3 cloud migration pitfalls that can derail your project (and how to avoid them)

You’re considering migrating to AWS. And with all the hype surrounding it, that feels like an obvious choice. There’s the promise of greater agility, improved resilience, rock-solid security, and a more efficient way to manage costs.

But cloud migration is rarely that simple. It’s often complex, and businesses trying to do it all in-house can quickly become overwhelmed with delays, inflated costs and unanticipated challenges.

Here are three common pitfalls we see DIY projects running into time and again, and a clear path to avoiding them.

1. Planning paralysis

For many businesses, the hardest part of migration isn’t technical, it’s getting started. When your teams are already stretched to their limits, mapping out a project of this scale is easier said than done. This can result in ‘planning paralysis’, where the project stalls under the weight of its own complexity before it even begins.

Which workloads are truly business-critical? What dependencies exist between systems? How do you make sense of AWS’s hundreds of services to create real improvements? Without clear answers, the risk of costly mistakes keeps the project stuck in neutral.

The solution: a structured framework

You can break this deadlock with a proven, structured approach. An experienced partner brings focus, methodology and momentum. At Zen, our AWS Migration Services follow a four-step framework – Assess, Mobilise, Migrate and Operate – to create a clear, actionable roadmap that aligns technology decisions with your business goals. It turns an overwhelming task into a clearly defined, manageable project. Our approach aligns with AWS’s proven migration playbooks – including MAP and CAF – so you get a clear plan, built the right way, from day one.

2. The skills gap

Your team knows your business inside out. But designing, building and operating in the AWS cloud is a very different discipline from managing a traditional data centre, and overlooking or underestimating this point can have serious implications.

Without deep cloud expertise, you risk bottlenecks, outages, or even security gaps. While AWS secures the cloud itself, it’s your responsibility for securing what’s in it. Configuring services like EC2 or S3 incorrectly can leave sensitive data exposed, so it’s important to get this right from the start.

The solution: bridge the gap with partner expertise

With Zen, you work directly with professional-level AWS architects, and one of only 15 AWS Security SMEs worldwide, which means proven expertise when you need it most. We’ll work alongside your team, helping you design and build on proven best practices for security, performance and resilience. And in the process, we’ll also help upskill your own people, giving them the hands-on experience they need to manage the environment with confidence.

3. Budget control

Cost optimisation is one of the biggest drivers of cloud migration, but without planning it’s also one of the biggest risks. The nuances of AWS pricing models and the ongoing costs of services like AWS hosting can be complex to manage without experience.

Too many businesses migrate workloads without right-sizing them for the cloud, which often leads to overprovisioning, where you’re paying for capacity you don’t need.

The solution: design for cost efficiency

Cost control needs to be a core part of your migration plan. The best way to achieve this is by using the AWS Well-Architected Framework, a proven method designed to ensure your cloud architecture is as efficient and effective as possible.

At Zen, we design and build to Well Architected principles at every stage of the process, constantly balancing commercial and technical priorities. Add to that the exclusive funding programs we can access from AWS on your behalf, and you can be confident that cost efficiencies are built in from the very beginning. And because our team isn’t driven by sales commissions, every recommendation is focused on long-term value and cost optimisation – not quick wins.

Make cloud migration a success

A successful migration to AWS needs a clear strategy that addresses planning, skills and cost from the outset. By understanding these pitfalls, you can approach your migration confidently, making informed decisions along the way.

Partnering with a specialist provider like Zen provides the framework, expertise and ongoing support to help you successfully navigate these risks and get the cloud solution you need.

Discover AWS from Zen and avoid costly delays, strengthen security, and keep budgets under control with a migration you can trust.