Cloud Migration

What Is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration refers to the strategic process of moving IT workloads – applications, databases, storage, and entire infrastructure – from an on-premises data centre to the cloud. For mid-market companies in Germany (Mittelstand), this step is often the single most impactful lever for reducing operating costs, increasing agility, and addressing the shortage of infrastructure specialists.

Cloud migration is not a single project but a multi-stage process. It starts with an inventory assessment, continues through strategy selection, and culminates in the actual migration and subsequent optimisation. When executed properly, migration reduces hardware investments, improves disaster-recovery capability, and unlocks access to modern cloud services such as managed databases or serverless computing.

The 6 Rs of Cloud Migration

AWS popularised the "6 Rs" framework that helps organisations choose the right strategy for each application. These six approaches are now recognised across industries:

• Rehosting (Lift-and-Shift): Applications are moved to the cloud as-is with no code changes. Fast to implement but not optimised.
• Replatforming (Lift-Tinker-and-Shift): Minor adjustments such as switching to a managed database without altering the application core.
• Refactoring: The application is re-architected for the cloud – e.g., as microservices or containers. Highest effort but greatest benefit.
• Repurchasing: Switching to a SaaS solution, for example from an in-house email server to Microsoft 365.
• Retiring: Applications that are no longer needed are decommissioned.
• Retaining: Systems that cannot or should not be migrated at this time remain on-premises.

Lift-and-Shift vs. Refactoring – Which Approach Suits the Mittelstand?

For many mid-market companies, lift-and-shift is the pragmatic starting point. A manufacturing company running an ERP system on dedicated servers can initially move it as a VM to AWS EC2. The infrastructure becomes elastic immediately without modifying the ERP itself. Refactoring then makes sense for customer-facing applications such as e-commerce platforms or customer portals where scalability and performance are business-critical.

Cloud Migration Challenges for the Mittelstand

Mid-market companies face specific challenges during cloud migration:

• Compliance and Data Privacy: GDPR requires personal data to be processed within the EU. AWS Frankfurt (eu-central-1) and other European regions provide legally compliant options.
• Legacy Systems: Many Mittelstand companies operate systems that have grown over years and cannot simply be containerised. A thorough analysis is essential.
• Skills Gap: Cloud expertise is scarce. External partners like devRocks can guide the migration and build internal capabilities.
• Cost Transparency: Without a FinOps strategy, cloud costs can spiral quickly. Tagging, budgets, and regular reviews are mandatory.

Typical Migration Process for a Mid-Market Company

A typical migration project for a company with 200–500 employees takes between three and twelve months and includes these phases:

• Discovery & Assessment: Inventory of all IT assets, dependencies, and data flows.
• Strategy Selection: The appropriate migration strategy (6 Rs) is determined for each application.
• Proof of Concept: A non-critical application is migrated first to validate processes and tools.
• Wave Migration: Applications are grouped and migrated in planned waves.
• Optimisation: After migration, resources are right-sized and costs are optimised.

Cloud Migration Costs

Cloud migration costs vary significantly. For a mid-market company with 10–30 workloads, migration costs typically range from €50,000 to €300,000 – depending on complexity. This is offset by long-term savings of 20–40% on infrastructure costs when the cloud environment is continuously optimised.

It is crucial to consider Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): not just raw infrastructure costs but also staffing, licensing, and the value of gained agility.

Which Cloud Providers Suit the German Mittelstand?

AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud all offer data centres in Germany or Europe. AWS is the market leader with the broadest service portfolio. Azure appeals to organisations within the Microsoft ecosystem. Google Cloud excels in data analytics and machine learning. For regulated industries, sovereign cloud offerings such as Delos Cloud or Stackit are available.