From Cloud to On-Premises: A Systematic Review of Cloud Repatriation Drivers, Strategies, and Governance Challenges

Cloud repatriation is the migration of workloads from public cloud to private, on-premises, and hybrid clouds. Despite the growing adoption of cloud computing, there are many issues associated with operational expenditure, the unpredictable performance of cloud services, compliance concerns, vendor dependency, and data sovereignty concerns. Thus, cloud repatriation has become a strategic solution, especially in the public sector where governance and regulatory requirements are paramount. Previous studies on cloud repatriation are predominantly descriptive, with limited focus on predictive models that include cost assessment, security compliance, governance maturity, and workload mobility. Moreover, empirical studies are still limited, particularly in the context of public sector settings and regulatory constraints and sovereignty requirements. This study aims to provide a systematic literature review of the factors, solution approaches, and limitations of cloud repatriation towards on-premises transition. The review offers three main contributions: factors driving cloud repatriation, the synthesis of limitations and solution strategies for each factor, and an analysis of current trends across academic and industry literature. Major databases and selected industry reports were used to gather academic and industry sources. From an initial set of 124 articles published between 2021 and 2025, 20 key studies were selected. The results are broken down into five main factors: cost and economic factors, data security and sovereignty, vendor lock-in and portability, performance and latency needs, and governance and exit strategies. The review underscores the need for integrated governance-driven frameworks to enable secure, sustainable, and policy-compliant digital transformation.

@article{Roslan2026,
  title     = {From Cloud to On-Premises: A Systematic Review of Cloud Repatriation Drivers, Strategies, and Governance Challenges},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {17},
  number    = {7},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Amzari Mohd Roslan and Fazlina Mohd Ali and Faizan Qamar and Liyana Safra and Nur Arzilawati Md Yunus},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170737},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170737}
}