After working on dozens of enterprise cloud programmes, a consistent pattern emerges: the technology rarely fails. The migration strategy, organisational readiness, and governance model fail first.
The three most common failure modes
1. Lift-and-shift without a target state
Moving workloads to the cloud without redesigning for cloud-native patterns simply relocates cost and complexity. The bill goes up; the agility does not.
2. Unclear ownership after migration
When application teams, infrastructure teams, and cloud platform teams all have partial responsibility, incidents become coordination exercises. Clear RACI before migration prevents operational debt.
3. Skills gap treated as a training problem
Cloud skills are not acquired through a two-week certification course. Organisations need embedded expertise, paired delivery, and a realistic timeline for capability building.
Successful migrations start with honest assessment, sequenced delivery, and architecture governance that survives the programme — not just the go-live date.