9 Cloud Migration Challenges Multinationals Face in China

Cloud migration challenges in China go far beyond moving workloads from point A to point B.

You’re up against regulatory complexity, cross-border connectivity hurdles, vendor-specific limitations, and the realities of multilingual support across your organization.

Here’s what multinationals need to know—drawn from real projects, focused on performance, compliance, and seamless integration—to keep global teams connected, efficient, and operating within China’s unique digital and legal landscape.

1. Cross‑Border Connectivity and the Great Firewall’s Impact on Performance

Connectivity is the backbone of any cloud migration into China. Performance and reliability break down when cross-border network paths hit the Great Firewall. If your target is seamless collaboration on Teams, flawless SharePoint access, or uninterrupted SaaS logins, you will face bottlenecks and latency. Many global firms lose countless hours to call drops, failed syncs, or slow app launches.

Common cause analysis:

• Congestion and filtering spike latency, creating jitter that breaks real-time tools like Teams.
• Routing asymmetry across China’s Tier-1 ISPs multiplies packet loss, even inside cities.
• Distance matters: Picking the wrong PoP or offshore region amplifies region-to-edge lag.

Here’s what works best:

• Analyze measured region-to-PoP latency and use benchmarks before selecting a landing zone. Public data at where.durableobjects.live and peeringdb.com gives you the evidence needed.
• Avoid generic, unmanaged tunnels, which often get throttled. Instead, engineer compliant, managed SD-WAN and licensed VPN paths.
• Split traffic. Prioritize collaboration and identity flows with targeted egress policies, stabilizing mission-critical traffic.

Our International Connectivity Solutions combine multi-ISP redundancy, proactive monitoring, and licensed SD-WAN/MPLS designs—so your people work seamlessly on both sides of the border.

When you stay data-driven and compliant, user complaints go down, Teams failure rates drop, and your cloud investment finally performs at China scale.

How To Beat China Connectivity Issues

• Use region-to-edge latency data to spot the PoP with the lowest round-trip times. For example, many Asia-Pacific regions show 20-35% better p50 latency to key China cities.
• Build compliant, redundant paths inside China using licensed ISPs. This guards your Go-Live against regulatory risk.
• Identify Microsoft Teams real-time media traffic, then route via optimized links to minimize jitter, packet loss, and login delays.
• Instrument key metrics: Track Teams media failures, SaaS login SLOs, and region-to-PoP latencies. Recheck after every change.

Your cloud migration will move faster, support more people, and avoid the usual finger-pointing between HQ and local teams.

2. Evolving CBDT and Data Residency Rules That Reshape Architecture

Regulatory change in China isn’t just a memo—it’s a moving target. If your architecture doesn’t match the current Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and the 2024 cross-border data transfer (CBDT) updates, expect delays, fines, or forced redesigns.

Every cross-border workflow, from HR data to analytics, now needs a rational, defensible CBDT playbook. Security assessments, contract filings, exemptions, region-specific certs—there’s no room for “we’ll fix it later”.

Decoding Data Residency for China

• Recent CAC clarifications made it easier for some general data, but critical flows with “important” or “core” data still need security assessments. Average approval rates hover around 84%, so you must plan for possible rejection.
• FTZ negative lists, consolidated filings, and 2-3 year assessment validity help reduce repeat paperwork for multinational workflows.
• Beware of scope creep: Even new features can trigger additional review cycles, especially if they impact public opinion or user-generated content.

Our IT Audit Services map your data flows, ensure compliance, and align Chinese legal reality with your global processes before the first byte moves.

Start with a defensible baseline—align your CBDT and GDPR evidence from day one and keep your China rollout on schedule.

Practical CBDT Prep Steps

• Classify and map every data flow: personal, important, and “general”.
• Choose the quickest export route available—exemption, certification, or security assessment—and document the rationale for each.
• Set up localized logging, encrypt backups, and minimize cross-border telemetry by design.
• Prepare necessity assessments, consent records, and flow diagrams for audit speed.

When CBDT compliance is built in—not duct-taped on—you keep acceleration and avoid post-migration fire drills.

3. Microsoft 365 Tenant Choice and Integration Pitfalls

Microsoft 365 in China comes with a big decision: Global tenant or 21Vianet-operated China tenant. Each path changes how people work, access files, and manage guests. A rushed choice can mean endless Teams federation hiccups, delayed logins, blocked admin features, or missed legal discovery requests.

If you operate across China and global hubs, don’t guess—map collaboration needs, policy differences, and user expectations before rollout.

Choosing the Right M365 Tenant Model

• 21Vianet tenants boost SharePoint and Teams in China, but lack some Purview and Copilot features, and need careful federation with HQ.
• Dual-tenant setups require account lifecycle automation, cross-tenant provisioning, and a clear approach to eDiscovery.
• Global tenants give you feature parity, but require robust, compliant acceleration and hybrid routing to maintain user experience.

Our Microsoft 365 in China services build this decision into your migration plan—optimizing path, federation, and ongoing support for smooth user adoption and fast compliance audits.

The right M365 model means users spend less time logging tickets, and IT spends less time on messy handoffs and reactive fixes.

Checklist for a Successful M365 Setup

• Decide on tenant structure before you migrate any mailboxes or OneDrive content.
• Map out identity, SSO, and conditional access for each user group. Test token refresh and login flows from China.
• Align eDiscovery and legal hold strategies so your audit trail is solid—even across tenants.
• For global tenants servicing China, build in private offshore egress and Teams traffic segmentation.

When you get the M365 decision right, your China workforce collaborates as fast as HQ—no regrets, no chaos.

4. VPN Legality, SD-WAN Design, and Interconnection Compliance

Connectivity tools you use globally—generic VPNs, unlicensed SD-WAN, direct peering—often break the rules or behave inconsistently in China. Migrating with the wrong stack is risky. If your team loses admin access, remote deployments fail, or you hit carrier blocks, you own the outage.

This is where knowing exactly what’s legal and supportable pays off. Only licensed providers can run enterprise VPNs or cross-border SD-WAN links.

Secure, Compliant Network Design in China

• Work with ICP-licensed carriers for SD-WAN/MPLS. These include China Telecom Global, China Unicom, China Mobile, and key Hong Kong ISPs. Some are ExpressRoute enabled for Azure or M365 hybrid builds.
• Two breakouts work best: one offshore (Hong Kong), one domestic. This way, you keep Microsoft 365 and regulated services healthy without mixing paths.
• Carrier escalation paths and documented SLA playbooks are lifelines for Go-Live windows.

We engineer International Connectivity Solutions that combine licensed SD-WAN, failover, and carrier support, letting you resolve issues fast and avoid trouble tickets getting lost in translation.

Locked-down, licensed connectivity means your plans stay on track—and compliance headaches don’t kill momentum right before launch.

Top Steps for Legal and Reliable SD-WAN

• Confirm all cross-border tunnels use certified carriers.
• Design split-tunnel policies that prioritize ERP, identity, and Teams.
• Run carrier failover drills and packet loss profiling regularly.
• Keep escalation chains and China-language support ready on speed dial.

You get fast Go-Lives and stable day-to-day operations—so migration stops being a gamble.

5. Fragmented Cloud Service Availability, Licensing, and ICP Dependencies

Cloud service menus in China are different. Vendor SKUs, security controls, crypto standards, and public endpoints change. You need to check and double-check everything—otherwise, rollout fails when you find the security tool or marketplace app you rely on isn’t available in-region.

Serving Chinese web users? ICP filings, DNS choices, and content delivery all shape your uptime and compliance.

How to Avoid Cloud Services Headaches

• Regional licensing, cryptography, and cloud SKUs often lack parity with global catalogs. Critical services like HSMs, CDN, or Purview may be unavailable or operate under different protocols.
• Azure China CDN is retiring by December 2025. All teams must finish migrations to Azure Front Door or a local CDN before then. Miss this date, and your sites risk downtime or poor performance.
• ICP filings are non-negotiable for public-facing apps. Filing status impacts DNS routing, TLS setup, and how quickly users can access your portals.

Our Managed IT Services streamline licensing analysis, ICP filings, and web posture fixes, making China cloud builds predictable and secure.

When every license, feature, and service is verified up front, you slash cutover risk and user downtime.

• Validate software availability and licensing before designing your China stack, not after.
• Migrate Azure China CDN profiles to Azure Front Door by November 15, 2025—track deadlines and DNS cutover windows.
• Build a local WAF/DDoS plan tied to China endpoints to keep public apps secure and in compliance.
• Align all cloud contracts and feature sets to regional requirements, reducing risk during cutover.

Mastering licensing and service setup means your digital presence in China launches on time—and keeps up with changing compliance rules.

6. Hybrid and Multi‑Cloud Security Baselines Under China Constraints

Operating a hybrid or multi-cloud environment in China brings a new layer of complexity to your security playbook. Enforcing global zero-trust, keeping data local, and satisfying regulators demand extra discipline. If you don’t adapt controls, you risk policy drift, telemetry leaks, and audit failures.

You need clear, China-aware security baselines—ones your global SOC understands and your local teams can prove to auditors.

Setting a China-Ready Security Standard

• Localize logs, enforce region-specific backup targets, and apply strict data minimization so sensitive telemetry stays in China by default.
• Review encryption, KMS, and HSM setups: make sure your keys and protected data reside in the right region, using only permitted libraries and hardware.
• Adjust SOC response and playbooks. Regionalize incident logging, limit cross-border telemetry exports to essentials, and maintain audit trails for export approvals.

We use our IT Audit Services to deliver a tailored gap analysis, map every region’s requirements, and lock in real-world security policies clients actually pass through audit.

When you lead with a compliant, China-ready landing zone, your global security posture becomes audit-proof and scalable.

Rapid List: Secure Multi-Cloud Ops in China

• Route only aggregated, permitted logs out of region.
• Use in-region HSMs and key stores for regulated data.
• Stage DR and backups local-first, then export by exception.
• Map and document policy drift—never rely on default settings.

Security is proactive—or it’s a blocker. Set the rules before you deploy.

7. Legacy Application Complexity and Refactoring Pressure

Legacy apps aren’t just a relic—they’re often the #1 risk in any China migration. Monoliths struggle with tenant splits, hardcoded endpoints, and policy changes. If you rush, expect breakage, outages, and unhappy end users.

A careful triage keeps your timeline, costs, and technical debt under control.

Winning With Legacy Apps in Migration

• Audit and score legacy workloads. Group by business criticality, latency tolerance, identity needs, and compliance triggers.
• Prioritize low-risk pilots. These reveal hidden dependencies, region issues, and what “good” migration looks like.
• Tackle the essentials first: externalize configuration, fix endpoint dependencies, and split sensitive flows.

Our Project Services deploy local engineers who specialize in dependency mapping, safe refactoring, and trouble-free go-lives.

Small early wins build trust and speed up big-wave migrations.

Steps to De-Risk Legacy Moves

• Use automated mapping to reveal all endpoints and identity dependencies.
• Sequence changes: start with basic rehosting, then move to modular refactoring as you learn.
• Develop rollback plans and feature flags to stop bad pushes cold.
• Train China-based DevOps to own runtime and rapid response.

Focus on reliability. Fast fixes, controlled change, and continuous feedback loop.

8. Bilingual Operations, Skills Gaps, and Change Management

Every cloud rollout lives or dies by operations. Lack of bilingual SOPs, gaps in on-call China support, or failed handoffs can sink your best designs. When stakes are high, bridging global and China teams is crucial.

The secret? Trilingual support, documented change windows, and investing in cross-trained local champions.

• Localize all runbooks and cutover documents; align with China business hours.
• Set up rapid-response channels with engineers ready to escalate in English, Chinese, or Italian.
• Run drills: tabletops with local ISPs and cloud vendors improve readiness and trust.

We embed trilingual engineers, deliver 2-hour remote response, and keep documentation sharp so your team always has backup, before and after cutover.

Multilingual muscle turns daunting migrations into smooth rollouts—and keeps user pain minimal.

Key Practices for Smooth Operations

• Organize bilingual change windows.
• Build on-call support with SLAs in all key languages.
• Cross-train champions so local users have trusted go-tos.

Support that fits the human—every time zone, every language.

9. Governance, Documentation, and Transparency Across Borders

Cloud control is only as strong as your documentation and runbooks. If you don’t track configs, data flows, approvals, and incidents, your migration slows down, audits become nightmares, and blame gets tossed around.

You need a shared source-of-truth—a living guide that shows exactly what changes, why, and when.

Transparency isn’t paperwork. It’s your best weapon against downtime, confusion, and regulator headaches.

Cloud Governance Essentials

• Track data flows, credential changes, and region-specific connections in one location.
• Schedule quarterly reviews to catch expired certs, misroute issues, or policy drift before users feel it.
• Demand clear RACIs, change tickets, and security evidence packs so every action has an owner.

Our Managed IT Services and IT Audit Services put transparent reviews and compliance results at the core of every project. This means fewer surprises, audits passed, and consistent performance you can prove.

Make documentation a daily action, not a post-mortem regret.

Conclusion

Migrating to the cloud in China doesn’t only require technical know-how. It’s about getting every step right: compliant connections, the right cloud model, aligned security, and practical bilingual operations. Prioritize these, and your global and China teams will work as one—with fewer setbacks and smoother audits. Ready to move fast and fix risk? Our team at JET IT Services is ready to help you plan, execute, and own your next cloud migration with confidence.

About JET IT Services

JET helps businesses in China overcome IT challenges with reliable, compliant, and secure solutions. From network optimization to cybersecurity, we ensure your IT systems run smoothly so you can focus on what matters most—growing your business!