
If you are moving to the cloud, don’t forget the before and after.
Full disclaimer: Mugato is not a tool for executing the cloud migration itself. Our main thing is giving you the full overview of your entire digital estate, help you optimize it to make sure it reaches the cloud in its best shape, and maintain the overview of your IT afterward.
As for the migration itself, Mugato will help monitor the process and visualize the ongoing cloud migration, so you can ensure that everything is going according to plan.
Importantly, once you’ve moved to the cloud, Mugato ensures continuous monitoring. So that your IT is managed based on facts about your digital estate. An always updated view of your IT.
We call this a continuous approach to cloud transformation. You can call it whatever you want. As long as you remember both the before and after of the actual migration, instead of just throwing all of your assets in the cloud.
Take your IT seriously:
- Take the time and resources needed to properly prepare for the cloud migration
- Monitor the progress of your cloud migration to ensure that it is going according to plan.
- Once it’s all in the cloud, keep monitoring your new IT environment. This is vital for successful cloud adoption. Keep an eye out, stay on top, don’t lose that overview of your IT again.
The stages of a cloud transformation?
In Mugato, we work with these four stages of a cloud transformation process:
Discover, plan, improve, and monitor.
1. DISCOVER ALL OF YOUR SERVERS, SYSTEMS, AND APPLICATIONS
Make sure to start with a detailed inventory of your existing digital estate. Do an exhaustive, automated mapping of connections and interdependencies. Know exactly what you have, and how it is connected.
2. PLAN YOUR CLOUD ADOPTION
Next up, get intelligent algorithmic advice with precise recommendations for planning your cloud adoption journey. This enables you to make informed decisions about your cloud plan based on application interdependencies and system functionality. No guesswork. Clear calculations based on your own data.
3. IMPROVE YOUR IT
Optimizing your digital estate before you move to the cloud. Get an unparalleled set of metrics to improve within a range of areas such as rightsizing, cost optimization, and risk mitigation. Depends on where your weak spots are. Mugato helps you identify them.
4. MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF YOUR CLOUD ADOPTION
Follow the evolvement of your systems during the cloud transformation process. Maintain oversight of your IT platform after the transformation. Don’t ever lose the overview of your IT again.

This is how we work in Mugato. Of course, there are other models and frameworks for the cloud migration process. No matter what you choose, we recommend that you go for a tool or service that is with you all the way. From preparation and planning to beyond the cloud migration itself.
We work with a cloud transformation process that is compatible with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF). We are Microsoft partners, and many of our partners and customers prefer Microsoft Azure as their cloud provider. That being said, Mugato is cloud-agnostic. We help you on your journey to the cloud regardless of which cloud provider best suits your needs.
If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s CAF, go explore here (English) or here (Danish).
For your cloud transformation to be successful, you need to know your existing digital estate, so you can plan your transformation with the right prioritizations.
In Mugato, we help you with just that.
Reach out for a talk about how we can support your cloud transformation.
MUGATO
Fruebjergvej 3
2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
CVR 40567852
info@mugato.com
+45 89808881

