Why cloud migrations often fail (and how to spot the warning signs early)
The pressure to move to the cloud is growing, but few organisations pause to ask: is this truly the right move for our business? A surprising number of migrations fail, not because the technology isn’t ready, but because the approach isn’t.
According to Gartner, up to 60% of cloud migrations underperform, stall, or need to be reversed. These are not just technical hiccups. They’re organisational setbacks with real and often big business consequences: spiraling costs, missed deadlines, security blind spots, and a dangerous overreliance on hyperscalers.
In this article, we’ll discuss:
- Why so many cloud migrations go wrong
- How to recognize early warning signs others miss
- Practical steps to de-risk your strategy
- Why digital sovereignty and open source private cloud are no longer niche ideas, but strategic necessities
Cloud is not a destination, it’s an operating model
The first myth we need to address is that cloud is a place you “go to.” This mindset leads to “lift-and-shift” migrations that simply move legacy pain into someone else’s data centre, often at a higher cost.
Instead, the cloud should be seen as an operating model: scalable, automated, resilient, and service-oriented. Whether you’re using AWS, Azure, or a private cloud technology, the real goal is cloud capability, not cloud location.
Tip: Benchmark your cloud strategy not just by where your workloads live, but by how flexible, observable, and portable they are.
The real reasons cloud migrations fail
We’ve seen dozens of failed or painful migrations. Patterns emerge. Here are the most common, and least discussed, failure points:
1. Data gravity is underestimated
Data has “gravity”: the more you have, the harder and costlier it is to move. Many migrations stall when teams realise that moving 15PB of live production data is not as trivial (or affordable) as initially assumed.
2. Application interdependencies are invisible until it’s too late
A legacy CRM might quietly rely on a shared file system that your team planned to decommission. That forgotten batch job running at 2AM? It breaks the moment DNS changes. These small dependencies cause big disruptions.
Tip: Use a service dependency mapping tool before migration begins. If you don’t have one, ask your SRE or infrastructure team to create an application topology map manually, it’s worth the time.
3. Skills mismatch
Cloud-native infrastructure assumes teams can think in Kubernetes, IaC, and observability. But many IT departments are still structured around static VM thinking. The result? Fancy platforms with underutilised capabilities.
Tip: Invest in training early. Don’t just migrate systems, migrate skills.
4. Cloud economics don’t match expectations
What starts as a cost-saving initiative can balloon. Egress fees, API calls, reserved instance commitments, they all add up. Worse: you may find that your “optimized” workload actually costs more than before.
Tip: Run a total cost of ownership (TCO) model including worst-case scenarios before committing to a hyperscaler.
Spot the warning signs early
The earlier you catch a misalignment, the cheaper and easier it is to fix. Look out for:
Surprise sign: If your cloud provider sends a dedicated success manager before you’ve migrated anything, it’s often because they know how often these projects fail, and they’re trying to control the narrative.
What successful migrations do differently
We’ve worked with organisations that nailed their migration. Here’s what they all had in common:
1. Sovereignty is considered upfront
Data location, operational autonomy, and vendor flexibility aren’t afterthoughts, they’re part of the design. This is why digital sovereignty is now a board-level conversation, especially in the EU.
2. Open source private cloud is on the table
Forward-thinking teams are combining open technologies like Kubernetes, OpenStack, and Ceph to build their ownclouds, either fully private or in hybrid setups. This allows them to scale flexibly without handing over full control to a third party.
Example: A European telco we advised reduced its public cloud spend by nearly half by replatforming onto a private Ceph+Kubernetes stack for data-intensive workloads.
3. Cloud-native thinking is baked into culture
Teams that succeed see the cloud as a philosophy: self-service, automation, observability, and failure-resilience. It’s not just tech, it’s habit.
The future of cloud is hybrid, open, and sovereign
As regulations tighten (NIS2, GDPR, DORA) and cloud bills rise, organisations are re-evaluating what cloud freedom really means. The future isn’t just hyperscale or bust, it’s about having choice.
And no, it’s not just for tech giants. Even small and medium-sized enterprises are now adopting open source clouds to regain control, reduce costs, and stay agile.
Final thought: migrate with intent, not with hope
Cloud migration isn’t a checkbox. It’s a strategic transformation that requires architecture, foresight, and governance. And more than anything, it requires the courage to ask uncomfortable questions before it’s too late.
If you’re considering a migration, or untangling a complex one, and want to explore whether open source private cloud fits into your strategy, let’s talk. Our team helps organisations design resilient, sovereign cloud architectures with no surprises.
