Anyone thinking about migrating to the cloud cannot avoid taking a closer look at Amazon Web Services (AWS). In our guide, we clarify the most important questions: When does it make sense to rely on AWS, what should be considered during the migration and what are the costs for the migration?
What are the advantages of cloud migration to AWS?
In general, you can assume that the three major hyperscalers will all reliably assist you in harnessing the benefits of the cloud for your business. When considering whether to migrate to AWS, the focus is more on the "how" rather than the "what".
With over one million active customers and a global cloud presence as far back as 2006, AWS was not only the first hyperscaler on the market, but also remains the leader among cloud providers. AWS has a tremendous head start in helping businesses of all experience levels, industries and geographies with the cloud. Moreover, since the "launch" of AWS, there have been no price increases to date.
From applications and websites to databases, storage, and physical as well as virtual servers, you can migrate all units of your IT infrastructure. AWS supports you with over 200 different services, including computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).
Last but not least, AWS stands out with its generous grant programs and a well-established network of certified partners ready to support your journey into the cloud.
Security also plays an enormously important role for AWS. That's why AWS security standards are aligned with those of financial, educational, and government institutions. AWS compliance programs include 230 security features and are constantly being optimised. According to Amazon, customers report an average of 43.4 percent fewer monthly security incidents and 69 percent less monthly downtime.
In which case should companies rely on AWS?
For every use case, there's a suitable AWS solution. If you've been working with other hyperscalers like Google Cloud or Azure, or if you're primarily focused on implementing workplace-related topics, it might make more sense to lean towards Azure or Google Cloud. Hybrid cloud scenarios are also quite feasible.
AWS stands out with the most extensive experience and highest service maturity. Our subjective but informed opinion is that, when it comes to applications that need to run natively, AWS has always been the top choice.
The most important steps on the way to the AWS Cloud.
As with any migration, planning is the most important step on the path to the AWS Cloud. How is your infrastructure set up so far? What needs to be migrated in the first place? This is also where you commit to one of the various cloud migration strategies.
Our seven-point migration plan helps you keep track of all the relevant points around cloud migration.
The basic foundation when moving to the AWS Cloud is the so-called landing zone. This platform serves as the framework for managing your workloads and services on AWS. It's safeguarded by high compliance and security standards, facilitating the secure execution of all processes. Essentially, it's the well-fortified sandbox that enables building and development within a protected environment, ensuring you're secure from the outset.
Furthermore, it's crucial to collaborate with individuals experienced in AWS and well-versed in precise billing, such as calculating Reserved Instances and Saving Plans. Ideally, you would partner with one of the many certified AWS partners in Germany or globally.
Successful role models: How enterprises benefit from migrating to AWS
How have companies implemented the migration to AWS and what benefits have they derived from it? The software company Lobster DATA GmbH, for example, provided its own products as an on-premise solution on its customers' servers or in its own data center before migrating to AWS. As a result, a technician was often needed on site to perform the necessary configurations in order to commission the software at the customer's premises. For customers and for Lobster itself, this was a time-consuming and resource-intensive process.
Lobster now uses the AWS Cloud as a scalable, global platform to deploy its own software products in minutes. What previously took hours or days is now up and running in minutes.
Following the successful migration of Lobster DATA GmbH to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud, the subsidiary Lobster Logistics Cloud followed suit in a second project step. Its local infrastructure was previously operated by a hoster, which we then migrated to the cloud. The result has been a scalable and cost-transparent cloud development environment for internal software developments.
By migrating to AWS, Lobster enables their customers to have a better user experience and accelerates the optimization of their own internal processes. In addition, as an experienced AWS partner, we have relieved the pressure on their own IT capacities and enabled them to focus more on their core business.
You can read more about how exactly the migration was carried out in individual steps in our case study on Lobster DATA GmbH:
How much does a migration to the AWS Cloud and subsequent operation cost?
Migrations in your own data centre are usually cheaper than migrating to the cloud. And often there are even double costs for a certain period of time until you can move completely to the cloud. In most cases, however, the cloud pays for itself even in the short term, as the costs for ongoing operation are significantly lower. With the right certified partner, you can also benefit from exclusive subsidies with AWS. A good example of this is the so-called MAP program.
The costs of a cloud migration vary from case to case. However, you can use certain factors as a guideline to understand the typical components that make up cloud migration costs:
- Status quo of the IT infrastructure
How large is your current IT landscape? Are there licence dependencies? - Migration strategy
Should you migrate by lift & shift only, which would keep migration costs relatively low, or should you (partially) redevelop with native cloud services (higher migration costs but lower operational running costs)? - Definition of responsibilities
Who will manage your infrastructure in the long run? Your team might require enablement from you and/or the involvement of a Managed Cloud Operations partner. The more you leverage native services during migration, the fewer Managed Cloud Operations costs you will have with your cloud partner in the future.
Amazon Cloud Migration: Solutions for every use case
There’s no avoiding AWS. This hyperscaler offers versatile applications and provides the optimal cloud experience for businesses of all sizes. The carefully crafted partner and incentive programs also contribute to AWS's attractiveness, especially for companies whose primary focus isn't IT. The example of Lobster DATA GmbH illustrates that even major software providers trust AWS's long-standing expertise and high standards. What matters is getting the initial steps right and ensuring your cloud migration stands on secure ground. Therefore, it's advisable to find a competent partner through the AWS Partner Network right at the beginning of your cloud journey.
For cloud beginners: the Cloud Readiness Check
Still not convinced? With our free Cloud Readiness Check, you'll gain an initial overview of your infrastructure's utilisation and costs, and find out whether the cloud could be beneficial for you. We provide you with a solid data foundation for your decisions by analysing your current licences, costs, and potential savings.