Journey toward the target architecture

Adopting cloud technologies is a journey. Business priorities and the need to bring new technologies online to unlock capabilities or features influence the speed at which an organization deploys and scales out a cloud environment.

Over time, the organization iterates and matures the deployed technologies, processes, and skilling needed to progress toward that destination. This iteration doesn't mean you arrive at the destination immediately, however. The journey takes time. The time varies depending on the size of the organization, the current technical footprint, and the skilling maturity within technical teams.

On-ramps

Consider an analogy of a trip along a freeway. There might be multiple on-ramps you can use to join the freeway, but the destination is the same.

These on-ramps represent where organizations are today in their cloud adoption plans. They also represent the specific guidance that you need to continue to develop the cloud environment.

On-ramp	Description	Further guidance
Start	For organizations who are at the beginning of their cloud adoption journey (also referred to as greenfield) who are looking to implement a new cloud environment, based on best practices and proven architectural patterns. Start with the Azure landing zone conceptual architecture to understand the recommended end state. Next, explore each of the design areas. Use the areas to understand the key themes that form the considerations and decisions that you need to design and implement the landing zone that best fits your requirements	What is an Azure landing zone Azure landing zone design areas
Align	For organizations who have an existing environment that needs modification to align to the Azure landing zone target architecture and best practices (also referred to as brownfield). Use the transition from brownfield guidance to understand the decision points and technical approach to refactoring environments to align with the guidance in the Ready methodology	Refactor a landing zone Transition existing Azure environments to the Azure landing zone conceptual architecture Scenarios: Transitioning existing Azure environments to the Azure landing zone conceptual architecture
Enhance	For environments that are already in line with best practices but the organization is looking to add more controls or features. Explore the articles that explain the considerations as part of enhancing the key ongoing processes for cloud environments, such as management, governance, and security.	Enhance guidance for management Enhance guidance for governance Enhance guidance for security

Next steps

To understand the decisions you need to make when you implement an Azure landing zone, explore the design areas in the Azure landing zone. Look in the landing zone for specific technical subjects to consider.

Azure landing zone design areas