2026 Playbook

Cloud Migration: The 2026 Mid-Market CIO's Playbook

Q: What are the 7 types of cloud migration (the 7Rs)?

The 7Rs are: Retire (decommission unused workloads), Repurchase (replace with SaaS), Retain (keep on-premises), Rehost (lift-and-shift to cloud VMs), Replatform (move with targeted optimizations like managed databases), Refactor (rebuild using cloud-native patterns), and Relocate (move between cloud regions or providers). They're not a menu of equal options — they're a decision sequence. A typical mid-market 100-app portfolio resolves to ~20% retire, ~15% repurchase, ~10% retain, ~30% rehost, ~20% replatform, ~5% refactor.

Q: What are the 4 R's of cloud migration?

The original 4Rs (Gartner, 2011) were Rehost, Refactor, Revise, and Replace. AWS expanded these to the 6Rs in 2016 (adding Retain and Retire), and the 7Rs in 2021 (adding Relocate). The 4R framework is now considered legacy — most modern migrations need the full 7Rs to handle SaaS replacements, regulated retain decisions, and multi-region relocation. If a vendor is still selling you a 4R framework, that's a tell.

Q: How much does cloud migration consulting cost in 2026?

Discovery and assessment: $25K–$75K over 4–8 weeks. Mid-market migrations (50–500 servers): $200K–$500K over 3–6 months. Enterprise migrations (500+ workloads): $500K–$2M+ over 6–18 months. Managed services post-migration: $5K–$50K/month. Hourly rates range from $150–$300/hour; global SIs charge at the high end, mid-market specialists charge competitively. Agentic-AI tooling (AWS Transform, Azure Copilot Migration Agent, Google Migration Center + Gemini) is compressing timelines 30–40% per McKinsey, but most firms haven't repriced yet.

Q: How long does cloud migration take for a mid-market portfolio?

A mid-market migration (50–500 applications) typically runs 6–18 months end-to-end. Discovery and dependency mapping: 4–8 weeks (compressed to 1–2 weeks with agentic-AI discovery tools). Pilot wave: 2–3 months. Production waves: 4–12 months depending on dependencies. Post-migration optimization: ongoing. The single biggest timeline driver is application dependency mapping — Flexera 2026 lists it as the #1 challenge for the second year running.

Q: Should I hire a single-cloud specialist or a multi-cloud firm?

Single-cloud specialists (AWS Premier Partners, Google Cloud Partners, Azure Expert MSPs) deliver deeper platform expertise, tighter access to hyperscaler engineering support, and faster ramp for target-platform deployments. Multi-cloud generalists (Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, IBM) are better for organizations running mixed workloads or those who haven't finalized a platform decision. If you've scored your readiness on our framework and the recommendation is Refactor or Rearchitect, lean toward a specialist. If it's Rehost or hybrid Replatform-Retain, a multi-cloud firm reduces vendor fragmentation.

Q: What is the Migration Readiness Score and how does it differ from AWS MRA or Azure SMA?

Cloud Consulting Intel's Migration Readiness Score is a 5-axis vector — data sensitivity, vendor lock-in tolerance, ops maturity, regulatory load, and time-to-cutover budget — each scored 1 to 5. Unlike AWS MRA (~70 questions) or Azure Strategic Migration Assessment, our framework is read as a vector, not a sum. The combination of axes maps directly to a recommended primary R and secondary R, plus a 'delay' output when ops maturity is too low to migrate safely. It produces a strategy in five minutes rather than a maturity level after a 70-question questionnaire.

Q: Should we be repatriating workloads from cloud to on-premises in 2026?

Possibly, for AI workloads. The Cloudian Enterprise AI Infrastructure Survey 2026 (n=203) found 93% of enterprises have repatriated AI workloads, are doing so, or are evaluating it. The break-even is roughly 20% sustained utilization over three years per AWS enterprise strategy research cited by iternal.ai. For traditional workloads — web apps, batch processing, microservices — repatriation is rarely worth the operational cost. The repatriation question matters most when you have steady-state high-utilization workloads and predictable storage growth.

Q: What questions should I ask a cloud migration firm before hiring them?

Ask: (1) Show me a reference customer at comparable scale and complexity in my industry. (2) Walk me through your dependency mapping tooling — manual or automated? (3) What's your rollback plan if cutover fails? (4) Are you using agentic-AI migration tools (AWS Transform, Azure Copilot Migration Agent, Migration Center + Gemini)? If yes, has your pricing been adjusted to reflect the 30–40% time savings McKinsey reports? (5) What does your post-migration support model look like — SLA, on-call, drift detection? (6) Show me your repatriation playbook — when do you advise clients NOT to migrate? Firms that can answer all six with specifics and references are the ones worth shortlisting.

A 5-axis Readiness Score, the 7Rs as a decision sequence, the agentic-AI tooling shift, and 44 consulting firms evaluated on platform depth, case-study evidence, and pricing transparency. Built for IT leaders running 50–500 application portfolios on a 9–18 month window.

By Peter Korpak, Founder · Last updated: August 28, 2026 · See our methodology

What is a cloud migration strategy?

A cloud migration strategy is the decision framework that determines which applications move, which migration path each workload follows, the sequence of migration waves, and the controls for cost, security, cutover, rollback, and post-migration operations. It starts with readiness and dependency evidence before a team chooses among the 7Rs.

The 2026 Reality

Most cloud migrations don't deliver. Three numbers tell you why.

The hyperscaler "what is cloud migration" pages won't print these. We will. Read them, then keep going — the rest of this page is about how mid-market CIOs avoid being in any of these statistics.

55%

of cloud migrations failed to meet expectations; 53% didn't deliver promised benefits.

Gitnux 2026

29%

of cloud spend is wasted in 2026, reversing a five-year decline. The top wasted line is over-provisioned compute and unrightsized DBs.

Flexera 2026 State of the Cloud

93%

of enterprises have repatriated AI workloads, are doing so, or are evaluating it. The repatriation conversation is now table stakes for any AI-adjacent migration.

Cloudian Enterprise AI Infrastructure Survey 2026 (n=203)

The cloud migration services market is worth roughly $330B in 2026, growing at a 23.2% CAGR (Research and Markets, Feb 2026). Inside that, the mid-market segment — 500 to 5,000 employees — is the fastest-growing slice at 17.65% annually per Auvik 2026. The Fortune 500 playbooks built for $5M–$20M migrations don't translate down. Most of the budget overruns and 55% miss-rate sit in the segment that's growing fastest — and getting the worst guidance.

The single biggest unforced error in the past three years: picking a strategy before scoring readiness. Vendor frameworks (AWS MRA, Azure Strategic Migration Assessment) push 50–100 question maturity audits that produce a red/yellow/green level. They don't tell you which R to pick. We built one that does.

Note for 2026 planning: AWS Migration Hub closed to new customers on November 7, 2025, replaced by AWS Transform (agentic AI). Azure released its Copilot Migration Agent the same month. Google's Migration Center got a Gemini-powered App Modernization Assessment in September 2025. If your prospective consulting partner is still recommending Migration Hub for new engagements, you're talking to a firm whose information is six months stale.

Framework

The 7Rs as a decision sequence (not a menu)

Hyperscaler pages list the 7Rs as equal options. They're not. They're a funnel — a series of yes/no decisions you apply in order to each application. Below: the decision flow, with portfolio percentages from a typical mid-market 100-app shop.

The shift this diagram makes: the first three Rs (Retire, Repurchase, Retain) shrink your migration scope before you migrate anything. AWS, Azure, and Google all show the 7Rs as a side-by-side menu. We treat them as a sequence — apply each filter, count what's left, and then plan capacity. A typical mid-market discovery returns ~20% of the portfolio retire-able, ~15% replaceable with a SaaS already on the market. Skipping these gates is how 50-app projects become 80-app projects.

Need the deep dive? Read Legacy System Modernization Approaches for the 7Rs at the workload level, or Cloud Migration Assessment Checklist for the discovery step that feeds this filter.

Cloud Consulting Intel Original

The Migration Readiness Score: 5 axes, one strategy

AWS Migration Readiness Assessment runs roughly 70 questions and outputs a maturity color. Azure Strategic Migration Assessment is similar. Both produce a level. Neither tells you which R to pick. The Cloud Consulting Intel Migration Readiness Score is a 5-axis vector that maps directly to a primary R, a secondary R, and — when ops maturity is too low — an honest "delay" output most vendor frameworks won't print.

The five axes

Score each 1 (low) to 5 (high). Each axis controls a different dimension of the strategy decision.

Axis	1 (low)	3 (mid)	5 (high)	What it controls
Data sensitivity	Public / marketing	PII, SOC 2	PHI, payment, classified, EU-regulated	Filters out pure public cloud at high scores; pushes toward private region or sovereign cloud
Vendor lock-in tolerance	Greenfield, hyperscaler PaaS OK	Mixed; managed DBs OK	Multi-cloud mandate, OSS-only, exit clauses	High → portable runtimes (containers, OSS DBs), Replatform > Repurchase
Ops maturity	No CI/CD, manual change mgmt	Some IaC, basic monitoring	Full IaC, SRE, DORA-elite	Low → Rehost (don't refactor what you can't operate); high → Refactor viable
Regulatory load	B2C SaaS, none	One framework (SOC 2, ISO 27001)	HIPAA + PCI + GDPR + sector (DORA, FedRAMP)	High → wave plan with compliance gates, possibly Retain or repatriate
Time-to-cutover budget	24+ months acceptable	9–18 months	<6 months (lease, M&A)	High pressure forces Rehost first; low pressure makes Refactor cost-effective

Mapping your score to a strategy

Read the score as a vector, not a sum. The combination of axes maps to a primary R, a secondary R, and — for low ops maturity with high regulatory load — an honest delay output.

Score pattern	Primary R	Secondary R	Why
Sensitivity ≤ 2, Lock-in ≤ 2, Ops 3–5, Time 1–2	Refactor	Replatform	Greenfield-ish posture, room to do it right
Sensitivity 4–5, Lock-in 4–5, Ops 4–5, Reg 4–5	Replatform (private/sovereign)	Retain (regulated subset)	Portability + control mandate; private region or sovereign cloud
Time = 5 (hard deadline), Ops ≤ 2	Rehost	Retire (kill 25%+)	Speed forces lift-and-shift; aggressive retire to shrink scope
Sensitivity 4–5, Reg 4–5, Time 1–3	Hybrid (Replatform + Retain)	Selective Refactor	Compliance-led — keep regulated workloads private
AI-heavy + Sensitivity 4–5	Repatriation-aware Hybrid	Replatform burst tier	Cloudian 2026: 91% of regulated AI workloads landing on-prem or private
Lock-in = 5, Ops = 5	Repurchase + Refactor	Retire	Mature team, lock-in averse — split portfolio: SaaS for commodity, OSS containers for differentiator
All axes ≤ 2	Rehost	Retire	Not ready for more — get to cloud, optimize later
Ops ≤ 2 + Reg ≥ 4	DELAY	Address ops gap first	Migrating regulated workloads with low ops maturity is how breaches happen — see Risk Assessment spoke

The "DELAY" output is the differentiator. Vendor frameworks always recommend "yes, migrate now" — that's how the SOWs get signed. We tell you when to wait. If you scored Ops ≤ 2 with high regulatory load, read Cloud Migration Risk Assessment and Cloud Migration Best Practices before signing any SOW.

Worked Examples

Three mid-market profiles, three different strategies

Each profile is composite — built from the engagement patterns we see most often in our directory's discovery interviews. The score values reflect what discovery typically returns, not what teams self-report.

Profile 1

Mid-market healthcare SaaS

~120 apps · 14-month window · HIPAA + SOC 2 · 85 employees, growing

Score: Sensitivity 4 · Lock-in 3 · Ops 3 · Reg 4 · Time 3

Strategy: Hybrid Replatform + selective Retain. Containerize non-PHI services on AWS or GCP; keep PHI database on dedicated tenancy with BAA-eligible services only. Refactor the patient-portal stack post-migration, not during.

Common mistake: Picking AWS GovCloud "to be safe" — overkill and expensive for non-Federal HIPAA. Standard AWS or GCP HIPAA-eligible regions are the right answer.

Partner type: Healthcare-vertical specialist with proven BAA scope on the target hyperscaler.

Profile 2

Retail with M&A deadline

~80 apps · 5-month window · Datacenter lease ends · Recent acquisition

Score: Sensitivity 2 · Lock-in 2 · Ops 2 · Reg 2 · Time 5

Strategy: Rehost first, retire aggressively. Lift-and-shift the 60% of apps that are still in real use; retire the rest. Replatform critical billing systems in wave 2 (post-cutover). Refactor nothing in this window.

Common mistake: Trying to refactor under a 5-month deadline. Mid-market teams burn the budget on the first 5 services and miss the lease.

Partner type: Migration factory with automated discovery (AWS Transform, Azure Migrate Copilot, or proprietary tooling). Avoid bespoke shops — they'll over-engineer.

Profile 3

Regulated fintech, hard deadline

~200 apps · 7-month window · DORA + FFIEC + SOX · EU + US

Score: Sensitivity 5 · Lock-in 4 · Ops 3 · Reg 5 · Time 5

Strategy: Hybrid Replatform with sovereign-region wave plan. Retain the core banking ledger on-prem in year 1; replatform peripheral services to EU sovereign region first, US workloads in wave 2. Refactor zero in this window.

Common mistake: Lifting the ledger onto a hyperscaler "to look modern." Regulators care about residency and audit trails, not how containerized your stack is.

Partner type: Financial-services SI with prior DORA work and explicit sovereign-region capacity. Not a generalist factory.

2026 Tooling Shift

Agentic AI changed migration economics in the last six months

From late 2025 through Q1 2026, all three hyperscalers shipped agentic-AI migration tooling. McKinsey estimates these tools compress migration timelines 30–40% (cited by AWS Transform team, Mar 2026). Most consulting firms haven't repriced. That's a negotiating lever.

AWS

AWS Transform

Agentic AI for VMware migrations went GA December 2025. Partners report 50% faster discovery, 80× faster network-config conversion. Replaces AWS Migration Hub, which closed to new customers November 7, 2025.

Source

Azure

Copilot Migration Agent

GA November 2025. Integrated with GitHub Copilot for code-level modernization (Java, .NET legacy stacks). Strongest in lift-and-modernize for VM-heavy estates already running Microsoft tooling.

Source

Google Cloud

Migration Center + Gemini

App Modernization Assessment GA September 2025. Gemini-powered codebase analysis flags refactor candidates in days, not weeks. Particularly strong for Java, Python, Go monoliths.

Source

Negotiating lever: Ask every prospective partner whether they're using AWS Transform, Copilot Migration Agent, or Migration Center as part of discovery. If yes, ask whether their pricing has been adjusted for the McKinsey-cited 30–40% time compression. Most firms still quote 2024 discovery rates against 2026 tooling. That gap is your discount.

Counterpoint

When not to migrate (or when to repatriate)

Vendor pages don't print this section. We will. Three signals tell you a workload should stay on-prem or come back from the cloud:

1.
Steady-state high utilization. AWS enterprise-strategy research cited by iternal.ai places the cloud-vs-on-prem break-even at roughly 20% sustained utilization over three years. AI training, batch ETL, and steady-state databases over that line are the workloads quietly going home.
2.
Sensitive AI workloads. The Cloudian 2026 survey reports 91% of regulated AI workloads end up on-prem or in private cloud. It's no longer a contrarian position — it's the median path.
3.
Predictable storage growth. Egress fees and per-GB storage scale linearly with growth. If your storage is doubling annually and the workload doesn't need cloud elasticity, you're paying a 30–60% premium for flexibility you don't use. Read Vendor Lock-in in Cloud Computing for the dollars.

Roughly 21% of cloud workloads are estimated to have been repatriated globally per Shopify's 2026 cloud-reset analysis; Gartner expects 90% of organizations to operate hybrid by 2027. The honest output of any readiness assessment includes "stay" as a valid result.

Hiring Guide

Match your readiness score to the right type of partner

Different score patterns need different shops. Hiring a global SI for a 50-app rehost is a budget grenade; hiring a boutique for a 7-month DORA migration is an ops grenade. Match the partner to the score.

Score sum 5–9

Assessment partner

You're early. Hire a discovery and assessment specialist before any execution SOW. 4–8 week engagement, $25K–$75K. They produce the dependency map, the risk register, and the strategy recommendation. They do not execute.

Look for: automated discovery tooling (AWS Transform, Azure Migrate, ADDM, CAST), published methodology, no MSP upsell pressure.

Score sum 10–17

Migration factory

Most mid-market shops live here. Pick a firm with a documented "factory" — repeatable wave templates, automated cutover patterns, blue/green tooling, post-migration MSP. 3–6 month execution, $200K–$500K.

Look for: 50+ comparable migrations, hyperscaler Premier/Expert tier, signed BAAs/DPAs ready to go on day 1, repatriation playbook (not just a migration playbook).

Score sum 18–25

Modernization specialist

Heavy lock-in tolerance, mature ops, and time pressure together usually mean you need refactor expertise on a tight clock. Boutique modernization or a hyperscaler-aligned specialist (AWS Premier modernization, Google Cloud refactor specialists). 6–12 months, $500K–$1.5M.

Look for: reference customers in your industry at comparable refactor scale, framework-specific experience (Spring, .NET Core, Django), opinionated architectural point of view.

For a deeper read on the partner-evaluation step, see our 10-point vendor due diligence checklist and guide to cloud migration consulting services.

Regulated enterprises planning a board-level, multi-cloud program can also review our Deloitte Cloud assessment; its strongest fit is strategy and governance across AWS, Azure, and GCP, rather than a small hands-on engineering engagement.

2026 Directory

Cloud Consulting Firms Compared

44 firms

Listings are grouped by membership tier, then alphabetical. How listings work →

Firm ↕	Rate	Team	Platforms	Best For
2nd Watch (Ollion) AWS Premier Partner	$200K+ typical	500-1000 employees	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
66degrees Premier Partner	$180K-$700K	500+ GCP specialists	GCP	Data & Analytics	View →
Accenture Cloud Premier Partner	$250K-$1M+	10,000+ cloud specialists globally	AWS Azure GCP	Migration & Modernization	View →
Atmosera Advanced Partner	$100K-$400K + managed services	120+ Azure specialists	Azure	Azure Migration	View →
Avanade Premier Partner	$250K-$1.5M+	60,000+ Microsoft professionals	Azure	Azure Migration	View →
Capgemini Cloud Services Premier Partner	$200K-$800K	6,000+ AWS-certified	AWS Azure GCP	Application Modernization	View →
Caylent AWS Premier Partner	$200K+ typical	200-500 employees	AWS	Migration	View →
ClearScale AWS Premier Partner	Project-based; no published rates. Managed services offered in tiered packages (Basic, Advanced, Premier). AWS funding expertise cited as cost offset mechanism.	~100–175 employees; 100+ AWS-certified technical staff	AWS	Migration	View →
Cloudticity Advanced Partner	$100K-$400K + managed services	120+ healthcare cloud specialists	AWS	Healthcare	View →
Coalfire Compliance & FedRAMP Specialist	$50K-$500K (3PAO) · $750K-$2M (full Moderate ATO program)	~1,000 employees, 100+ frameworks supported	AWS Azure GCP	Compliance	View →
Cognizant Cloud Services Advanced Partner	$180K-$600K	5,000+ AWS professionals	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
Deloitte Cloud Premier Partner	$300K-$2M+	8,000+ cloud professionals	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Strategy	View →
DoiT International Premier Partner	$150K-$600K + managed services	400+ cloud engineers	GCP AWS	FinOps	View →
DXC Technology Global Enterprise IT Services	Enterprise contract pricing only — no published rates. Multi-year managed services contracts typically run $5M–$100M+ annually; project-based transformation engagements are project-quoted. Opaque at the SOW level; expect structured procurement cycles.	~127,000 employees across 70+ countries (ISG FY24 data)	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration	View →
Effectual AWS Premier Partner — Public Sector Specialist	Not publicly disclosed; no Clutch/G2 pricing data found. Managed services and project engagements likely in the $150K–$1M+ range based on firm size, MSP designation, and public-sector complexity.	~200-300 employees (PitchBook: ~202; Crunchbase range: 251-500)	AWS	Public Sector	View →
EPAM Systems Global Engineering & Cloud Transformation Partner	Enterprise rates; no published pricing. Typical engagements are project- or program-based; staffing/managed-service models available. Expect premium rates comparable to Accenture or Capgemini technical practices — not Indian SI cost-led pricing.	~62,850 employees (December 2025); ~56,600 delivery professionals; 15,000+ AWS-experienced engineers; 2,000+ Google Cloud engineers; 5,000+ AWS certifications	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration	View →
GuidePoint Security Pure-Play Security Integrator	$80K-$600K (project) · IR retainer hours-based	~1,000 employees, 60%+ technical practitioners	AWS Azure GCP	Security	View →
HCLTech Global SI — Multi-Cloud	Enterprise SI — contract values not publicly disclosed. Vendr community data suggests median software/services contracts near ~$50K, but cloud transformation programs at HCLTech's scale typically run into the millions. Expect multi-year MSA structures with T&M or outcome-based SLAs. Pricing is opaque; require detailed SOW itemization.	~227,000 employees globally; 40,000+ certified cloud professionals; 80,000+ trained Microsoft engineers; 30,000+ Microsoft certified professionals; 22,000+ AWS-trained resources	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration	View →
IBM Consulting Global Systems Integrator — Hybrid Cloud & AI	Enterprise/opaque — no published rates. Multi-year transformation programs typically range from $2M to $50M+; managed services engagements are structured as multi-year contracts. IBM can access AWS MAP and Microsoft co-investment funds to offset client costs.	~160,000 consultants globally (IBM Consulting segment); IBM total headcount ~270,000 (2024 10-K)	AWS Azure GCP	Hybrid Cloud	View →
Infosys AWS Premier Partner · Azure Expert MSP · GCP Premier Partner	Not publicly listed — enterprise contracts, FTE-based pricing model typical of global SIs. Rates negotiated by program scope; annual managed services deals run eight figures for large enterprises.	320,000+ total employees (FY2025); cloud practice spans thousands of certified practitioners across Infosys Cobalt	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration	View →
Kyndryl Global Managed Infrastructure & Cloud Services	Enterprise managed-services contracts — not publicly disclosed. Multi-year agreements typically range from mid-seven figures to nine figures for large outsourcing deals; Kyndryl Consult advisory engagements are smaller and project-based. No self-serve pricing available; expect RFP or direct negotiation.	~73,000 employees globally (as of March 31, 2025; down from ~90,000 at spin-off); workforce hubs in India, Poland, Brazil, Japan, Czechia, Hungary	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration	View →
Mandiant Incident Response Leader	$25K-$150K (retainer) · custom for active IR · enterprise-negotiated	~1,400-2,000 consultants and analysts	AWS Azure GCP	Security	View →
Mission Cloud AWS Premier Partner	$100K+ typical	200-500 employees	AWS	Migration	View →
Neudesic (an IBM Company) Advanced Partner	$200K-$600K	2,500+ Microsoft specialists (US + India)	Azure	Azure Apps	View →
NTT DATA Cloud Advanced Partner	$200K-$700K	4,000+ cloud certified	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
Onix Advanced Partner	$100K-$400K	180+ Google specialists	GCP	Google Workspace	View →
Optiv Pure-Play Security Integrator	$150K-$1M+ (project) · $25K-$120K/mo (managed)	~2,400 employees, 600+ security practitioners	AWS Azure GCP	Security	View →
Perficient Advanced Partner	$180K-$600K	700+ Azure professionals	Azure	Digital Transformation	View →
phData Snowflake Elite & Data Platform Specialist	$20K–$50K (POC/pilot) · $200K–$1M+ (full platform build or migration) · Elastic Operations retainer pricing varies by scope	~800–1,000 employees (680 LinkedIn, ~968 Revelio Labs estimate, April 2026); global delivery across US, India, and LATAM	AWS Azure GCP	Data Engineering	View →
Presidio AWS Premier Partner + MDR	$100K-$500K (project) · MDR subscription OPEX	~3,500-5,000 employees	AWS Azure GCP	Security	View →
Pythian Advanced Partner	$150K-$550K	400+ data specialists	GCP AWS Azure	Data Services	View →
Quantiphi AI/ML Engineering Specialist	Custom / private offer only — no published rate card. Offshore-heavy delivery model suggests cost advantage vs. pure-onshore peers; engagement size not publicly disclosed.	~3,100 employees (per LinkedIn data, Q2 2026); 3,500+ cloud-certified professionals (self-reported)	GCP AWS Azure	Applied AI	View →
Quisitive Microsoft Solutions Specialist	Not publicly listed; mid-market/enterprise engagements; managed services on monthly subscription	~350 employees, 9 countries	Azure	Azure	View →
Rackspace Technology AWS Premier Partner	$150K+ typical	5,000+ employees	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
SADA Premier Partner	$200K-$800K	800+ cloud engineers	GCP AWS	Migration	View →
Schellman Independent Security & Privacy Compliance Assessor	$15K-$100K (SOC 2 Type I/II) · $50K-$500K+ (FedRAMP 3PAO by impact level) · custom-quoted	~516 employees (2025)	AWS Azure GCP	Compliance	View →
Searce Advanced Partner	$100K-$400K	300+ GCP engineers	GCP	Data & Analytics	View →
Slalom AWS Premier Partner	$250K+ typical	10,000+ employees	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
SoftwareONE Premier Partner	$180K-$650K	3,000+ Azure specialists	Azure AWS	Azure Migration	View →
STX Next Select Partner	$120K-$400K	500+ cloud engineers	AWS Azure GCP	Application Development	View →
TCS Cloud Advanced Partner	$150K-$500K	12,000+ cloud specialists	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
Thoughtworks Engineering-Led Modernization Consultancy	Premium — engagement costs not publicly disclosed; senior engineer billing rates reported in the $150–$250+/hr range; multi-month modernization programs typically run $500K–$5M+.	~10,000 Thoughtworkers across 47 offices in 18 countries (post-take-private headcount, per 2025 press releases)	AWS Azure GCP	Legacy Modernization	View →
Wipro Cloud Advanced Partner	$160K-$550K	8,000+ AWS certified	AWS Azure GCP	Migration	View →
Xebia Global Multi-Cloud, Data & AI Engineering Consultancy	Custom pricing; no public firmwide rate card or minimum project disclosed.	5,500+ professionals across 16 countries (company-reported, reviewed August 2026)	AWS Azure GCP	Cloud Migration & Modernization	View →

2nd Watch (Ollion)

$200K+ typical · 500-1000 employees · AWS Premier Partner

AWSAzureGCP

Engagement Type	Price Range	Typical Timeline
Discovery & Assessment	$25K – $75K	4 – 8 weeks (1–2 weeks with agentic AI)
Mid-Market Migration (50–500 servers)	$200K – $500K	3 – 6 months
Enterprise Migration (500+ workloads)	$500K – $2M+	6 – 18 months
Managed Services (post-migration)	$5K – $50K/mo	12+ months (ongoing)
FinOps & Cost Optimization	$10K – $30K/mo	Ongoing or project-based

Cloud Migration: The 2026 Mid-Market CIO's Playbook

What is a cloud migration strategy?

Most cloud migrations don't deliver. Three numbers tell you why.

The 7Rs as a decision sequence (not a menu)

The Migration Readiness Score: 5 axes, one strategy

The five axes

Mapping your score to a strategy

Three mid-market profiles, three different strategies

Mid-market healthcare SaaS

Retail with M&A deadline

Regulated fintech, hard deadline

Agentic AI changed migration economics in the last six months

AWS Transform

Copilot Migration Agent

Migration Center + Gemini

When not to migrate (or when to repatriate)

Match your readiness score to the right type of partner

Assessment partner

Migration factory

Modernization specialist

Cloud Consulting Firms Compared

Cloud migration consulting pricing benchmarks (2026)

Cloud migration research, organized by phase

Cloud Migration Risk Assessment: 2026 Framework with Heatmap

Cloud Migration Assessment Checklist

How to Choose a Cloud Provider

AWS vs Azure vs GCP

Cloud Migration Cost Calculator

Cloud Migration Best Practices

Cloud Vendor Due Diligence Checklist (10-Point Buyer Framework)

Vendor Lock-in in Cloud Computing

How Long Does Cloud Migration Take?

Cloud Migration Consulting Services

Best Multi-Cloud Management Platforms

Legacy System Modernization Approaches

Frequently asked questions