Introduction
When it comes to cloud migration, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Every organization has unique needs, whether it’s improving performance, cutting costs, or modernizing legacy applications. Enter the 7Rs of migration, a set of strategies designed to offer a tailored approach to moving workloads to the cloud. In this post, part of our Cloud Migration blog series, we’ll explore each migration strategy to help you find the path that best aligns with your business goals.
Ready to find your fit? Let’s rock the cloud
Section 2: Replatform (Lift, Tinker, and Shift)
Replatforming is about making minimal adjustments to applications to benefit more from cloud infrastructure. Known as ‘lift, tinker, and shift,’ this approach might include small optimizations, like switching to a managed database service instead of self-hosting. Replatforming is ideal for organizations that want some cloud benefits, such as improved performance or lower costs, without diving into a full-scale refactoring project.
Example: A media streaming service wants to move its application to AWS. Instead of just rehosting, they decide to migrate their database from a self-hosted setup to Amazon RDS (a managed database service), which requires minimal code changes. This small adjustment reduces their database maintenance workload, while still allowing them to retain their core application as-is.
Section 3: Repurchase (Move to a Different Product)
With the repurchase strategy, companies replace their existing solution with a new cloud-native product, often a SaaS application. This approach is common when an application can’t meet modern demands or when maintaining it is too costly. For example, many organizations migrate from in-house CRM software to platforms like Salesforce. Repurchasing can bring quick cloud benefits, including managed updates and lower maintenance, but it may require users to adapt to a new tool.
Example: A small software company using an on-premises CRM tool switches to Salesforce, a SaaS CRM solution. By repurchasing, they avoid managing hardware and software updates and gain access to a fully managed, cloud-native CRM with better support and features.
Section 4: Refactor (Re-architect)
Refactoring, or re-architecting, involves reengineering an application to optimize it fully for the cloud. This approach is often chosen when an application would benefit significantly from cloud-native features, such as serverless computing or microservices. Though it’s the most resource-intensive strategy, refactoring unlocks long-term scalability and cost-efficiency, making it ideal for core applications that need to perform optimally at scale. Refactoring is a commitment, but the payoffs in flexibility and innovation can be substantial.
Example: A logistics company with a monolithic, on-premises application for managing shipments decides to break it down into microservices on AWS. They refactor the application, rewriting parts of it to leverage cloud-native services like AWS Lambda for serverless functions and Amazon S3 for storage. This shift improves scalability, reduces costs, and accelerates innovation.
Follow me on social networks:
✅ Instagram:
✅ LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nandopena/
SOCIAL SHARE CARD GENERATOR