Learning from the best: Cloud migration success stories every business leader should know

Cloud migration has become a critical step for organizations seeking agility, innovation, and resilience in the digital age. Gartner predicts that worldwide public cloud spending will reach $1 trillion by 2027.

Migrating to the cloud is no longer a mere IT choice; it’s a strategic move impacting cost management, service delivery, and competitive positioning. By adopting cloud solutions, businesses can:

• Reduce infrastructure costs and increase operational flexibility, aligning IT capabilities with business needs.
• Scale resources dynamically to support business growth, managing workloads efficiently without excessive up-front investments.
• Accelerate innovation with advanced cloud tools like AI, machine learning, and analytics, which can improve customer experiences and operational insights.

As business leaders explore options for their own cloud journeys, learning from the experiences of industry leaders who have successfully navigated cloud migration can yield invaluable insights.

Spotify and GCP: Scaling with Data-Driven Personalization

Spotify initially operated on premises with rapidly growing infrastructure demands to support its expanding services, data, and global reach. By early 2015, it managed 2,000 services, ran 20,000 daily data pipeline tasks, and maintained over 100PB of data across four geographic regions. However, with its emphasis on music and user experiences, Spotify saw limited value in handling data center operations and decided to focus on building new music experiences rather than low-level infrastructure.

Choosing a cloud migration strategy

In its transition planning, Spotify evaluated three cloud strategies: multi-provider, hybrid, and single-provider. Opting for a single provider, Spotify went all in on GCP to streamline processes, reduce complexity, and focus on innovative features. Key infrastructure needs were met through collaboration with Google, resulting in custom solutions like scalable VPNs and Shared VPC.

Executing the move

The migration began in 2016 with a mix of lift and shift and selective rewrites. The primary goal was to ensure uninterrupted streaming services, so Spotify moved user-facing components first. A small, dedicated team managed visualized project updates and standardized migration sprints for each team to keep migration organized and employees motivated.

Outcomes and benefits

By 2018, Spotify had completed its migration, retired its data centers, and fully shifted to the cloud. This transition freed up resources for Spotify to concentrate on core features like data analytics, personalized recommendations, and innovation in music discovery and artist connectivity.

Airbnb’s Transition to AWS

As Airbnb’s userbase surged, its original infrastructure couldn’t keep up, leading to scalability challenges, especially as it introduced new services like Airbnb Experiences. The company needed a robust solution that would allow for seamless expansion without overburdening the team with infrastructure management. This led to Airbnb's migration to AWS to better handle increasing demands.

Choosing AWS for scalability and flexibility

AWS offered the flexibility Airbnb needed to scale quickly and handle fluctuating traffic. By deploying Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud instances with Elastic Load Balancing, Airbnb efficiently distributed incoming traffic across multiple servers to ensure smooth user experiences. The team could add resources instantly and avoid minimum usage commitments, making AWS a logical choice for an internet business focused on growth.

Leveraging key AWS tools for operational efficiency

Airbnb strategically incorporated several AWS services to optimize performance, including:

• Amazon RDS: Airbnb transitioned its primary database to Amazon RDS to automate replication and scaling, ensuring data durability. Using Amazon RDS’ Multi-Availability-Zone deployment allowed Airbnb to replicate data across zones, making it more resilient with minimal manual intervention.
• Amazon EMR and Simple Storage Service (S3): For data processing, Airbnb employed Amazon EMR to handle approximately 50GB of data daily, improving back-end efficiency. Amazon S3 stored backups and static content, ensuring scalability and easy access to user data like photos.

Minimal downtime and enhanced monitoring

The migration to AWS was completed with just 15 minutes of downtime, thanks to careful planning. By using Amazon CloudWatch, Airbnb continuously monitored resources, allowing its lean engineering team to respond swiftly to performance changes without manual oversight.

A foundation for future growth

The AWS migration allowed Airbnb to focus on innovation instead of infrastructure. AWS’ tools freed up resources, enabling Airbnb’s engineers to focus on enhancing user experiences and developing new services. The investment in AWS laid a strong foundation for future growth, helping Airbnb scale globally while maintaining flexibility and cost-efficiency.

Mitsubishi Electric's Path to Net-Zero Energy with Azure

Mitsubishi Electric is on an ambitious path to achieve net-zero energy consumption by fiscal year 2031, with its SUSTIE building serving as a pioneering model for sustainable practices. To optimize energy efficiency and track emissions, Mitsubishi Electric's subsidiary ICONICS partnered with Microsoft for sustainability, implementing Azure IoT devices for real-time energy data collection and Microsoft Sustainability Manager for streamlined reporting.

By the end of 2023, the SUSTIE project had cut energy use by an impressive 115%, demonstrating the impact of sustainable technology on both energy efficiency and occupant comfort. Mitsubishi Electric plans to share these insights with customers to promote widespread sustainable practices.

Seiji Oguro, VP of the Sustainability Innovation Group at Mitsubishi Electric, noted, "We believe our learnings, with the help of Microsoft Sustainability Manager and the Azure-based ICONICS solution, will create a more sustainable world for current and future generations."

Key Takeaways for Business Leaders

The success of these organizations highlights several lessons:

• Cloud migration allows organizations to focus on core goals through streamlined infrastructure

  By moving to cloud platforms, companies can reduce the burden of managing physical infrastructure and redirect their focus towards innovation and customer-centric goals. For example, Spotify’s all-in strategy with GCP and Airbnb’s use of Elastic Load Balancing allowed their teams to prioritize service enhancements and growth over infrastructure management, making cloud migration central to achieving these objectives.

• Data-driven operations enable proactive management through advanced analytics tools

  Cloud-based analytics tools provide critical insights for real-time monitoring and optimization. Spotify’s mix of lift and shift and selective rewrites enabled a stable transition while enhancing service resilience, and Mitsubishi Electric’s use of Azure IoT devices and Microsoft Sustainability Manager supported energy monitoring and efficient resource use, facilitating proactive management for continuous operational improvements.

• Strategic cloud partnerships unlock tailored solutions for unique needs

  Partnering with cloud providers grants access to specialized resources that support distinct organizational goals. Mitsubishi Electric’s collaboration with Microsoft allowed for custom sustainability tracking solutions, while Spotify’s partnership with GCP enabled custom VPN and Shared VPC configurations to streamline operations. These tailored solutions illustrate how strategic partnerships with cloud providers can align cloud technology with broader business objectives.

The cloud migration journey is unique for every organization, but by learning from these leaders, business decision-makers can better plan their own migrations. Embracing cloud capabilities allows businesses to innovate, scale, and meet evolving customer demands, positioning them for a more resilient digital future.