Cloud Migration for Belgian Businesses: A Practical Guide

Introduction

Cloud migration is no longer a question of "if" for Belgian businesses, only "when". In 2026, 78% of Belgian companies use at least one cloud service, according to the latest statistics from Eurostat and Agoria. Yet many SMEs still hesitate to take the plunge, held back by questions about security, regulatory compliance and cost.

This practical guide walks you through every stage of your cloud migration, taking into account Belgian specifics: GDPR and NIS2 regulations, local providers, available regional grants and best practices suited to the Belgian market.

Why Migrate to the Cloud? The Concrete Benefits for Belgian Businesses

Measurable Benefits

According to a study by Agoria and Beltug among Belgian businesses that have migrated to the cloud:

A Concrete Case: A 40-Employee Belgian SME

Take the example of a 40-employee Brussels SME in the services sector:

Before migration (on-premise infrastructure):

• 2 physical servers (purchase: EUR 15,000, depreciated over 5 years)
• Windows Server licence + CALs: EUR 5,000/year
• Maintenance contract: EUR 3,600/year
• Electricity and cooling: EUR 2,400/year
• Local backup + NAS: EUR 1,500/year
• System administrator's time (half-time): EUR 25,000/year
• Total annual cost: around EUR 40,500

After migrating to Microsoft 365 + Azure:

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium (40 users): EUR 9,600/year
• Azure (VMs, storage, databases): EUR 6,000/year
• Cloud backup (Veeam): EUR 1,200/year
• Reduced system administrator time (quarter-time): EUR 12,500/year
• Total annual cost: around EUR 29,300
• Savings: EUR 11,200/year, or 28%

And that comes with better availability, stronger security and instant scalability.

Cloud Models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Before migrating, it's essential to understand the different cloud models:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

You rent virtual machines, storage and networking. You manage the operating system, applications and data.

Use cases for Belgian businesses:

• Hosting business application servers (custom ERP, CRM)
• Development and test environments
• Database servers

Examples: Azure Virtual Machines, AWS EC2, Google Compute Engine, OVHcloud

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

You deploy your applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.

Use cases:

• Web and mobile application development
• Hosting managed databases
• Data pipelines and analytics

Examples: Azure App Service, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, Heroku

Software as a Service (SaaS)

You use applications directly through your browser, with no installation or maintenance.

Use cases (the most popular in Belgium):

• Office productivity: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace
• Accounting: Exact Online, Yuki, Octopus, Horus, Winbooks
• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Teamleader (Belgian)
• ERP: SAP Business One Cloud, Odoo (Belgian)
• HR: SD Worx, Officient (Belgian), Personio

Cloud Providers Available in Belgium

The Hyperscalers (Global Providers)

Important point: both Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure have datacentre regions in Belgium, which lets you keep your data on Belgian soil — an asset for GDPR compliance and data localisation requirements.

Belgian and European Providers

For businesses with strict data sovereignty requirements:

The Steps of a Cloud Migration

Step 1: Audit and Inventory (2-4 Weeks)

Before any migration, carry out a full inventory of your existing infrastructure:

Inventory to complete:

• List of all servers (physical and virtual) with their specifications
• Installed applications and their dependencies
• Data volumes and growth rates
• Network traffic between applications
• Current software licences and their cloud-transfer terms
• Hosting contracts and expiry dates
• Performance requirements (latency, IOPS, bandwidth)

Free audit tools:

• Azure Migrate: analyses your infrastructure and recommends cloud configurations
• AWS Migration Hub: a similar tool for AWS
• Google Cloud Migration Center: for GCP

Step 2: Migration Strategy — The 7 R's

For each application or workload, choose the right migration strategy:

Step 3: Target Architecture and Provider Choice (2-4 Weeks)

Selection criteria for a Belgian business:

1. Data location: favour a provider with a region in Belgium or the EU (mandatory for certain sensitive data under the GDPR)
2. Certifications: ISO 27001, SOC 2, verified GDPR compliance
3. Support: availability of support in French and/or Dutch
4. Connectivity: connection quality from Belgium
5. Cost: pricing model (pay-as-you-go vs reserved instances)
6. Lock-in: ability to change provider without rebuilding everything
7. NIS2 compliance: for businesses subject to this directive

Step 4: Carrying Out the Migration (1-6 Months)

Recommended approach: progressive migration

1. Phase 1 – Quick wins (months 1-2): migrate simple, low-risk workloads first

   • Email to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
   • File storage to OneDrive/SharePoint or Google Drive
   • Backups to the cloud

2. Phase 2 – Business applications (months 3-4): migrate your core applications

   • ERP, CRM, accounting to SaaS versions
   • Databases to managed services (Azure SQL, AWS RDS)
   • Application servers to cloud VMs or containers

3. Phase 3 – Optimisation (months 5-6): optimise and finalise

   • Decommission the on-premise infrastructure
   • Optimise cloud costs (right-sizing, reserved instances)
   • Set up monitoring and alerts
   • Train your teams

Step 5: Security and Compliance

Essential cloud security measures:

• Encryption of data at rest and in transit (AES-256, TLS 1.3)
• Identity and access management (IAM) with mandatory MFA
• Virtual network segmentation (VPC, NSG)
• Centralised logging and monitoring (Azure Monitor, AWS CloudTrail, Google Cloud Logging)
• Automated, tested backups
• A documented disaster recovery plan (DRP)

GDPR compliance in the cloud:

• Sign a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with your cloud provider
• Make sure personal data stays within the European Economic Area (EEA)
• Update your register of processing activities to reflect cloud hosting
• Carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) if you process sensitive data
• Check the standard contractual clauses (SCCs) if transfers outside the EEA are needed

Step 6: Optimising Cloud Costs

Cloud costs can quickly spiral without rigorous management. Here are the main levers for optimisation:

Optimisation strategies:

• Right-sizing: match VM size to actual usage (often 30-50% oversized)
• Reserved Instances / Savings Plans: save 30-60% by committing for 1 or 3 years
• Spot Instances: for non-critical workloads, save up to 90%
• Auto-scaling: automatically adjust resources to demand
• Off-hours shutdown: turn off dev/test environments in the evening and at weekends (65% savings)
• Storage tiering: use archive storage for rarely accessed data

Cost management tools:

• Azure Cost Management (free for Azure customers)
• AWS Cost Explorer + AWS Trusted Advisor (included)
• Google Cloud Billing + recommendations (included)
• CloudHealth / Spot by NetApp: third-party multi-cloud solutions

Hybrid Cloud: A Pragmatic Solution for Belgian Businesses

Many Belgian businesses choose a hybrid approach, combining public cloud with on-premise infrastructure or a private cloud:

Advantages of hybrid cloud:

• Keep the most sensitive data on-premise or in a Belgian private cloud
• Benefit from public cloud scalability for variable workloads
• Migrate progressively, with no big-bang cutover
• Easier compliance for regulated sectors (finance, healthcare)

Popular hybrid cloud solutions in Belgium:

• Azure Arc: unified management of on-premise and cloud resources
• AWS Outposts: AWS infrastructure inside your own datacentre
• Proximus EnCo: a sovereign Belgian cloud interconnected with the hyperscalers
• NRB Hybrid Cloud: a Belgian private cloud connected to public clouds

Grants and Subsidies for Cloud Migration in Belgium

In Wallonia

• "Digital Transformation" business vouchers (chèques-entreprises): cover up to 75% of consulting costs for cloud migration strategy and support (capped at EUR 60,000/year)
• "Cybersecurity" business vouchers: for securing your cloud infrastructure
• Contact: 1890.be or digitalwallonia.be

In Flanders

• KMO-portefeuille: a 20-30% contribution towards consulting and training costs related to the cloud (capped at EUR 7,500/year)
• VLAIO Innovation subsidies: for innovative projects involving the cloud
• Contact: vlaio.be

In Brussels

• Hub.brussels: free support and guidance towards available grants
• Innoviris: funding for R&D projects involving innovative cloud solutions
• Digital vouchers from the Brussels Region
• Contact: hub.brussels or innoviris.be

At Federal Level

• Digital investment deduction: an enhanced tax deduction for investment in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity
• Tax Shelter for R&D: for developing innovative cloud solutions

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Migrating without a strategy: don't simply "lift & shift" your entire infrastructure. Some applications need refactoring, others should be replaced with SaaS.

2. Neglecting training: your IT teams need training on cloud tools. Budget EUR 2,000 to 5,000 per person for training.

3. Underestimating exit costs: egress fees (outbound data transfer) can be significant. Check the rates before committing.

4. Forgetting governance: put naming, tagging and cost-control policies in place from the start.

5. Ignoring latency: for critical applications, test latency to your chosen cloud region from your offices in Belgium.

6. Not planning a rollback: always have a plan B in case something goes wrong during migration.

7. Neglecting the GDPR: make sure your cloud contract includes a compliant DPA and that data stays within the EU.

Conclusion

A well-prepared cloud migration is a strategic project that delivers significant benefits for Belgian businesses: lower costs, better security, greater flexibility and access to cutting-edge technology such as AI and analytics.

Belgium has a mature cloud ecosystem, with local and international providers, first-class data centres and regional grants to support businesses through this transition. The recommended approach is progressive: start with the quick wins (email, storage), then gradually extend to business applications.

Don't hesitate to bring in specialist partners to support you. A well-run migration project typically pays for itself within 12 to 18 months.

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This article was written by the Espero-Soft team for the blog dedicated to entrepreneurs in Belgium. For a free cloud audit or personalised support with your migration, contact our experts.