Every organization has its own unique motivations when it comes to cloud migration but at the heart of any plan is the desire to eliminate risk and lower cost. Amazon Web Services (AWS) understands this fundamental need and is meeting it head-on through qualified partners and their Migration Acceleration Program (MAP). This partner-led program was created to provide the necessary support, training, and services to reduce cloud migration risks, build a strong operational foundation, and aggressively lower migration costs. AWS also has an experienced partner ecosystem with thousands of partners seeking to assist companies at various phases of their cloud journey. Connectria is one of a select few that has achieved AWS Migration Competency status.

This designation recognizes Connectria for having extensive migration experience and the expertise necessary to help customers successfully plan and execute their move to AWS. It also provides Connectria with the authorization to deliver the many benefits of MAP to companies seeking to make the move to AWS. Wherever you’re at in your AWS cloud journey, there are services and programs designed to help simplify and expedite the process. Since MAP is such an exciting program, we’d like to help you connect the dots between the three migration phases, MAP, and related Connectria services. Ultimately, our goal is to help deliver available funding and ensure a successful migration.

What is MAP?

MAP is a structured methodology designed by AWS to help you prepare and successfully execute your AWS migration. It consists of a three-step approach for migrating to AWS. It starts with an assessment to determine baseline capabilities; a structured migration readiness and planning project to build the capabilities and plan to migrate and operate at scale; and then the approach and support to successfully execute those migrations.

Connectria offers workshops and tool-based assessments for ROI. When we look at our services next to the different migration phases and AWS services, it can be confusing. Understanding the different funding programs can sometimes feel like reading tax code. Use the graphic below to recognize your migration phase as we go through available funding and programs for your AWS migration.

Assess

The Assess phase in the AWS Migration Process is about making the business case for your migration to AWS. It’s about understanding your current environment and figuring out the total cost of ownership (TCO) and ROI associated with migrating your environment to AWS. During this stage of the process, Connectria can help you assess your readiness for cloud in general and also perform what AWS calls a Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA).

This tool-based assessment is designed to deliver a high-level assessment of your environment to help you see what your current environment would look like in AWS. Specifically, what it will cost. We deploy an AWS tool called Migration Evaluator, formerly TSO Logic, which we use to generate a business case that will enable sound planning and migration decisions. Speak with one of our experts to learn more about how AWS funding can cover these assessment costs.

Mobilize

The Mobilize phase is about prepping for a move to AWS. In this phase, we will focus on discovery and planning with the intent of performing the actual migration. During this time, you will work with AWS Professional Services and/or a MAP enabled partner, like Connectria, to build the foundation for large-scale migration. While the Assess phase focused primarily on the business case, this phase dives deeper into your current environment to map out application dependencies and needs. This is so that we can identify which applications would be a good fit for AWS services including EC2 and other cloud-native services. We also recommend which applications will require refactoring in order to run in AWS.

Additionally, this phase will include the development of an AWS landing zone that we will architect to meet the needs of the previously assessed workloads and your forward-looking needs for scale and performance. Connectria will typically build a pilot environment that will ultimately serve as the foundation for the rest of the migration. The next step in the MAP approach is Migration Readiness & Planning. When it comes to the cost of developing and delivering this step of the MAP process, AWS provides a dollar for dollar match to offset 50 percent of your cost. Connectria also offers a free migration assessment to further ensure you are fully prepared. By the end of this phase, Connectria will have helped you build a compelling business case and migration plan that includes a thorough TCO and ROI for your cloud migration.

Migrate & Modernize

The third and final phase in the AWS Migration Process is the actual migration and modernization of your workloads to AWS. This is where MAP funding really kicks in. Here, AWS will grant up to 25 percent of your projected first year Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) to offset the cost of migration and first-year operating costs. Now that you have a well-documented migration plan, the execution of a well-managed migration is critical to your business and to achieve the business case upon which the move was predicated. We will perform the assessment(s), validate the right funding vehicle, and ensure the best possible experience with your AWS migration. The total amount of available funding is unique for each customer. The value we bring to you is providing funding and expertise that helps with whichever phase you are at in your AWS cloud journey.

Connect with an AWS Specialist to learn more today! As more and more enterprise companies migrate to AWS, it’s important to ensure your migration runs smoothly and cost-efficiently. Wherever you are in your cloud journey, Connectria can provide AWS funding to offset the costs of your AWS Cloud migration. As a leading AWS Consulting Partner & Audited Managed Service provider, our comprehensive suite of AWS services has helped hundreds of organizations successfully move to the cloud.