Ever since Atlassian’s decision to discontinue their server offerings, we have seen a surge in Atlassian Cloud migrations. This resulted in a a multitude of questions surrounding the process and the Atlassian cloud migration budget.
Migrating to Atlassian Cloud is a process that requires companies to carefully plan, mitigate the risks and estimate the ROI. The initial investment and total cost of ownership are what companies look to study before engaging in a cloud migration.
In previous articles, we have covered a variety of aspects regarding Atlassian Cloud migration including: the differences between Cloud and Data Center, the required resources, common myths, and more. In this article though, we will shed light on Atlassian cloud migration budget, costs and potential short and long term benefits.
Let’s start with the costs…
It is common knowledge that cloud migrations in general and Atlassians’ in particular can grow to become a heavy investment in the short term. The upfront costs required to fully transition from server to cloud need to be carefully budgeted and planned to guarantee a successful migration and reap the financial benefits.
Licensing fees
First, we have the licensing fees for Atlassian cloud. Upon migrating, you need to decide on which plan to consider. This obviously depends on a variety of factors including the number of users, desired features, and level of support. While this incurs an initial cost (as cloud licenses for both Atlassian products and apps are considerably higher than server and data center), it offers organizations several advantages, including access to the latest updates, security patches, and support from Atlassian.
Deployment, migration services and training costs
More often than not, a successful migration requires the allocation of internal resources and assistance from Atlassian solution partners. Their role is crucial in helping you assess your current IT infrastructure, training and preparing users, and effectively plan your migration.
The complexity and volume of data will determine the resources, time and costs required for a successful migration.
When it comes to training, Atlassian Cloud and Server differ in terms of user experience and available built-in features. Your teams’ familiarity with Atlassian Cloud coupled with the number of apps to migrate will greatly determine the time and resources to allocate.
A Forrester report titled “The Total Economic Impact Of Atlassian Cloud” studied the total cost of ownership of atlassian cloud as well as the potential ROI. The study found that the initial investment in deployment and training (with a variety of risks accounted for over a three year period) was heavy at the start. However, over the years the cost drastically decreased as the deployment has already been done and training only dedicated to new user onboarding.
Benefits and potential ROI
While Atlassian cloud migration budget can be high at the start, the potential benefits and long-term ROI can far outweigh and justify the initial investment. In this section, we will explore in further detail the many advantages you can expect to realize through the Atlassian cloud migration.
Let’s start with the bigger picture. The Forrester report contains a dedicated Cash Flow Analysis section to demonstrate the initial investment, ROI and payback period (the required time to recoup the upfront costs) over a three year time span. The results suggest an important initial investment that decreases over time to only include licensing fees, training and consultancy costs. In terms of ROI, the the four surveyed companies registred a 155% ROI with a payback period of 6 months.
Now, let’s further explore why a move to cloud can optimize your IT budget.
Eliminate hardware and maintenance fees
By migrating to Atlassian Cloud, you can offload the burden of hardware maintenance, software updates and customization to Atlassian. This means that you can always stay up to date with latest releases, features, and security patches without the need for manual intervention, reducing downtime and improving overall system performance.
Optimize long term licensing fees
When moving to cloud, companies need to audit their infrastructure and clean up their instances. This process can help in detecting and eliminating unused or obsolete apps, duplicate users, and unnecessary workflows, thus minimizing and eliminating costs. For example, Atlassian cloud comes with a host of native features that perhaps needed a specific add-on in server. With a cloud migration, the app would eventually become obsolete, thus not included in the migration.
Enhance scalability and flexibility
Atlassian Cloud offers the flexibility to scale resources based on business needs. The ability to effectively manage users with ease, means that the Atlassian suite can align with the business growth, all the while, maintaining costs to the minimum.
The ability to manage users with ease brings several benefits to organizations. Firstly, it allows for efficient onboarding and offboarding processes, saving time and effort for IT and administrative teams.
Improve accessibility, reliability and productivity
When it comes to accessibility, Atlassian Cloud enables remote teams to access their Atlassian sites wherever they are. This eventually fosters collaboration and leads to increased levels of productivity.
From a reliability standpoint, the Forrester report studied a host of metrics such as Jira and Confluence related tickets, time to resolution and downtime, among others. The results show that the move to cloud helped optimize metrics across the board. The main reason is the avoidance of hardware and maintenance costs that were primarily handled by Atlassian. This according to the study yielded a 64% ROI over a three year period.
The move to Atlassian Cloud has become a necessity for many businesses today not only due to the discontinuation of Server offerings, but also to the changing dynamics in the modern workplace.. Perceived as a risk due to its potential complexity and high upfront costs, many still have questions regarding the entire process. However, through the experiences of a host of Atlassian customers, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks over the long run.
We hope we covered some of the questions in this article. To learn more, make sure to download the Forrester report and visit Atlassian Cloud savings calculator.