In a previous article we explored the proven benefits of migrating to, and operating in, the Cloud. The advantages are well-documented on the web pages of service providers, in the press and in technology journals. But perhaps, surprising to some, Atlassian has been offering Cloud versions of their products for over a decade already.
The announcement in October 2020 that Atlassian would retire its server product range by February 2024, prompted a large number of clients to migrate their Atlassian applications to the SaaS versions, while some customers still hesitate or are just beginning to establish a plan for how they can do the same “when the “time comes”.
Whatever you consider as being “the right time” still requires preparation and guidance to get the most out of your migration. But most of all, it requires you to take action before “time” starts to run out, and your enterprise risks falling behind.
Help is at hand
Fortunately, customers can turn to value-added partners such as Valiantys to make the transition and migration happen sooner, rather than later, and with the desired results. The majority of new customers already start with Atlassian Cloud and reap the benefits from day one.
Those who are still hesitating may find some comfort and reassurance by listening to the experiences of other organizations. This is why, at a recent panel organized by Valiantys, we set out to learn from our customers and share their experiences of migrating to the Atlassian Cloud. Drawn from a broad range of backgrounds, and facing different business challenges, here are some of the perspectives, views and candid comments from the Cloud panel participants.
We hope they will provide precious insight into your cloud migration projects.
The panel
Doctolib, a hypergrowth French unicorn company, that provides a leading SaaS application for booking doctors’ appointments.
GIP Symaris – a public interest group specializing in patient management software. Their main application in the past ten years has been Jira for ALM and new needs for their service desk.
Evidian is a European leader of Identity-as-a-service solutions, part of the Atos group.
Here is what they had to say:
"We spent more time thinking and modeling what we wanted to do with Confluence than the time it took for its actual implementation, which was quite immediate. The adoption was extremely fast too. Knowledge management is critical in our environment."
"For us, it is a real transformation as we are rethinking all our processes and ways of working. The system of "bricks" is a huge plus for us, as it allows us to have a bit of Jira Work Management and a bit of Jira Service Management on top of our global Jira platform"
These quotes all reflect the value that customers found in the Cloud migration. In summary: It’s fast, opens new avenues for teamwork, and makes it easier to use multiple modules of the Atlassian solutions. Perhaps, the most interesting, unanimous view from the panel’s discussion was that migration is not just a technical project; it’s actually a transformation enabler.
We explored this idea a little further to see what this meant for our clients. It is true that Atlassian Cloud migration projects are, at their core, technical and infrastructure-related: moving an application from an on-premises environment to a SaaS environment. There is a strong incentive from Atlassian to do so (end of server product support) and financial benefits down the line – for example, a lower TCO. Many might think: same product, different infrastructure.
That’s usually what our customers thought when they embarked on the project. But what they eventually experienced was quite different and much broader. Here are some more highlights of the conversation:
“The cloud versions are so different from the on-prem versions that it would be a mistake to cut and paste our old work-streams and processes. It is actually a great opportunity to rethink teamwork.”
“All the applications are connected. It’s possible to move seamlessly from Jira to Bitbucket to Jira Software Management. The time to market for new services is very short. We can do many things that were impossible or too complex before, and the teams love it.”
“The cloud enables lightning-fast deployments. Emergency setup for a new project? What would have taken three weeks before (provisioning machines from IT and configuring them) now takes 3 minutes. It’s possible to create a service desk in 30 minutes! It opens a whole new world of possibilities.”
There is, undeniably, a technical component to any migration project. And it shouldn’t be underestimated. But the actual business outcome can also be better, more efficient teamwork.
In other words: technology is the invisible enabler leading to better workflows and teamwork. Valiantys has extensive experience helping clients to make their Cloud migration projects a technical and transformational success.
Find out more here.
Get the full ebook:
Download our “Cloud Migrations” ebook for additional insights on how to prepare for migration, how to avoid pitfalls and assess your options, information about what to do after the migration, and a run-down of the technical and financial benefits associated with migrating to the Cloud.
More resources:
1. Valiantys Cloud migration panel recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQD9u2HX0j4
