Content
Are you tired of watching your IT budget disappear into maintaining outdated systems? Legacy applications drain resources while holding your business back. Traditional on-premises infrastructure struggles with modern demands, creating bottlenecks that cost money and limit growth. Every day you delay modernization, competitors pull further ahead.
What if you could cut infrastructure costs by 57% while improving system performance by 40%? Companies migrating to Azure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) achieve exactly these results. They transform outdated systems into scalable, secure platforms that work 24/7 with 99.99% uptime.
You’re probably thinking: “This sounds expensive and risky.” Actually, organizations report 6-12 month payback periods from Azure PaaS modernization. The real risk is staying with legacy systems that become more expensive and vulnerable each year.
Why Legacy Application Modernization Matters for Today’s Businesses
How much of your IT budget goes toward keeping old systems running? If you’re like most businesses, the answer is 70-80% – money that could fuel innovation instead of just keeping lights on. Legacy applications create a vicious cycle: they consume more resources each year while delivering less business value.
Customer expectations for digital experiences keep rising while outdated infrastructure struggles to deliver. Security vulnerabilities multiply as vendors stop supporting aging platforms. Meanwhile, your competitors gain advantages through cloud-native capabilities you can’t match.
The maintenance burden grows heavier each year. Finding developers who understand legacy code becomes harder and more expensive. System integrations turn into complex puzzles as modern APIs clash with outdated interfaces. Simple changes that should take days stretch into weeks of careful testing.
Performance bottlenecks limit business growth. Legacy systems can’t scale during peak demand periods, forcing you to turn away customers or deliver poor experiences. Modern competitors process transactions in milliseconds, while your systems struggle with basic operations.
Ready to Modernize Your Legacy Applications?
Our Microsoft consultants have experience transforming on-premises systems into scalable Azure solutions.
Get expert guidance navigating cloud migrations from assessment through optimization.
Get expert guidance navigating cloud migrations from assessment through optimization.
Real-World Success Story – Global Food Company’s Azure PaaS Transformation
What happens when a global food processing company can’t scale during peak seasons? One major food manufacturer faced exactly this problem. Their legacy infrastructure couldn’t handle demand spikes while processing operations for millions of customers worldwide. The result: lost revenue and frustrated customers during their busiest periods.
The Challenge: Outdated Infrastructure Limiting Global Operations
Legacy infrastructure challenges were choking this company’s growth. Their on-premises systems required massive maintenance budgets just to keep running. System performance issues created bottlenecks during peak processing seasons when demand doubled.
The company faced three critical operational limitations:
- Seasonal capacity failures – Servers crashed when processing volumes doubled during peak periods
- Expensive maintenance cycles – IT teams spent 80% of their time fixing old systems instead of innovation
- Slow disaster recovery – Data backups took hours, creating vulnerability windows
Adding new capacity meant expensive hardware purchases with months-long lead times. Meanwhile, competitors with cloud infrastructure scaled instantly to meet customer demand.
The Solution: Strategic Azure PaaS Migration Approach
Their Azure migration strategy focused on three core services. Azure Virtual Machines replaced aging servers with scalable compute power. Azure SQL Database eliminated database maintenance headaches while improving performance. Azure Site Recovery provided comprehensive disaster protection their old systems couldn’t match.
Cloud migration planning took a phased approach:
- Phase 1: Critical production systems were moved first
- Phase 2: Secondary applications migrated during low-demand periods
- Phase 3: Legacy databases transformed to Azure SQL
PaaS services implementation happened in waves over four months, minimizing disruption to daily operations while maintaining full business continuity.
The Results: 57% Cost Reduction and 99.99% Uptime
The transformation delivered impressive outcomes. Azure cost savings reached 57% compared to on-premises infrastructure costs. System performance improvements hit 40% across all applications. Most importantly, they achieved 99.99% uptime – eliminating the seasonal crashes that previously cost millions.
Migration timeline success: 200+ servers moved to Azure in just four months. Cloud migration ROI became clear within the first year through reduced maintenance costs and improved operational efficiency.
Azure Integration Services
The Azure PaaS Modernization Process – How To Approach This?
Where should you start when modernizing dozens of interconnected legacy applications? Most organizations feel overwhelmed by the complexity. The key is following a proven, systematic approach that minimizes risk while delivering quick wins. Here’s the three-phase framework that successful companies use.
Phase 1: Assessment and Discovery
Azure Migrate assessment becomes your modernization foundation. This free tool discovers your entire infrastructure automatically, collecting performance data every 20-30 seconds for virtual machines. Application discovery reveals hidden dependencies that could break during migration.
Your assessment covers four critical areas:
- Infrastructure inventory – All servers, databases, and applications
- Dependency analysis – How systems connect and communicate
- Performance baselines – CPU, memory, and storage usage patterns
- Migration planning – Cost estimates and Azure service recommendations
The discovery process takes 1-7 days depending on your environment size. Azure Migrate runs continuously in the background, building a complete picture of your systems without impacting performance.
Phase 2: Migration Strategy Selection
Not every application needs the same migration approach. The 5 Rs framework helps you choose the right strategy for each system based on business value and technical complexity.
What is the 5 Rs framework in systems migration?
- Rehost (lift-and-shift) – Move applications unchanged for quick wins
- Replatform – Minor changes to use Azure PaaS benefits
- Refactor – Redesign applications for cloud-native transformation
- Rebuild – Complete rewrite using modern PaaS adoption approach
- Replace – Switch to SaaS solutions when possible
Most successful projects start with lift-and-shift vs refactoring for different application types. Critical systems get rehosted first, then refactored later when teams gain cloud experience.
Phase 3: Implementation and Optimization
Azure PaaS services transform how applications operate. Azure App Service handles web applications with automatic scaling. Azure SQL Database eliminates database maintenance while improving performance. Azure Functions process background tasks without server management.
Cloud implementation timeline varies by complexity:
- Simple migrations: 3-6 months
- Medium complexity: 6-12 months
- Large transformations: 12-18 months
Application migration tools automate most of the heavy lifting. Performance optimization happens continuously as Azure Monitor provides insights for cost and speed improvements.
Overcoming Common Azure Migration Challenges
What stops 47% of migration projects from meeting their goals? The answer isn’t technical complexity – it’s predictable challenges that catch teams off guard. Migration challenges affect every organization, but smart planning turns obstacles into manageable steps.
The four biggest roadblocks organizations face?
- Data compatibility issues – UTC time zones clash with local applications, data formats need translation
- Application dependencies – Third-party integrations break when moved to cloud environments
- Performance optimization – Applications run slower in cloud without proper tuning
- Change management resistance – 92% of projects struggle with team adoption
Azure Database Migration Service automates complex database moves with minimal downtime. Comprehensive compatibility assessments catch issues before migration starts. Azure Monitor and Application Insights provide real-time performance tuning guidance.
Change management strategies make the difference. Structured training programs help teams embrace new tools instead of fighting them. Database migration tools handle technical complexity while you focus on business outcomes.
Partner with Multishoring for Your Azure Modernization Journey
Ready to transform your legacy applications without the typical migration headaches? Multishoring’s 10+ years of Microsoft expertise guides organizations through successful Azure transformations. Our Microsoft-certified consultants have completed different legacy modernization projects.
We provide comprehensive support from initial assessment through ongoing optimization. Our proven approach mitigates risks through experienced implementation while delivering measurable business results. Our Microsoft Azure migration services include consulting and support to keep your systems running smoothly.
Don’t let legacy systems hold your business back. Contact Multishoring for a comprehensive Azure modernization assessment. Our cloud transformation services turn your biggest IT challenge into your competitive advantage.
