Cloud migration services are quoted against the work you have scoped, so a vendor can only price what the worksheet in your hand describes. Question lists prepare you to interview vendors. Such lists say less about the brief you give those vendors first. This post gives that brief as a seven-item worksheet. Go through it, hand the same copy to every provider, and the quotes that come back price the same work. A short definition comes first, because the stages of the work decide the lines of the worksheet.
What do cloud migration services include?
Cloud migration services assess your applications, choose a route for each, move the data and applications, test them, and support the first period of running. A few also redesign applications for the cloud. The quote reflects the route chosen for each application, so the scope you set decides the price.
Five stages make up most engagements. Assessment lists the applications and their dependencies. Route selection gives each application a path. The move itself transfers data and the application, and testing proves that the result behaves as before. Support covers the first weeks of running.
Providers use several names for this work. Offers of cloud application migration services, of cloud service migration, and from cloud migration companies all describe versions of those five stages, and the names say little about scope. Read the stages in a proposal, and check which ones are priced and which are only assumed.
An assumed stage is a future change request. A proposal that says nothing about testing will show you testing as an extra line later, and silence on support leaves the first weeks of running as your problem alone. Check both.
You supply inputs too. The provider needs your application list, the owner of each application, the licence documents, and the locations of your data. Gather them before the first call. The quote will be firmer, and the call will be shorter.
The post on building a cloud migration strategy covers the first two stages in depth, including the seven routes. Read it before you fill in the worksheet, because the route per application is its first line.
At Burhani, this work sits under cloud solutions.
What should you scope before you ask cloud migration companies for a quote?
Scope seven items: route per application, downtime window, data transfer, licence portability, rollback plan, any re-architecture, and post-migration running cost. Hand the same worksheet to every provider. Quotes then price the same work and can be compared line by line.
Item
What to write
Why the quote changes
Item: Route per application
What to write: Lift and shift, replatform or re-architecture, by application
Why the quote changes: Re-architecture adds design and test work
Item: Downtime window
What to write: Agreed hours per application
Why the quote changes: Shorter windows need a tighter cutover
Item: Data transfer
What to write: Volume, location and format of data to move
Why the quote changes: Volume sets transfer method and time
Item: Licence portability
What to write: Which licences allow cloud use
Why the quote changes: A licence that cannot move requires a purchase
Item: Rollback plan
What to write: The trigger and the route back
Why the quote changes: Rollback needs the old system kept running
Item: Re-architecture
What to write: Applications that must change to run
Why the quote changes: Each one is a separate piece of work
Item: Post-migration running cost
What to write: Expected monthly cost and who monitors it
Why the quote changes: Running cost outlasts the migration
Work through the worksheet with the application owners, and do not do it alone. The finance team knows which licences are paid, the IT team knows where the data sits, and the department head knows how many hours of downtime the business can bear. Each answer changes a line in the quote.
Here is an illustrative entry for one application. The order system takes a replatform route. Its downtime window is 4 hours on a Sunday morning. The data is 500 GB in one database, the database licence allows cloud use once the vendor confirms it in writing, and the rollback trigger is a failed reconciliation. Expected running cost goes in as a monthly figure with a named owner.
Where a provider asks for a clean number before the worksheet is complete, hold off. A figure quoted on a partial worksheet is a guess that the provider will correct later, usually upward. The worksheet makes the guess visible, and good cloud migration services welcome that.
Generic checklists differ from this worksheet in one respect. You write the answers, and the provider reads them and prices accordingly. Nobody can claim the checklist did not cover their case.
Which migration route does the quote assume for each application?
Request from each provider the route for every application. A price set without a route per application rests on a guess. Lift and shift moves it unchanged. Re-architecture redesigns it. AWS guidance notes that refactoring is the most complex and costly strategy and recommends rehosting, relocating, or replatforming first and modernizing after the move, for large migrations.
The AWS guidance comes from one cloud provider, and it addresses large migrations. Treat its advice as one view. The point stands for any buyer: a route that changes more of the application costs more and carries more risk.
A quote that assumes one route for every application has not been scoped. It either prices everything as a lift and shift, which understates the cost of the applications that need redesign, or it prices everything as a rebuild and overstates the rest.
Request the assumption per application, in a table. The first column names the application, the second the route, and the third the reason. A provider who cannot complete the third column has not read your portfolio. Say so in the meeting. Politely.
Routes can also be staged. A business may lift and shift an application this quarter and re-architect it next year, once it runs in the cloud and the team understands its behaviour. Find out whether the quote covers the first step only, and what the second would add.
What should a rollback plan and downtime window say?
A rollback plan names the trigger, the person who calls it, and the route back to the old system. A downtime window names the hours each application can be offline. Both belong in the quote because both need the old system kept running, which has a cost.
Three lines per item make a usable entry. A rollback entry carries the owner, the trigger, and the evidence that the route back was tested, and a downtime entry carries the owner, the hours, and the cutover method.
We state no hours or durations here. Hours and durations differ by application, and any figure would mislead. What matters is that each application has its own entry and that someone on your side has agreed to the window. Own it.
Rollback needs the old system kept running after the move, so the cost of that overlap belongs in the quote. A provider who leaves it out is assuming that nothing will go wrong, and you should plan for the day it does.
Test the rollback as well. An untested route back is a hope. Schedule a rehearsal on a copy of one application before the real cutover, and have the person who owns the trigger attend. Note what slowed the rehearsal down.
Why does post-migration running cost belong in the quote?
Flexera's 2025 State of the Cloud report puts respondents' estimate of wasted cloud spend at 27%, down from a high of 32% four years earlier. Running costs continue after the migration ends. A quote that stops at cutover leaves a recurring cost out of the comparison.
The Flexera State of the Cloud report is a survey of cloud decision makers. The 27% is the respondents' own estimate of wasted spend on infrastructure and platform services, and the figure is not a measured loss in your business. A newer edition of the report exists, so check the current figure before you rely on this one. The report adds that the estimate has trended down since its peak.
The lesson is about timing, because bills in the cloud arrive every month and nobody is paid to read them unless the plan names the person.
Find out who monitors the bill after cutover, how often, and against what budget.
A quote for cloud migration services should include an estimate of expected monthly running cost for each migrated application, even a rough one. The estimate gives the finance team a baseline, and it gives the migration team a target to design against. The monitoring owner can then compare each bill against it, and a gap of 20% or more is a prompt to investigate. Agree on the threshold in advance.
Our post on on-premise versus cloud explains why the running cost comparison matters at the decision stage too.
Where does Burhani Technologies fit when you scope cloud migration services?
Burhani Technologies scopes cloud work around workload and migration, data location and recovery, plus operating costs. Our engineers work across Azure and AWS, plus Google Cloud. We agree the route per application after discovery and set the plan per project.
→ Send us your application list and the worksheet, and book a free consultation.
FAQs on cloud migration services
What are cloud migration services?
They are the work of assessing applications, choosing a route for each, moving data and applications, testing them, and supporting the first period of running. Some providers also redesign applications for the cloud. The scope you set decides what the quote covers. Write it down first.
How do I scope a cloud migration before getting quotes?
Take the seven-item worksheet to your application owners: route per application, downtime window, data transfer, licence portability, rollback plan, re-architecture, and post-migration running cost. Hand the same worksheet to every provider, and compare the quotes line by line. A line that a provider leaves blank is a question to ask.
What is lift and shift?
Lift and shift, also called rehost, moves an application to the cloud unchanged, so it runs on rented infrastructure as it did before. This is the quickest route and the one with the least redesign. It can leave savings unclaimed because the application does not use cloud features.
What is a rollback plan in a cloud migration?
A rollback plan names the trigger that calls a retreat, the person who calls it, and the route back to the old system. The plan needs the old system kept running after the move, and it needs a test. A failed cutover with no tested rollback becomes an outage with no exit. Plan the retreat before the advance.
Does a migration quote include running cost?
Often it does not, and the omission matters. Flexera's 2025 report puts respondents' estimate of wasted cloud spend at 27%. Ask for an estimate of the monthly running cost for each application, and ask who will watch the bill after cutover.
What is licence portability?
Licence portability is whether a software licence permits use on cloud infrastructure. Some licences allow it, others allow it with conditions, and a few do not. A licence that cannot move forces a new purchase, which adds a line to the quote. Check each licence before the provider prices the move.
Which of the seven items can you fill in today?
Complete the worksheet first, then ask each provider to quote against it.
→ Send us your worksheet and get in touch.
