Building a Cloud-First Strategy: Benefits, Use Cases, & Tips

Moving to the cloud sets your organization up to move faster, scale smarter, and stay competitive. A cloud-first strategy makes cloud the default choice for building and running your systems without forcing a one-size-fits-all approach. 

‍

However, this doesn’t mean cloud-only. You can still have some systems on-prem or go hybrid when it makes sense.

‍

In this article, we’ll cover: 

• What cloud-first actually means
•  How it compares to cloud-native and cloud-hosted models
• The key steps to implementing a cloud-first strategy

Let’s start by breaking down what a cloud-first strategy really is.

What is a cloud-first strategy?

A cloud-first strategy is an IT approach in which organizations prioritize cloud solutions for new or updated systems during the planning and implementation phases before considering on-premises or other options.

‍

It’s important to note that a cloud-first approach doesn’t mean cloud-only. You use cloud solutions when possible, but you can still use on-premises options if they genuinely provide better value. 

‍

For example, if a cloud solution meets the need, you’ll choose that by default, only falling back to on-premises if absolutely necessary maybe due to a specific regulatory or latency requirement.

Cloud-first vs. cloud-native vs. cloud-hosted

Cloud-first strategy, cloud-native applications, and cloud-hosted applications sound similar but refer to different concepts. 

‍

Let’s break down the differences:

• Cloud-first: As defined above, this is an organizational strategy or mindset. It dictates that cloud solutions are preferred for all new technology decisions​. It doesn’t require rebuilding everything from scratch, as existing applications can remain on-prem or be gradually migrated without major redesigns. The focus is on modernization and migration policy, not necessarily on how each app is built internally.
• Cloud-native: This describes the design and architecture of applications. These apps are built from the ground up to live on the cloud and to fully exploit cloud capabilities​. They use modern architectural patterns like microservices, containers, serverless functions, and managed cloud services. Unlike cloud-first or cloud-hosted apps, cloud-native applications are born in the cloud and are not just moved there.
• Cloud-hosted: A cloud-hosted app is typically an app that has been moved to run on cloud infrastructure like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. This often involves minimal changes to the architecture but may incorporate optimizations for better performance or cost efficiency.

Why companies choose a cloud-first approach

Companies are embracing cloud-first strategies because of the numerous business benefits this approach provides.

‍

Here are some key benefits and reasons organizations go cloud-first:

• Agility and time-to-market: A cloud-first approach dramatically increases your ability to move quickly. Teams can provision resources in minutes, experiment freely, and respond faster to changing needs. This agility means you can roll out new features or even entirely new products in a fraction of the time it used to take.
• Cost-efficiency: A cloud-first strategy can be more cost-effective than traditional IT if managed well. Cloud providers use pay-as-you-go pricing, so you’re essentially renting IT resources by the hour or gigabyte. This shifts heavy upfront capital expenses into variable operational expenses.
• Better collaboration and access: With systems and data in the cloud, employees can access what they need from anywhere with an internet connection. This enables remote work and collaboration in a way traditional setups often struggle with. 
• Scalable operations: One of the most celebrated benefits of the cloud is its easy scalability. With a cloud-first mindset, you design systems to scale on demand, growing or shrinking capacity as needed. This is great for handling spikes in traffic or business growth without a hitch.
• Security at scale: Reputable cloud providers invest enormously in security, far more than most individual companies can. A cloud-first org can thus leverage world-class security practices of providers​. Additionally, cloud-first often means easier compliance management, since top providers have compliance certifications and features to help meet regulations.

That said, cloud security is a shared responsibility. While the cloud provider is responsible for the security of the cloud (physical infrastructure, underlying services), the customer is responsible for security in the cloud. You still must configure your apps correctly and manage who has access to what. 

Key components of a cloud-first architecture

A cloud-first architecture refers to the common patterns and components used when you’re designing systems with the cloud in mind from the start. 

‍

Here are some key components and principles typically found in cloud-first architectures:

API-first design

In a cloud-first world, you might consume a lot of external APIs. For example, you might use a payment service API rather than building your own payment system and exposing APIs for your own microservices.

‍

A robust API strategy ensures that whether components run in AWS, Azure, on-prem, or across multiple clouds, they can interoperate. This also future-proofs things. If you swap out one service for another later, as long as the API contract remains, the API consumers aren’t affected.

Containers and orchestration

While not mandatory, containerization has become a staple in cloud-first architectures. Tools like Docker package an application along with its environment dependencies into a container, which ensures it runs consistently anywhere.

‍

Cloud-first teams use orchestration systems like Kubernetes to manage potentially hundreds or thousands of containers. These systems automatically place containers on servers, scale them up or down, heal failures, and do load balancing. The combination of containers plus orchestration provides enormous power to deploy and scale applications reliably across cloud infrastructure. 

DevOps culture and CI/CD pipelines

Cloud-first orgs often strive for push-button or even fully automated deployments. Sometimes, they release changes to production multiple times a day. A CI/CD pipeline might, for example, automatically spin up test servers in the cloud, run a battery of tests, and then deploy to staging or production in the cloud when code is merged. 

‍

DevOps involves close collaboration between developers and ops (often, they are the same team in cloud-first setups) and heavy use of automation tools.

‍

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is also a key component. Using templates or scripts (like Terraform, CloudFormation) to define cloud resources, you can version and reproduce infrastructure just like code.

‍

This culture and toolchain ensure that the velocity of the cloud doesn’t lead to chaos, as you have processes to deploy quickly but safely.

Hybrid and multi-cloud compatibility

A cloud-first architecture often remains flexible about the underlying cloud providers or environments. Many organizations go multi-cloud (using more than one public cloud provider) or a hybrid (mixing public cloud with private or on-prem resources) as part of their strategy. This offers benefits like avoiding vendor lock-in, accessing best-of-breed services from different providers, and potentially improving resilience.

‍

To make this work, teams usually lean on containers and orchestration tools like Kubernetes, which make it easier to run workloads across environments. They might also use abstraction layers or open standards like cloud-neutral CI/CD pipelines or standard SQL databases to keep things portable and avoid getting boxed into a single stack.

‍

That said, multi-cloud can add complexity to management. More platforms mean more to manage, more integrations, and more security to keep in sync. A hybrid cloud can help bridge the gap between your old on-prem systems and the cloud so that you can migrate gradually.

APM & observability

Good observability (logging, monitoring, tracing) is a key architectural consideration with distributed cloud-based systems. Cloud-first architectures build in telemetry from the start using centralized logging services, metrics dashboards, and tracing systems that can follow a request as it hops between microservices. This is crucial for debugging issues in a complex cloud environment, performance tuning, and cost management.

Security and compliance by design

Finally, a cloud-first architecture includes planning for security, compliance, and governance from the get-go. This means integrating identity and access management (IAM) across all services and enforcing encryption of data in transit and at rest, and leaning on built-in cloud security tools like WAFs and security groups.

‍

Security is also woven into the DevOps pipeline through automated scans and infrastructure compliance checks as code. On the compliance side, you address requirements by choosing compliant cloud services.

Challenges and considerations

Cloud-first strategy represents a significant shift in how IT is done, and organizations must navigate certain hurdles to make it successful. 

Here are some of the main challenges and important considerations when going cloud-first:

• Cost overruns without monitoring: Ironically, while cost efficiency is a big motivation, controlling cloud costs becomes a new challenge. The ease of provisioning resources can lead to “cloud sprawl” where you have lots of little services running and incurring charges that people forgot about. 
  
  ‍To address this, companies need strong cost governance: use of budgeting tools, alerts for anomalous spending, and practices like rightsizing instances and deleting unused storage.

• Cultural resistance and change management: Cloud-first initiative is not just a technical change; it’s a human one. Some staff may resist the changes, fearing automation will eliminate jobs or simply being comfortable with how things have always been done. Leadership needs to guide the change, emphasizing that cloud-first will enable people to focus on higher-value tasks.
• Governance and management: In a cloud-first world, developers have more freedom, which is great for agility but can lead to governance issues. That’s why it’s important to have a clear framework in place. This might mean setting rules on approved providers, what data goes to the cloud, and how resources are tagged and secured.
  
  Many teams set up a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) to lead best practices and oversee adoption. Automation helps too. Policy-as-code tools can enforce rules and fix issues in real-time, while service control policies can limit risky actions. Don’t forget access control. Integrate with your identity systems so cloud permissions update automatically.

• Migration complexity: Most companies still rely on legacy systems, and figuring out how to migrate or integrate them is often the toughest part of going cloud-first. Not every app is easy to move, and some are so critical that even touching them feels risky.
  
  It’s wise to prioritize migrations and start with less critical or more cloud-friendly systems first. In some cases, you might use a hybrid approach long-term and keep certain legacy systems on-prem. You can also use RPA or low-code tools to bridge the gap by automating manual tasks around legacy systems or building lightweight interfaces that connect to both cloud and on-prem environments. 
  
  Or, if the timing’s right, you might swap out legacy systems for SaaS tools altogether.

6 steps to implement a cloud-first strategy

If you’re ready to embrace cloud-first, it helps to follow a structured plan. Below are six practical steps to implement a cloud-first strategy in your organization:

1. Audit current infrastructure

Begin with a thorough assessment of your existing IT landscape. This is essentially a baseline inventory and health check of all your systems. Look at what hardware and software you have, what each system does, how critical it is, what it costs, and how it might benefit from cloud migration.

‍

This audit will uncover things like server utilization rates, performance bottlenecks, or aging hardware and will highlight quick wins (e.g., a server nearing end-of-life is a good cloud migration candidate) as well as potential challenges (e.g., an old application that might not be supported in cloud without changes). 

‍

During the audit, also gather input from various teams. Sometimes, shadow IT (unofficial tech usage) will surface, such as a marketing team paying for some cloud app you didn’t know about. 

2. Prioritize workloads for cloud migration

After the audit, categorize your applications and workloads. Identify the systems that will gain the most from the cloud or are the easiest to migrate. For example, an internal web application that isn’t tightly coupled to on-prem databases might be straightforward to rehost in the cloud. 

‍

On the other hand, something like a latency-sensitive factory floor system or a database full of sensitive PII might be slated for later or require special handling.

‍

The idea is to create a migration backlog that ranks apps by priority. Common criteria for prioritization include potential cost savings, performance improvements, criticality, complexity, and compliance requirements. In practice, you might label workloads as rehost (lift-and-shift), refactor (needs code changes), replace (swap with SaaS), retain (keep on-prem), or retire (decommission entirely).

3. Build or re-architect for flexibility

This step is essentially about applying the key components we discussed earlier (microservices, APIs, etc.) in your design. You might not do a full refactor for every app but consider at least partial modernization for those that’ll live in the cloud long-term. That could mean containerizing an app or adding an API, so it integrates easily with other cloud services.

‍

In other words, as you touch each system, try to inject more flexibility so you don’t carry old inefficiencies forward.

4. Choose cloud-first vendors and platforms

Evaluate your current vendors and future options through a cloud-first lens, and choose the SaaS or cloud-based ones. For example, if you need a data warehouse, choose a cloud-native one like Snowflake or BigQuery rather than deploying a database on a local server. You'll likely go with a SaaS product if you need an internal tool like an IT service desk. 

5. Upskill teams

Your people are the ones who will make cloud-first a reality. So, a critical step is to invest in training and skill development so that everyone from developers to IT ops to security understands how to work effectively in the cloud. 

‍

There are many facets to this:

• Provide formal training programs or online courses. You can also run workshops or hands-on labs internally.
• Hire new talent if needed to fill gaps and ensure existing team members have a path to transition.
• Create internal champions or a center of excellence to guide others, review architectures, and define best practices.

6. Monitor, optimize, and govern

In this step, you set up continuous monitoring and management of your cloud environment to ensure it’s delivering on expectations and to catch any issues early. 

‍

Key activities include:

• Monitoring performance and reliability: Use cloud monitoring tools to keep an eye on application performance, uptime, and usage.
• Tracking costs and usage: Many cloud providers have cost analysis tools. Use them to identify where money is going. Regularly compare these costs to your pre-cloud baseline to ensure you get the anticipated savings.
• Governance and security checks: Use security monitoring tools to flag misconfigurations and regularly audit user access to remove any that are no longer needed

Cloud-first strategy in action: Use cases

To make it more concrete, here are a few examples of how organizations adopting a cloud-first model can unlock real value:

• A manufacturing company modernizing legacy systems

Consider a global manufacturer with dozens of legacy ERP and scheduling systems running on outdated infrastructure. Instead of rewriting everything at once, they take a cloud-first approach — prioritizing low-risk apps for migration and replacing others with SaaS. This gives them a gradual, low-risk path to modernization without disrupting day-to-day operations.

• Scaling operations for an e-commerce platform

 An online retailer can adopt a cloud-first model to handle seasonal demand spikes. They can move their checkout system to a cloud provider and pair it with autoscaling and CDN support. During peak events, their systems will scale effortlessly without downtime.

• Empowering internal teams to build their own tooling

With managed low-code development platforms, non-developers can build and deploy the tools or apps they need without waiting weeks for engineering. This speeds up operations and reduces bottlenecks across departments.

Frequently asked questions

Is cloud-first the same as moving everything to the cloud?

No. Cloud-first doesn’t mean cloud-only. It just means the default approach is to consider cloud solutions first when building or modernizing systems.

When should a company not go cloud-first?

If you’re in a highly regulated industry with strict data residency rules or run mission-critical legacy systems that are too risky or expensive to move, then a cloud-first approach might not fit right away. 

What’s the first step towards implementing a cloud-first strategy?

Start with an infrastructure audit. You can’t plan where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re starting from. Take inventory of your systems, apps, and dependencies. Figure out what can move easily, what needs work, and what’s best left alone for now. That sets the foundation for prioritizing cloud migrations and making smarter decisions about architecture.

Is hybrid cloud compatible with cloud-first?

Absolutely. Hybrid cloud and cloud-first actually go hand-in-hand for a lot of orgs. Cloud-first just means cloud is your default path, but hybrid gives you the flexibility to keep some workloads on-prem while modernizing others.

What industries benefit from a cloud-first model the most?

Almost all of them, but here are a few standouts:

• Tech & SaaS: Faster dev cycles, scalability, and access to modern tools.
• Finance: Improved agility and reliability, with strict security.
• Retail & eCommerce: Ability to scale up fast during peaks like Black Friday.
• Healthcare: Better data sharing and remote care options are available when compliance is handled well.
• Education: Flexibility for remote learning and digital classrooms.

How Superblocks helps citizens developers build on the cloud

Superblocks is an AI-powered development platform that lets teams build the tools they need without managing the underlying infrastructure or rebuilding standard features. 

‍

It works like a hub for your cloud-first ecosystem that connects your apps, data, and processes across multiple cloud services. 

‍

Here’s how it supports a cloud-first approach:

• Cloud hosted by default: Superblocks itself runs in the cloud with options to connect to your on-prem data securely if required. When you build an internal app or workflow on Superblocks, you don’t need to deploy servers or worry about scaling that app’s backend.
• Faster development: Build visually with our low-code platform or use raw code for more flexibility. You can also use AI prompts right inside the builders or alongside code to speed up delivery.
• Integration with your cloud and SaaS ecosystem: It has 60+ pre-built connectors to popular databases, data warehouses, cloud storage, SaaS APIs, and even AI models​.
• Flexible visual development: Design both UI and business logic visually with our intuitive drag-and-drop interface, or go custom with React components.
• Fitting into your existing software delivery workflows: Run automated tests, trigger builds, manage approvals, and deploy apps safely using your CI/CD pipelines.
• Centralized security and governance: SSO, granular RBAC, secrets management, and audit logs are built into the platform. You can also stream metrics, traces, and logs from all your internal tools directly in Datadog, New Relic, Splunk, or any other observability platform.
• On-premise security: Keep sensitive data and code within your network while still managing your app, workflows, and permissions through Superblocks. All the benefits of the cloud with security in mind.
• Code portability: Superblocks apps are essentially React apps under the hood. They are exportable and hostable outside the platform.

If you’d like to see these features in practice, take a look at our Quickstart Guide, or better yet, try Superblocks for free.