How We Built A Bespoke Solution For PRISMA’s Cloud Migration

For a small-to-medium-sized company like PRISMA, optimizing flexibility, performance, and growth was crucial in our decision to move to a cloud-based solution. Central to our vision was the recognition of our critical role in ensuring the operational efficiency of the gas value chain in Europe. This makes our migration not just a technical shift but an essential move for our continued success.

Laying the Groundwork

Cloud migration is often viewed as a mere infrastructure move, but in reality, it’s an expansive process that affects all aspects of a company. At PRISMA, this meant involving multiple teams—senior management, finance, product owners, customer support, and more—to ensure smooth execution. Additionally, we worked closely with external service providers to ensure compliance with security standards and best practices.

My role was to bridge the gap between the business and IT sides, translating business needs into technical terms, prioritizing essential tasks, and keeping the project on track.

Merging Knowledge & Expertise

To deliver a successful solution, we needed to blend various expertise: business knowledge, legacy system understanding, and cloud expertise. A key decision was integrating our development and operations teams, fostering collaboration and speeding up problem-solving. This cross-functional approach not only improved the migration but also enriched our company culture.

The Lift & Shift Approach

In terms of migration strategy, we chose the “lift & shift” approach, where we replicated our existing applications in the cloud on AWS and made iterative improvements. This allowed us to focus on flexibility and empowerment while prioritizing goals like improved application capacity. We began with small, incremental changes and gradually expanded as we gained insights.

Choosing a One-Cloud Setup

One of the most critical decisions was choosing between a single-cloud or multi-cloud setup. After careful consideration, we opted for a single-cloud solution with AWS. This decision minimized complexity and helped us leverage internal expertise, while still offering robust disaster recovery options with AWS’s multiple data centers worldwide.

Overcoming Operational Challenges

Preparing for cloud migration isn’t just about moving data; it’s about laying the foundation for ongoing security, monitoring, and incident response. We invested in technical baselines to ensure compliance and security, while also balancing internal and external responsibilities. Working with different service providers brought valuable perspectives and expertise, enhancing our solution and teamwork.

Preparing for the Switch

As migration night approached, we conducted extensive preparation, including mock migrations or “dry runs,” to simulate the process and ensure everyone knew their role. We also focused on minimizing downtime and ensuring a seamless transition for all stakeholders, which we successfully achieved.

Post-Migration Monitoring

After the migration, we implemented a “hypercare” approach—enhanced support to ensure smooth post-launch operations. Dashboards helped us track metrics, while teams monitored the system, responding to incidents swiftly and communicating effectively with stakeholders.

Looking Ahead

While the migration itself is complete, the journey is far from over. Moving to the cloud unlocks opportunities for increased resilience, scalability, and adaptability. We’re well on our way to achieving the goals we set, and this milestone marks a significant step toward future growth.

In next month’s Part 3 of this series, Tobias will share lessons learned one year after PRISMA’s cloud migration.