Jul 13 2026
Cloud

4 Mistakes That Derail Cloud Builds

The cloud should simplify computing environments, but these common missteps can create problems that slow organizations down.

Public cloud platforms make it incredibly easy to spin up new computing instances. But that doesn’t mean the process of architecting new cloud environments and migrating data is always simple. When organizations aren’t careful, they can end up with messy cloud environments that lack a foundational structure, where even basic features fail to function as expected. Watch out for these four common mistakes that can quickly derail business-critical cloud builds.

Bad Cloud Planning

Thorough planning should be table stakes for any cloud initiative, but, unfortunately, some managed services providers (MSPs) skip this step. We recently worked to help a company recover from an engagement with a partner that essentially slapped some resources together and expected them to work without even the basic hub-and-spoke architecture necessary to optimize the workloads. If a partner can’t explain the basic architecture of a cloud environment, as well as the reasoning behind that blueprint, run.

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Cloud Architecture That’s Misaligned With Business Goals

Beyond a basic blueprint, cloud deployments require organizations and their IT partners to make thoughtful decisions about how to segment workloads, clarify network paths, and create logical boundaries that support operational control and business continuity. When architecture isn’t optimized for that, problems emerge. For instance, if workloads aren’t properly isolated, a failure in one virtual machine can bring down several others — an issue that can easily be prevented by making the right architecture decisions from the start.

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Tangled Dependencies in Cloud Environments

Misconfigurations are common in cloud environments. The real danger lies in the way cloud infrastructure is tied together. When dependencies between different components of cloud environments aren’t considered, seemingly small issues can have huge ripple effects. One IT leader found that his organization’s virtual machines would occasionally stop working without warning. When the affected VMs were rebooted, two other applications would go down. It was all due to tangled dependencies. 

Cloud ‘Fixes’ That Make the Problem Worse

Sometimes, the worst thing an MSP can do is try to fix problems it doesn’t understand. If an MSP lacks the knowledge to set up a cloud environment properly in the first place, it probably also lacks the skills to effectively troubleshoot when issues arise. When something is fatally flawed, sometimes the only option is to start over.

Iryna Auhustsinovich/Stocksy
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