Exit Strategy

An exit strategy defines the target scenario that an organization is planning for when assessing cloud exit readiness.

exitcloud.io uses the selected exit strategy to frame analysis, risks, and recommendations based on a realistic exit path.
It does not initiate or perform a migration — it evaluates readiness for a chosen strategy.

Why exit strategy matters

The selected exit strategy influences:

• which risks are highlighted
• how dependencies are evaluated
• which alternative technologies are considered relevant
• how exit readiness and scores are interpreted

Selecting the right exit strategy ensures that assessment results align with realistic planning assumptions.

Repatriation to On-Premises

This strategy assumes workloads would be moved back to on-premises infrastructure.

It focuses on:

• identifying services that are difficult to run outside the cloud
• highlighting dependencies on managed cloud services
• assessing operational and architectural constraints of self-hosting

This strategy is commonly used by:

• regulated organizations
• environments with strict data residency requirements
• organizations reducing dependency on public cloud providers

Hybrid Cloud Adoption

This strategy assumes a mixed target state, where some workloads remain in the cloud while others are repatriated or relocated.

It focuses on:

• identifying which services can be decoupled from cloud-native dependencies
• assessing portability across environments
• highlighting operational complexity introduced by hybrid models

Hybrid Cloud Adoption is useful when:

• full repatriation is unrealistic
• only specific workloads must be moved
• gradual exit strategies are being considered

Migration to Alternate Cloud

This strategy assumes workloads would be migrated to a different cloud provider.

It focuses on:

• identifying vendor-specific services that limit portability
• evaluating availability and maturity of alternative technologies
• assessing effort required to replace cloud-native services

This strategy is commonly used when:

• organizations want to reduce vendor lock-in
• multi-cloud strategies are being evaluated
• commercial or geopolitical risks drive diversification