10 Enterprise Must-Haves for a Successful Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Migration

As quantum computers edge close to practical capability, the cryptographic systems underpinning enterprise security are at increasing risk. Today’s cryptographic algorithms, such as RSA, ECC, and conventional symmetric ciphers, are vulnerable to quantum algorithms like Shor’s and Grover’s. The advent of quantum computers threatens to break these long-standing foundations, potentially exposing sensitive data across industries.

To counter this, the field of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) has emerged, offering quantum-resistant replacements designed to withstand future quantum threats. However, migrating to PQC is far more complex than merely flipping a switch. It demands a comprehensive, enterprise-grade strategy—one that spans governance, risk management, implementation, and continuous monitoring. In this blog, we explore 10 must-have elements your enterprise needs to ensure a smooth, secure, and compliant transition to PQC.

Whether you’re a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), security architect, or IT leader, this guide provides a foundational roadmap to navigate the transition, minimizing risk, reducing operational impact, and aligning with emerging standards.

Executive awareness and Strategic alignment

A PQC migration impacts virtually every business function, from data centers and cloud services to mobile apps, IoT devices, and third-party integrations. Without executive awareness and sponsorship, there is a risk of a lack of coordination, reduced visibility, or operational inefficiencies. Here is what you can do to avoid such circumstances:

• Educate leadership on the quantum threat timeline, including expected breakthroughs and risk models.
• Secure an executive sponsor (CISO or CTO) who can align PQC migration with enterprise priorities like data protection, regulatory compliance, customer trust, and digital transformation.
• Integrate PQC into a strategic enterprise roadmap, aligning it with broader initiatives like digital transformation and compliance.
• Set clear objectives and KPIs for your PQC transition plan, identify the target systems, evaluate your encryption readiness, deployment milestones, and risk reduction metrics.

Robust Governance Framework

PQC touches multiple domains—cryptographic key management, code deployment, vendor contracts, regulatory, and audit checks. A weak governance model can result in gaps, miscommunication, or inconsistent implementations. Here is what you can do to avoid such circumstances:

• Establish a dedicated PQC working group that may include security architects, cryptographers, auditors, the compliance team, and third-party vendors.
• Define comprehensive policies and standards document that includes which cryptographic algorithms? Where are they used (TLS, email, disk encryption)? What are the key sizes and lifespans?
• Create encryption exception and waiver processes for handling legacy systems or external partners that can’t immediately support PQC.
• Map dependencies by documenting all systems, data flows, and integrations relying on vulnerable crypto, including vendors.

Comprehensive Cryptographic Inventory and Risk Assessment

You cannot protect yourself if you don’t know what’s in your environment.  Quantum-vulnerable algorithms may lurk in obscure code, undocumented services, and legacy stacks. Here is what you need to do:

• Discover and catalog all cryptographic usage including TLS, SSH, VPN, encrypted databases, mobile apps, IoT firmware, etc.
• Perform cryptographic telemetry by using code analysis tools, encryption scanners, and security posture monitoring.
• Categorize systems by data sensitivity, lifespan, and quantum exposure.
• Prioritize by quantum‑vault risk: Data encrypted today but accessed in the quantum era (e.g., patient records, intellectual property) needs faster attention.
• Conduct a quantum risk audit, pinpointing systems using vulnerable cryptographic schemes (e.g., RSA, ECDSA).
• Develop a multi-year roadmap that phases riskier targets first and aligns with standardization developments and your business goals.

One of our clients from the healthcare industry has started their journey for PQC transition with us. We have scanned 800 servers and 200-plus applications. We have discovered some telemetry sensors still use 1024-bit RSA, AES-128-bit keys, which were immediately flagged for deprecation.

Selection of PQC algorithms and Hybrid approaches

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized its recent round of PQC standards in March 2025. Adhering to vetted standards ensures interoperability and security.

Below are the NIST standardized PQC algorithm released:

Here is what you can do to align with NIST PQC standards:

• Monitor NIST’s PQC standard adoption and industry recommendations.
• Evaluate and choose hybrid algorithms for key exchange and signatures, combine traditional algorithms (RSA/ECC) with selected PQC algorithms to ensure both classical and quantum resilience during the transition phase.
• For public-facing protocols (e.g., TLS, SSH), adopt hybrid key exchanges that pair RSA or ECC with corresponding PQC counterparts.
• Test hybrid configurations for performance, backward compatibility, and resilience.
• Track vendor support—many are already offering PQC-enabled servers and networking gear.
• Adopt a Crypto-agile architecture for your organization.
• Ensure modular integration, with PQC algorithms as replaceable components.

Cryptographic Infrastructure and Key Lifecycle Management

PQC introduces new key types, key sizes, and lifecycle complexities—from longer storage requirements to updated rotation practices. Here is what to do to keep up with the change:

• Update the Key management policy document according to the PQC needs.
• Enhance HSMs and key vaults to support PQC key types.
• Update key management workflows, covering generation, rotation, storage, and destruction with PQC considerations.
• Maintain compliance logs and audit trails to meet regulatory standards (e.g., FIPS, GDPR).
• Extend PKI, Certificate Authorities, and issuing CA workflows to support PQC and hybrid key and certificates.  
• Update key distribution systems to handle new certificate formats, metadata, and chain of trust.

Vendor and Ecosystem Readiness

Transitioning to a Quantum-Safe environment also relies on vendors such as HSM providers, cloud platforms, Operating system vendors, firewall, and IoT suppliers being ready, as many enterprises rely on third-party libraries, frameworks, and infrastructure components and each one must adapt to PQC.  If they lag, your transition stalls.  Here is what you need to do:

• Engage key vendors and partners to accelerate roadmap alignment with PQC.
• Collect compatibility information like What firmware versions support PQC, and which cloud platforms offer post-quantum compatibility, etc.?
• Push for PQC support in vendor contracts and sourcing documents.
• Test vendor PQC implementations, especially inter-vendor interoperability.

Pilot Testing Program and Phased Deployment

Migrating everything at once is considered a risky approach. Small-scale pilot programs uncover compatibility issues early. Here is what to do for a successful pilot program:

• Identify low-risk pilot workloads: internal apps, non-customer-facing microservices, internal tooling.
• Deploy and monitor hybrid communication: TLS channels, SSH access, codesigning, etc.
• Assess metrics: handshake durations, CPU usage, error rates, interoperability failures.
• Expand gradually: from pilots → critical apps → public-facing services (as required)

One of our clients, based on the recommended strategic approach, launched a PQC pilot program for their internal CI/CD agents across two data centers, uncovering certificate chain length limits on legacy load balancers.

Security Testing and Validation

New cryptographic primitives invite new risks such as implementation bugs, side channels, and poor randomness. Here is what you need to do:

• Integrate PQC into penetration testing: Assess implementations, handshake control, downgrade attacks.
• Use Fuzzing & unit tests on PQC libraries and integrations.
• Engage external audits: Independent cryptographers and PQC specialists to audit code, libraries, and protocols.
• Establish a vulnerability response process that have procedures ready for PQC-specific algorithm weaknesses.

Governance, Monitoring and Audit

PQC migration isn’t “set it and forget it.” You need visibility and feedback to iterate, comply, and maintain security. Here is what you should do to keep an eye out for maintained security:

• Add PQC health metrics to dashboards: Percentage of hybrid-protected traffic, error rates, library versions, certificate expiry timelines.
• Integrate crypto posture into audit cycles: Compliance reviews, and KPIs.
• Monitor standards evolution: NIST announcements, RFC publication, quantum-ready CA roots, algorithm depreciation.
• Crypto agile Architecture: Be ready to pivot if an algorithm is deprecated, or a better one is standardized.

Sample Migration Template

Below is a sample migration template based on our experience with existing clients.

How can Encryption Consulting Help?

• Validation of Scope and Approach: We assess your organization’s current encryption environment and validate the scope of your PQC implementation to ensure alignment with industry best practices. 
• PQC Program Framework Development: Our team designs a tailored PQC framework, including projections for external consultants and internal resources needed for a successful migration. 
• Comprehensive Assessment: We conduct in-depth evaluations of your on-premise, cloud, and SaaS environments, identifying vulnerabilities and providing strategic recommendations to mitigate quantum risks. 
• Implementation Support: From program management estimates to internal team training, we provide the expertise needed to ensure a smooth and efficient transition to quantum-resistant algorithms. 
• Compliance and Post-Implementation Validation: We help organizations align their PQC adoption with emerging regulatory standards and conduct rigorous post-deployment validation to confirm the effectiveness of the implementation. 

Conclusion

Start today, perform an internal inventory of cryptographic systems, and schedule a leadership briefing. Whether your systems handle public trust services, financial transactions, or internal secrets, migrating to PQC is not optional—it’s imperative. The enterprise that’s proactive now will be the enterprise that thrives when quantum becomes reality.