Proven Strategies For Migrating Legacy Apps To Azure In 2026
Are your legacy applications costing you $10,000+ per day in maintenance while competitors race ahead with cloud-native solutions? You’re not alone—73% of enterprises identify legacy app migration as their top infrastructure priority for 2026.
Migrating to Azure offers organizations not just cost savings, but agility, scalability, and access to cutting-edge cloud services. However, moving legacy systems isn’t just about lifting and shifting, it requires careful planning, the right tools, and proven strategies to minimize risk and maximize value.
Step-By-Step Migration Guide
Assess and Prioritize Your Applications
Start with a thorough assessment of your legacy portfolio. Identify which apps are critical, which can be modernized, and which may be retired. Tools like Azure Migrate can help evaluate dependencies, workloads, and performance requirements, ensuring that your migration plan targets the highest-impact applications first.
Choose the Right Migration Approach
Azure supports multiple strategies depending on your app’s complexity and business needs:
Rehost (“Lift and Shift”)
Quickly move applications to Azure VMs with minimal changes. Ideal for apps that need immediate cloud benefits without full refactoring.
Refactor
Make minimal changes to take advantage of cloud services like Azure App Service or Azure SQL.
Rearchitect
Modernize your app to fully leverage cloud-native capabilities, such as microservices or serverless computing.
Replace
Sometimes the best option is to retire a legacy system and adopt SaaS alternatives.
Leverage Automation and AI
Azure’s migration tools now include AI-driven insights for workload placement, cost optimization, and risk reduction. Automation can handle repetitive tasks such as VM provisioning, network configuration, and database migration, reducing downtime and human error.
Secure and Comply From Day One
Migrating to the cloud is also an opportunity to strengthen security. Azure Arc and Azure Security Center enable consistent policies across on-premises and cloud workloads, ensuring zero-trust compliance and continuous monitoring during and after migration.
Test, Validate, and Iterate
Before fully decommissioning your legacy systems, test migrated workloads thoroughly. Validate performance, security, and functionality. Iterative migration, moving one module or application at a time reduces business disruption and allows you to apply lessons learned as you progress.
Optimize and Scale in Azure
Post-migration, Azure Cost Management and Advisor provide real-time insights into usage, cost, and performance. AI-driven recommendations help you right-size workloads, shift underutilized resources, and maximize ROI across hybrid and multicloud environments.
Get Started With Expert Guidance
Migrating legacy apps to Azure in 2026 doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right strategy, tools, and expert support, you can accelerate your digital transformation, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.
Contact Reliance Infosystems today to plan your migration journey. Our experts will guide you from assessment to optimization, ensuring a smooth transition that unlocks the full power of Azure.
