The 7 Rs of Cloud Migration: A Practitioner’s Framework for Moving Workloads to the Cloud
Cloud migration is not simply about moving applications and data from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. Organizations also need to decide how each workload should be handled, and the 7 Rs framework provides a structured way to make those decisions. The NASSCOM Community article covering the “7 Rs of Cloud Migration” focuses on using these seven strategies to evaluate workloads individually rather than applying one migration approach across an entire organization. The framework is widely used in cloud migration planning to balance factors such as business value, technical complexity, cost, risk and modernization goals.
The seven approaches are Retire, Retain, Rehost, Relocate, Repurchase, Replatform and Refactor. Retire means decommissioning workloads that are no longer needed, while Retain means keeping applications where they are when there is a reason not to migrate them. Rehost, often called “lift and shift,” moves a workload with minimal changes, while Relocate moves an underlying infrastructure environment with limited application changes. The remaining options involve progressively greater changes. Repurchase replaces an existing application with a SaaS product, Replatform makes targeted improvements while moving the workload, and Refactor involves redesigning an application for a more cloud-native architecture. The important point is that not every workload needs the same strategy. Some applications may be candidates for retirement, while others may benefit from modernization. Assessing applications individually can help organizations avoid spending time and money modernizing systems that no longer provide enough business value.
The takeaway is that successful cloud migration starts with making the right decision for each workload—not simply moving everything to the cloud. The 7 Rs give organizations a framework for evaluating those choices before migration begins.
Retiring Lawson, PeopleSoft, or Oracle? APIX archives the entire application — every table, every year, attachments and security included — into your own AWS account in about 30 days, so you can decommission the legacy system and keep full access to the history.
