The business case for moving to cloud

Does your business rely on enterprise software running on on-premises servers? If so, you’re probably familiar with many of the headaches that come with this arrangement: continual maintenance, patching and updates. In addition, there are the costly software licenses and the regularly recurring questions of what to do when old software reaches end of life.

Running end-of-life (EOL) software on enterprise networks carries multiple risks. It can pose both a security and a compliance risk because it leaves you vulnerable to breaches that could compromise sensitive customer information and proprietary business data. It’s also expensive. And extended support can often mean you end up running software with reduced or limited features, which isn’t ideal for any business looking to compete in the digital era.

There’s a better option: saying goodbye to EOL software by migrating to the cloud.

We’ve helped many customers to do just this, guiding their journey to Amazon Web Services (AWS) using an AWS Optimization and Licensing Assessment (OLA) as a roadmap to build the business case for migration.

In this blog post – the first of two about how the cloud can bring an end to EOL challenges – we’ll explore some of the reasons to consider such a journey.

What’s next when end-of-life software deadlines loom?

Let’s look at a real-life situation affecting many businesses today. If your organization runs Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012, you’ll be facing an EOL software decision very soon.

Extended support for those products is ending on 12 July 2022 and on 10 October 2023, respectively. So avoiding all of the EOL risks described above requires you to make a choice:

Option 1

• Stick with your on-premises approach. This means paying new software license fees and being ready to repeat the same cycle in a few years when that new software in turn becomes old, EOL software.

Option 2

• Migrate to the cloud, stick with Microsoft software, and move your company data to SQL Server 2019.

Option 3

• Migrate to the cloud, but explore an alternative software route, starting with an OLA.
  
  

How an optimization and licensing assessment works

An OLA is an advisory service funded by AWS and provided by SoftwareOne that assesses your current on-premises (and cloud, if you have any) environments. It identifies how your organization uses resources in real life, determines what your existing licensing costs are and then looks for ways to optimize all of that in the AWS Cloud. Those findings can help you to build a business case for an AWS migration and licensing strategy.

We begin the OLA using discovery tools that automatically collect usage information about each server in your on-premises data center. This information can include everything from host names, IP addresses and operating systems to how much CPU, RAM and storage is provisioned and consumed.

The OLA also determines whether you qualify for the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP). Through this, AWS provides you with funding, tools and other resources to support your modernization efforts and journey into the cloud.

After our assessment, we create a report that models your different deployment options based on your existing licensing. This will show, for example, where you might be able to use the AWS BYOL (bring your own license) program, and how our flexible licensing options can help to reduce your costs. We also provide 1-, 3-, or 5-year estimates for your total cost of ownership. These estimates consider, among other things, how right-sizing your consumption habits and eliminating zombie resources can bring down expenses considerably.

Typically, we can complete an OLA within 30 days. After that, we’re ready to answer any questions and help you decide the best way forward.

What migrating to AWS can mean for your business

Moving your EOL software to the cloud and optimizing how you use resources on AWS can help your organization do more than save money. With 80 availability zones around the globe – and more to come – the AWS Cloud reduces downtime, which means a big boost for performance, reliability and peace of mind.

Access to innovation is another benefit. AWS regularly rolls out enhancements based on customer feedback, and it’s launched 69 new services in the last year alone. Compared to on-premises IT, this steady stream of new cloud-based capabilities makes it easier for your organization to stay agile and competitive in today’s fast-changing world.

In fact, the capabilities that AWS brings far outpace those of any other cloud provider. It supports the entire Windows stack and offers numerous services that can’t be found elsewhere.

If your organization is facing looming EOL software deadlines, now’s the time to consider a migration to AWS. Our customers have been running Microsoft SQL workloads on AWS for more than 12 years now, and they’ve experienced first-hand the benefits the cloud can bring.