Embarking on the cloud migration journey is a strategic leap and many businesses are driven by diverse motives to transition and modernize their workloads on AWS. Backed by a recent study, the move from on-premises infrastructure to AWS emerges as a game-changer with tangible benefits such as up to: 

• 66% infrastructure cost savings  
• 45% fewer security-related incidents 
• 29% increase in staff focus on innovation

However, the path to the clouds can be riddled with challenges. System downtime, cost uncertainty, and application compatibility issues often anchor businesses to on-premises infrastructure, hindering agility and innovation. Navigating this intricate landscape requires more than just ambition; it demands a reliable guide. 

Enter AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP), a comprehensive program designed to chart a safe and effective path for your cloud journey. In this blog post, we illuminate what AWS MAP is and how you can leverage best practices to confidently set sail for the boundless potential of the cloud. 

Considering moving your workloads to AWS? Prepare for your next stage of growth with Cloudelligent’s Cloud Migration Services. 

Leveraging AWS MAP for Frictionless Migrations 

The magic of AWS MAP lies in its comprehensive approach that tackles every hurdle head-on. It is expertly designed to streamline the migration process, minimize risks, and access the full potential of AWS. Whether migrating applications, data, or entire IT environments, this program serves as a guiding compass for businesses.

Figure 1: What is AWS MAP? 

Here’s how MAP helps you chart a course for success. 

Best Practices and Tools

• Proven Methodologies: You can leverage AWS’s extensive experience and MAP’s Assess, Mobilize, Migrate and Modernize framework to build a solid migration strategy. 
• Automation Tools: Streamline tasks and reduce manual effort with automated AWS migration tools such as Migration Hub. 

Financial Incentives and Support

• Financial Credits: Your business can offset migration costs with AWS credits and discounts based on your workload spend. The more you migrate, the more you save! 
• Expert Guidance: Access personalized support from AWS specialists and certified APN Partners such as Cloudelligent to ensure a smooth and worry-free transition.   

Faster, Easier, and Secure Migrations

• Streamlined Workflows: Pre-configured migration templates and automated processes can empower your business to migrate to AWS in a matter of weeks or months, instead of years. 
• Enhanced Security: You can benefit from AWS’s robust security infrastructure and compliance certifications to ensure a safe and secure migration. 

Reduced Risks and Costs

• Minimized Downtime: You can reduce the migration risks by accessing readiness assessments, a clear migration roadmap, and a proven migration methodology tailored for your business. 
• Cost Optimization: Choose from flexible pricing options and leverage financial incentives to optimize your cloud spend. 

How Does the AWS Migration Acceleration Program Work? 

While cloud migration projects can be lengthy, complicated, and costly, AWS MAP aims to mitigate challenges with a simple, three-step guided approach. 

Phase 1: Assess

Before embarking on your cloud migration voyage, a thorough assessment provides the crucial map for a smooth transition. The first phase is to assess your current environment and identify the best candidates for migration. This step is instrumental in gaining insights into the scope, complexity, and benefits of moving your workloads to AWS. 

Figure 2: MAP Phase 1 – Assess

The Assess phase delves into the following key areas: 

• Inventory and Discovery: Here we create a detailed inventory of existing applications, workloads, and data to gain a comprehensive understanding of your current environment, including hardware, software, storage, and network configurations. This step supports the establishment of clear migration goals and objectives which ensures the cloud migration strategy aligns with your business needs. 

• Migration Readiness Assessment: Leveraging the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework, we evaluate your organization’s preparedness across six dimensions: Business, People, Governance, Platform, Security, and Operations. This deep dive identifies your strengths and potential roadblocks to enable a more informed decision-making process. 

• Cost Optimization Analysis: Understanding your current on-premises costs is essential for crafting a cost-effective cloud strategy. With AWS MAP tools, we analyze your existing spend and projects potential cost savings achievable through cloud migration. 

• Migration Strategy Development: Based on the insights from the assessment, we collaborate with you to craft a tailor-made cloud migration strategy. This roadmap encompasses your chosen migration approach, target architecture, and prioritization of workloads. 

Phase 2: Mobilize

Once you have assessed your current environment and established a clear business case for cloud migration, the next step is to mobilize your resources and prepare for the actual migration.  

Figure 3: MAP Phase 2 – Mobilize

This phase involves the following: 

• Migration Plan: Here we define the scope, timeline, budget, and success criteria for your migration project. Prioritize the workloads that you want to migrate based on their complexity, dependencies, and business value. Decide on the cloud migration strategy for each workload, such as rehosting, replatforming, or refactoring. 

• Addressing Readiness Gaps: In this step, we help resolve any issues or risks that may affect your migration readiness, such as technical dependencies, data quality, security policies, or organizational change management.   

• Environment Setup: Picture a secure Landing Zone in the cloud. Cloudelligent works with you to design and build a well-architected, scalable, and cost-optimized environment on AWS. This includes setting up your AWS accounts, configuring your network and security settings, and deploying any tools or services that you need to support your migration. 

Phase 3: Migrate and Modernize

After mobilizing your migration project, the final phase is to migrate and modernize your workloads. In this step, you can leverage the tools, services, guidance, training, and incentives provided by AWS MAP to execute your migration plan and achieve your desired outcomes.  

Figure 4: MAP Phase 3 – Migrate and Modernize 

The key steps in this phase are: 

• Workload Migration: Using the migration plan developed in the Mobilize phase, we migrate your workloads to AWS. Here we apply best practices and leverage automated AWS migration tools such as Application Migration Service and Database Migration Service for swift and efficient transfer.  

• Operate and Optimize: Post-migration, it is important to implement continuous operational excellence. In this step, we fine-tune configurations, monitor performance of your resources, and ensure optimal operation in the new cloud environment.  

• Modernization Strategies: As your workloads settle into the cloud, we seize the opportunity to modernize them by leveraging cloud-native technologies and services. Optimization can involve refactoring for scalability, leveraging serverless architectures for agility, or deploying containerization for portability.  

Migrate Confidently With Cloudelligent’s AWS MAP Expertise

Cloudelligent is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner that can help your business move to AWS with confidence. Whether you need to migrate or modernize your workloads, we have the expertise and solutions to make your cloud transformation a success.  

Fast-track your journey to AWS with our FREE Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA). Let’s connect and we’ll answer all your questions about moving to the cloud such as TCO, methodology, organizational readiness, and more.