The landing zone is the most important decision you’ll make in an Azure migration, and it’s the one most organisations rush through. Get it right and everything that follows is straightforward. Get it wrong and you’ll be refactoring for years.

Why it matters

A landing zone defines your subscription topology, network architecture, identity model, and governance framework. It’s the foundation that every workload, every policy, and every cost control sits on top of.

The mid-market sweet spot

Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework offers several reference architectures, but the “start small and expand” model works best for mid-sized organisations. Begin with a hub-and-spoke network topology, a management group hierarchy that mirrors your governance needs, and Azure Policy assignments that enforce guardrails from day one.

Common mistakes

The biggest mistake I see is treating the landing zone as a one-time project rather than an evolving platform. Plan for iteration. Your second workload migration will teach you things your first one didn’t.

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