Cloud repatriation – A CIOs guide to selling the move internally 

Insights • August 20, 2025 • 9 minutes read

When we first moved aggressively into the cloud, it symbolised progress, innovation, and agility. Now, as we consider cloud repatriation—moving workloads back to on-premises or hybrid environments—there’s often a sense of unease.

There’s a lingering stigma: “If cloud was the future, why are we stepping back?”

It’s critical for CIOs to reframe the narrative—cloud repatriation is not about failure. It’s about evolving needs, smarter strategies, and business resilience. 

Still, selling that internally—especially to boards, executives, and passionate cloud champions—requires clarity, empathy, and strong business reasoning.

Research from ADAPT — which posed the question, “Holes in the cloud: repatriate or not?” — confirms that cloud repatriation is a real and growing trend.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, organisations across Australia rapidly moved core applications and services to the cloud to support a newly remote workforce, according to ADAPT’s Cloud Migration Study 2024: Time for a reality check. 

But by April 2020, when ADAPT surveyed 217 IT and business decision-makers, the mood had already shifted. While there was a notable surge in cloud adoption at the onset of COVID-19, nearly two-thirds (61%) of organisations said they anticipated repatriating workloads from public cloud environments back to on-premise infrastructure.

In fact, 15% of respondents planned to shift between 11% and 20% of their cloud-hosted workloads, according to ADAPT’s findings.

What these numbers show is that cloud repatriation is not an anomaly or a retreat — it’s a strategic adjustment in response to evolving business, cost, and operational realities.

This guide shares how to lead that internal conversation with authenticity and confidence. 

How to sell cloud repatriation internally

Before diving into the 5-step plan, it’s important to first consider the “why” behind the move to repatriate.

According to ADAPT, there are three major drivers prompting CIOs to bring workloads back: Australian organisations told ADAPT that “cost, static workloads, and security” are the top reasons for cloud repatriation.

In today’s economic climate, CFOs are increasingly questioning why cloud-related costs continue to climb. Many are demanding greater transparency around the true cost of cloud services — especially after cost savings were originally sold as a key justification for cloud migration.

“As organisations across Australia in various market sectors embrace cloud services, granting access to developers, other business units and largely unmonitored users, the associated costs have ballooned. The ability to predict expenditure accurately has become impossible,” according to information from ADAPT’s study.

“In this inflationary environment, several cloud providers have increased cost of service. The cloud market is not alone, with many Australian organisations bemoaning the fact that technology providers across the board are increasing pricing with scant regard for individual customer challenges and expectations.

“These increases exacerbate the overall perception of cloud cost blowouts. They are made worse with the added costs of managing rising volumes of data coming in and going out of organisations, as well as the widespread adoption of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT.”

While the challenges above may seem like strong justification for repatriation, selling the move internally is still a nuanced process. It requires a human-centred approach — one that acknowledges internal concerns, champions smarter strategy, and clearly articulates the business case for change.

For starters, while cost concerns are legitimate, they are often the least sustainable reason for repatriation when compared to the broader benefits of agility, flexibility, and the digital delivery of products and services.

Step 1: Understand internal perceptions of cloud

Before shaping a cloud repatriation strategy, it’s essential to listen first.

Cloud adoption often carries a powerful halo of innovation. For many internal stakeholders, moving to the cloud wasn’t just a technical decision—it was a symbol of organisational progress: faster delivery, greater scalability, and a bold move toward a digital-first future.

Recognising this emotional and strategic investment is critical. Repatriation, if not framed properly, can easily be misinterpreted as a step backwards rather than an evolution of the company’s technology approach.

Start by mapping the internal landscape:

- What does “cloud” represent for each department or team? For example, marketing and sales may view it as essential to customer agility, while security teams may associate it with greater risk.
- Who were the key champions of the original cloud strategy? Early adopters and evangelists will need careful engagement to avoid resistance.
- Which stakeholders will influence or challenge the repatriation move? Likely groups include Finance (CFOs and procurement), Security (CISOs and risk officers), Operations (COOs), Engineering leaders, and line-of-business owners.

Hold targeted discussions with these groups. The aim is not just to gather technical feedback, but to uncover the emotional, political, and cultural dynamics that will shape perceptions.

Key questions to explore in stakeholder discussions:

How do they define success when it comes to technology decisions?
What frustrations or disappointments have surfaced with the current cloud model?
What fears or concerns might repatriation trigger?

Understanding these perceptions early helps CIOs and IT leaders frame cloud repatriation as a strategic evolution—one that preserves innovation and agility while addressing emerging risks, costs, and control needs.

In short: cloud repatriation must be positioned not as a retreat from innovation, but as the next step in the organisation’s technology maturity journey.

Step 2: Reframe the narrative: Repatriation as adaptation, not failure

The language we use matters. Cloud repatriation isn’t about abandoning innovation—it’s about adapting to evolving business realities.

Frame the conversation clearly around tangible business outcomes that align to the company’s long-term vision:

- Cost Predictability: Managing cloud spend at scale can become unpredictable. Repatriation can deliver clearer, more stable cost models, reducing unexpected budget overruns.
- Data Control and Sovereignty: As regulatory demands tighten—especially in sectors like healthcare, finance, and government—greater control over sensitive data becomes a business imperative, not just a compliance task.
- Performance and Resilience: Certain workloads perform better, faster, and more reliably when optimised for dedicated or hybrid environments, enhancing operational resilience.
- Strategic Flexibility: Repatriation doesn’t mean abandoning cloud altogether. It’s about choosing the right environment for each workload, maintaining the agility to pivot as business needs evolve.

Instead of getting bogged down in technical justifications, keep the focus on outcomes that the board, CFO, and executive leadership care about: cost management, risk mitigation, operational excellence, and customer trust.

Ultimately, successful repatriation conversations should position the move as a natural next step in the company’s technology journey—one that strengthens competitiveness, adaptability, and long-term resilience.

Step 3: Ensuring all stakeholders are on board

One message won’t fit everyone. Tailor your communication:

- Finance: Speak their language. Emphasise total cost of ownership (TCO) improvements, budget predictability, and ROI over 3-5 years.
- Operations: Show how performance bottlenecks and downtime risks reduce with more tailored infrastructure.
- Security and Compliance: Highlight enhanced control, better auditability, and local data compliance—critical in regulated industries.
- Engineering/Dev Teams: It’s not “all or nothing.” Repatriation often complements cloud, not replaces it. Clarify which apps/workloads stay in the cloud and where hybrid strategies empower their innovation.

The key is simple: make it real for them.

Step 4: Share stories & experiences, not just numbers

People respond to stories more than statistics.

Bring in examples—internal pilots or external case studies—where companies successfully repatriated specific workloads and saw measurable improvements.

For instance, a healthcare provider repatriated critical patient data to meet tightening compliance regulations, cutting cloud costs by 30% and improving patient data access times.

Stories humanise the decision. They make it relatable—and credible.

Step 5: Acknowledge challenges & embrace it

Cloud repatriation isn’t frictionless—and pretending otherwise can erode trust. Acknowledge the realities openly and early.

Key challenges to expect:

- Retraining teams: Building new skills for hybrid or on-premises environments will take time and investment.
- Operational shifts: Supporting new operational models—such as enhanced monitoring, patching, and resource management—requires cultural and process change.
- Workload adjustments: Some applications will need rearchitecting or optimisation to perform efficiently outside of public cloud environments.

To lead through these challenges:

- Set realistic timelines based on actual workload complexity, not executive urgency.
- Provide targeted training and support so teams feel empowered, not overwhelmed.
- Be clear about the impacts—both short-term disruptions and long-term gains.
- Celebrate wins along the way to maintain momentum and morale.

Frame repatriation not as a top-down directive, but as a shared journey that strengthens the organisation’s agility, resilience, and technical maturity. By embracing the complexity together, you build stronger teams—and a stronger business.

Repatriation is strategic, not reactive

Ultimately, cloud repatriation isn’t about going backwards. It’s about being bold enough to adapt when circumstances change. If anything, cloud repatriation is not about reversing progress – it’s about having the foresight and courage to adapt when conditions shift.

Today’s CIOs are no longer just “keeping the lights on.” They are strategic business partners and innovation leaders, tasked with aligning technology decisions to long-term organisational vision. In that context, repatriating workloads from the public cloud is not a sign of failure or retreat—it’s a sign of IT maturity.

CIOs must lead with vision, not just cost-cutting narratives.

Repatriation can signal:

A smarter, more predictable business model
A shift toward greater control, governance, and compliance
Strategic alignment with evolving economic realities, regulatory pressures, and resilience goals

ADAPT’s research shows that this is not an isolated phenomenon. Cloud repatriation is emerging as a measured response to operational complexity, rising costs, and the need for tailored infrastructure approaches.

By positioning cloud repatriation as a strategic recalibration—one based on data, business goals, and forward-thinking—CIOs reinforce their leadership role. They strengthen trust with executive peers, empower IT teams to execute with clarity, and ensure the organisation is prepared for the next phase of digital evolution.

The initial cloud migration was about transformation. Repatriation is about optimisation—and making sure IT decisions are aligned with where the business is going next.