For many UK organisations the server cupboard is becoming a liability. Hardware is ageing, support contracts are expensive, remote staff need secure access, and a single power cut or failed disk can stop the business. Moving to a public cloud platform promises resilience and flexibility, but migrations that are rushed or poorly planned often end with higher bills and the same old problems running on someone else’s computers.
This playbook is for UK businesses weighing up Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. It covers how to decide whether each workload belongs in the cloud, how the three providers compare for UK users, what UK GDPR and data residency mean in practice, a staged migration approach, and how to keep costs in pounds under control.
Key takeaways
- All three major providers operate UK data centre regions, so keeping data in the UK is straightforward.
- Choose a provider based on your existing skills, licences and applications rather than headline features.
- Decide a migration approach for each application individually; not everything should be rebuilt.
- Set up identity, networking, logging and budgets before moving the first workload.
- Cloud costs need active management; review them monthly and right-size continuously.
Is the cloud right for each of your workloads?
Cloud platforms are excellent for applications with variable demand, teams spread across locations, businesses that need stronger disaster recovery than they can afford on-premise, and anyone tired of hardware refresh cycles. They are less compelling for workloads with steady, predictable load that already run on recently purchased hardware, or for specialist systems tied to local equipment.
A sensible starting point is an inventory: list every application and server, who uses it, how critical it is, what data it holds and what it depends on. This alone often reveals forgotten systems that can be retired rather than migrated.
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud compared for UK organisations
| Consideration | Amazon Web Services | Microsoft Azure | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK regions | London region | UK South (London) and UK West (Cardiff) | London region |
| Typical strengths | Broadest range of services and a very large partner ecosystem | Close fit with Microsoft 365, Windows Server, SQL Server and Entra ID | Data analytics, BigQuery, Kubernetes and AI tooling |
| Good fit when | You want maximum flexibility and many managed services | Your business already runs largely on Microsoft | Analytics or containerised applications are central |
| Licensing notes | Bring-your-own-licence options available | Hybrid benefits can reduce costs for existing Windows and SQL licences | Sustained and committed use discounts |
For a typical UK SME using Microsoft 365, Azure is often the path of least resistance. For product companies building new applications, AWS or Google Cloud may suit better. The difference in raw price between providers is usually smaller than the difference made by good architecture and cost management.
The best cloud provider is usually the one your team can operate confidently, not the one with the longest feature list.
Data residency, UK GDPR and security principles
Keeping data in the UK
Deploying to a UK region keeps data at rest in the country, which simplifies conversations with customers and auditors. Remember that some services, support access and backups may involve processing elsewhere, so review each provider’s data processing terms. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, UK GDPR requires an appropriate legal mechanism, such as adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement.
The NCSC cloud security principles
The National Cyber Security Centre publishes fourteen cloud security principles covering areas such as data in transit protection, separation between customers, identity and authentication, and secure user management. They are a useful checklist when designing your environment and when assessing any supplier that will host services on your behalf.
Shared responsibility
The provider secures the underlying infrastructure; you remain responsible for how you configure it, who has access and how your applications handle data. Misconfiguration, rather than provider failure, is behind most cloud security incidents.
The migration journey in five stages
1. Discover
Complete the inventory, measure current utilisation and costs, and identify dependencies between systems. Tools from each provider can help collect this data automatically.
Pay particular attention to hidden dependencies: a reporting tool that reads directly from a database, a scanner that saves to a network share, or a supplier who connects over a fixed IP address. These connections are easy to miss and are the most common cause of surprises on migration day. Record the current monthly cost of running each system too, including hardware depreciation, support contracts, power and staff time, so the business case compares like with like.
2. Decide the approach per application
- Retire applications nobody uses.
- Replace with SaaS where a good product exists, for example moving a file server to SharePoint.
- Rehost (“lift and shift”) virtual machines with minimal change when speed matters.
- Replatform by moving databases to managed services or applications to containers.
- Refactor core applications to cloud-native designs when they need to scale or change frequently.
Most estates end up with a mix. Rehosting gets you out of the server room quickly; replatforming and refactoring are then scheduled for the applications where the benefits justify the effort. Retaining a small number of systems on-premise for a while, connected to the cloud over a secure link, is also perfectly acceptable if a supplier does not yet support cloud deployment.
3. Build the landing zone
Before migrating anything, set up the foundations: account or subscription structure, single sign-on with multi-factor authentication, network design, centralised logging, backup policies, budget alerts and infrastructure as code so the environment can be rebuilt reliably.
4. Migrate in waves
Start with low-risk systems to prove the process, then move more critical applications in planned waves with tested rollback plans. Communicate change windows to users in advance.
For each wave, write a short runbook covering the order of steps, data synchronisation, DNS changes, testing checks and the point at which you would decide to roll back. Schedule cut-overs for quieter periods, such as evenings or weekends outside month-end, and make sure the people who can verify that the business application works are available on the day.
5. Optimise and operate
After each wave, right-size resources, switch off development environments outside working hours, and consider commitment-based discounts once usage stabilises. Our cloud solutions and DevOps team treats optimisation as an ongoing monthly activity rather than a one-off exercise.
Resilience and disaster recovery done properly
One of the strongest reasons to move is the chance to design recovery in from the start rather than relying on a tape in someone’s car boot. Before migrating each application, agree two numbers with the people who depend on it:
- Recovery time objective (RTO): how long the business can cope without the system.
- Recovery point objective (RPO): how much recent data could be lost without serious harm.
A finance system might need an RPO of minutes and an RTO of a few hours, whereas an internal wiki could tolerate a day of both. These targets drive design choices such as database replication across availability zones, frequency of snapshots, whether a copy is kept in the second UK region, and how much standby capacity to pay for. Recovery plans should be tested at least annually by actually restoring a system into an isolated environment; a plan that has never been exercised is an assumption, not a plan.
Protecting backups from attackers
Ransomware groups increasingly target backups first. Use immutable or locked backup storage, keep backup administration separate from everyday administrator accounts, and protect it with strong multi-factor authentication.
Preparing your people for the change
Migrations change daily routines: how staff sign in, where files live, how printers and line-of-business applications are reached. Announce changes in good time, provide one-page guides for common tasks, and arrange floor-walking or a dedicated support channel for the first days after each wave. Ask a few enthusiastic users from each team to test early so problems are found before the whole company moves. Small communication steps like these prevent the flood of support calls that can make a technically successful migration feel like a failure.
Estimating costs in pounds
Cloud pricing is often quoted in US dollars, so the amount you pay in sterling can move with exchange rates unless your agreement bills in GBP. Build a small buffer into budgets and review actual spend each month.
| Item | Indicative cost (excl. VAT) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Migration assessment and plan | £2,500 – £8,000 | Inventory, target design, cost forecast |
| Landing zone set-up | £4,000 – £15,000 | Identity, networking, logging, guardrails |
| Migrating a simple application | £1,500 – £6,000 each | Rehost or light replatform |
| Running costs for a typical SME estate | £400 – £3,000 per month | Highly dependent on workloads and optimisation |
| Managed operations and monitoring | £500 – £2,500 per month | Patching, backups, alert response |
The fastest savings usually come from deleting unused resources, scheduling non-production environments and choosing smaller instance sizes than the on-premise servers they replace.
Pitfalls that turn migrations into headaches
- Moving everything as-is and expecting costs to fall automatically.
- Forgetting licensing implications for Windows Server, SQL Server and third-party software.
- Granting broad administrator access to many people because it is quicker.
- No tested backup and restore process in the new environment.
- Underestimating bandwidth and time needed to move large volumes of data.
- Not updating documentation and runbooks, leaving support staff guessing.
Skills and operating model after the move
Running cloud infrastructure well needs different habits from managing a server room: infrastructure as code, automated deployments, monitoring dashboards and regular cost reviews. Some businesses train an internal administrator, others use a managed service partner, and many combine both. Creensight UK provides UK-hours support from London backed by the cloud engineers of Creensight Private Limited in India, which allows cover beyond a single person’s working day. When applications themselves need changes to run well in the cloud, our custom software development team can modernise them during the migration.
Frequently asked questions
Will moving to the cloud save us money?
It can, particularly if you avoid a hardware refresh and actively optimise, but savings are not automatic. The bigger gains are usually resilience, security and the ability to change quickly.
Can we keep all our data in the UK?
Yes. AWS, Azure and Google Cloud all offer UK regions. Check the data processing terms for any services that may process data elsewhere.
How long does a migration take?
A small business with a handful of servers can often migrate within one to three months; larger estates are moved in waves over six to twelve months.
Do we need to rewrite our applications?
Not necessarily. Many applications can be rehosted first and improved later, once they are running reliably in the cloud.
Plan your cloud move with Creensight UK
We can assess your current systems, recommend a provider and approach for each workload, and give you a realistic cost forecast in pounds. Contact Creensight UK to start with a short assessment.
