The cloud is ground zero in the quest for competitive differentiation, yet migrating existing applications, data, and infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud is just a start. Companies must reimagine IT infrastructure and business operations by harnessing modern cloud technologies to establish a solid footing for meaningful business transformation.
There is little question that cloud is the next frontier for business innovation. According to the Foundry “Cloud Computing Study 2024,” 63% of IT decision-makers say their organizations are accelerating moving core IT systems to the cloud. Moreover, 70% of those surveyed confirmed that they are defaulting to cloud-based services when upgrading or purchasing new technical capabilities. Surging momentum is fueling cloud investments: Gartner projects worldwide spending on public cloud services to grow 20.4% to $678.8 billion in 2024.
Yet not all cloud strategies are created equal, nor do they deliver comparable business value. With a migration strategy, IT organizations decommission systems and applications running in on-premises data centers and replace them with similar cloud capabilities and infrastructure. An internal Amazon Web Services (AWS) study shows that migration currently accounts for between 35% and 50% of existing workloads and is the preferred approach for cases where an accelerated outcome is required.
Modernization is the next step in the migration journey. It is predicated on rethinking and redesigning the IT estate to exploit cloud-native capabilities such as object storage, serverless functions, and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve greater efficiencies and innovation. The same AWS study revealed that 20% of customer workloads are being modernized with replatforming strategies, where some changes are made. Only 10% of workloads are being wholly refactored to exploit cloud-native capabilities — an indication that companies are missing an opportunity for true cloud transformation.
Lift and shift of existing applications and infrastructure to cloud delivers cost savings and scalability advantages, but modernization is where the rubber meets the road. “Migrating delivers potential value by providing capabilities you didn’t have in your data center, but in order to realize this value, you must actually use these new capabilities,” says Jake Burns, enterprise strategist at AWS. “Modernization is how you do that.”
The AWS foundation for modernization
AWS provides an array of services, bolstered by its partner network, to assist in modernization. More than 200 ready-made services are part of the modernization portfolio spanning critical building block technologies, including storage, compute, AI/machine learning (ML), and fully managed databases.
Generative AI is a major area of focus. Headlining AWS’s modernization services in this area is Amazon Q, which delivers generative AI chatbot assistance to various business functions, making it easier for developers to perform basic coding and security tasks or for business users to streamline tasks and generate content. Amazon Bedrock, another core AI modernization pillar, is a fully managed service that offers a choice of leading foundation models, simplifying overall development of generative AI applications.
Beyond the cloud modernization service portfolio, AWS provides numerous methodologies and road maps to help customers as well as reseller partners build modernization muscle. One such example is Modernization Experience-Based Acceleration (ModAx), a transformation workshop that combines application assessment, enablement, and execution processes with modernization specialists to facilitate the modernization journey.
Migration is a critical step en route to the cloud. But without a robust modernization plan enabled by AWS and its partner ecosystem, enterprises risk missing out on the true business value of cloud and, even worse, getting left behind.
Want more modernization tips? Check out our next article: “Why should I modernize? And why now?” Or learn how AWS can help you reduce costs, gain efficiencies, and make the most of your existing investments.