Here are 10 detailed and realistic scenarios where cloud migration is needed, spanning various industries and use cases. For each, we explain the motivation, technical context, and expected benefits of migration, including security, performance, cost, and scalability factors.
1. Legacy Infrastructure Modernization (Enterprise IT Refresh)
- Scenario: A financial institution runs a core banking system on aging IBM AIX servers with Oracle databases.
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Motivation:
- High maintenance costs and skill scarcity.
- Risk of hardware failure and no support for modern features.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Replatform: Move Oracle workloads to managed cloud DB (e.g., Amazon RDS for Oracle).
- Lift-and-shift core application to VMs (e.g., AWS EC2 or Azure VMs).
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Benefits:
- Reduced OPEX, better DR, modern security compliance (e.g., FIPS, PCI-DSS in cloud).
- Start modernization path via containers or microservices later.
2. On-Premises Capacity Bottleneck in E-commerce
- Scenario: An e-commerce site hosted on-premise hits limits during seasonal spikes (e.g., Black Friday).
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Motivation:
- Sudden traffic surges crash the servers.
- Need to scale horizontally and maintain SLA.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Refactor: Move to Kubernetes on GKE/EKS/AKS.
- Use auto-scaling, CDN (e.g., CloudFront), and queue-based event systems.
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Benefits:
- On-demand scalability.
- Pay-per-use pricing.
- Reduced downtime and performance issues.
3. Mergers and Acquisitions – Consolidation of IT Assets
- Scenario: A large insurance company acquires a smaller competitor; both use different data centers and software stacks.
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Motivation:
- Need unified infrastructure and applications.
- Reduce redundancy and cost.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Rehost & replatform: Consolidate applications and databases in a hybrid or multi-cloud architecture.
- Use IAM federation to unify identity systems.
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Benefits:
- Centralized security policies.
- Shared services and unified DevOps pipeline.
- Reduced capex from redundant hardware.
4. Remote Workforce Enablement (Post-COVID)
- Scenario: A law firm switches to remote operations, but legacy on-prem document servers hinder collaboration.
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Motivation:
- Need for secure access from anywhere.
- Compliance with data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- SaaS Migration: Move to Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online.
- Use Azure AD with conditional access.
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Benefits:
- Secure remote access.
- Encrypted data-at-rest and in-transit.
- Centralized logging via Microsoft Sentinel.
5. Disaster Recovery Modernization
- Scenario: A manufacturing company’s DR plan involves manual offsite tape storage.
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Motivation:
- Slow RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective).
- Compliance requirement for faster recovery.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- DR in the cloud: Replicate VMs and databases using AWS Backup or Azure Site Recovery.
- Use object storage (e.g., Amazon S3 Glacier) for backups.
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Benefits:
- Reduced recovery time.
- Geo-redundant storage and automation.
- Cost-effective cold storage.
6. SaaS Application Development with CI/CD Needs
- Scenario: A startup builds a customer analytics platform and wants to launch quickly with continuous delivery.
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Motivation:
- Need automated builds, testing, deployment.
- No interest in managing infrastructure.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Cloud-native deployment: Use GitHub Actions, Docker, and deploy on AWS Elastic Beanstalk or Azure App Services.
- Store user data in DynamoDB or Firebase.
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Benefits:
- Faster iteration.
- Fully managed deployment infrastructure.
- CI/CD pipeline integration with Git.
7. Compliance and Regulatory Mandates (e.g., FedRAMP, GDPR)
- Scenario: A healthcare startup storing PHI (Protected Health Information) is expanding to the US and needs HIPAA-compliant infrastructure.
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Motivation:
- Mandatory compliance for federal contracts.
- Need for audit-ready infrastructure.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Use AWS GovCloud or Azure Government.
- Encrypt everything using KMS or HSMs.
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Benefits:
- Built-in compliance tools.
- Audit logging with CloudTrail/CloudWatch.
- Fewer legal risks and faster certification.
8. IoT and Edge Data Processing
- Scenario: An agriculture company collects terabytes of sensor data from remote fields using edge devices.
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Motivation:
- On-prem data centers can’t process data efficiently.
- Need real-time analytics and ML inference.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Use AWS Greengrass/Azure IoT Edge to preprocess data locally.
- Stream data to AWS Kinesis or Azure Event Hubs, store in time-series DB.
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Benefits:
- Real-time monitoring.
- Centralized dashboard.
- Ability to train ML models and deploy to edge.
9. Cost Optimization for Static Websites
- Scenario: A university hosts departmental websites on VMs with low traffic.
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Motivation:
- Over-provisioned resources lead to wasted costs.
- Maintenance overhead.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Static site hosting: Migrate to AWS S3 with CloudFront or GitHub Pages.
- Use Git for version control and updates.
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Benefits:
- Near-zero hosting costs.
- Global CDN distribution.
- Integrated with developer workflows.
10. Application Performance Issues in a Multi-region SaaS
- Scenario: A global SaaS provider runs a monolithic app in a single data center; users in APAC experience latency.
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Motivation:
- Improve user experience globally.
- Reduce cross-region request latency.
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Cloud Migration Strategy:
- Refactor to microservices and deploy in multi-region clusters (e.g., GKE + Cloud Load Balancer).
- Use Global CDN, Anycast DNS, and regional DB replicas.
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Benefits:
- Better latency profiles.
- Service locality.
- Resilience to regional failures.