AWS Migration Acceleration Program: How You Can Benefit From It

Despite the long-term benefits of being in the cloud, enterprise migrations can be complex, expensive, and time-consuming. That’s why AWS introduced the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP), an initiative designed to improve the success of a migration within a reasonable timeframe. 

Through the AWS MAP, AWS provides the necessary framework, resources, and technical expertise to ensure a smooth migration journey.

This Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) is only offered by select AWS partners with proven capabilities in successfully migrating and modernizing customers on AWS. Not only do we have demonstrated technical expertise in AWS cloud migrations, StratusGrid is also an AWS MAP Partner. What does that mean? StratusGrid can access support and funding opportunities available under the AWS Migration Acceleration Program to reduce the cost of your migration.

Schedule a consultation with our experts today to begin planning your seamless migration to AWS.

What Is The AWS MAP (Migration Acceleration Program)?

AWS MAP is a program offered by Amazon to help businesses migrate their applications, or workloads, to the AWS cloud quickly and efficiently. 

There are two variants of the AWS MAP. 

• MAP Light, designed for migrations resulting in $250,000* of annual recurring revenue from workloads consumed on AWS. This option is ideal for organizations with moderate cloud consumption needs.
• MAP 2.0., targeted at migrations generating over $500,000* of annual recurring revenue. This variant is suited for larger organizations with substantial cloud workload requirements.

Each variant of AWS MAP offers different funding mechanisms, tailored to the volume of workloads being migrated and the anticipated consumption within the AWS environment post-migration.

*Keep in mind that the MAP Funding Program terms and conditions may change over time, and it's important to consult with a Certified AWS Partner like StratusGrid for the most up-to-date information and details specific to your situation.

Why Join the AWS MAP (Migration Acceleration Program)

Overall, Amazon offers AWS MAP participants and partners three benefits:

1. Financial incentives in the form of credits and funding.
2. Tools and frameworks via assessments and workshops.
3. Support and optimization options such as on-demand support and advanced tool settings.

 Let’s break down these aspects:

Financial Incentives and Funding

Amazon provides financial incentives for migration in the form of credits that can be used for AWS services. These credits help offset the costs associated with the migration project and are distributed two ways: 

• AWS Credits: AWS provides credits to balance out the costs associated with migration, which makes the process more affordable for enterprises.
• Funding for Partners: AWS MAP offers funding in the form of credits to AWS Partners like StratusGrid, who can then pass these savings on to their clients. This system incentivizes both partners and clients to participate in the program.

Tools and Frameworks

AWS provides a proven blueprint to successful migrations through the following tools and frameworks:

• A Three-Phased Framework: The program uses a structured three-phased approach (Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate & Modernize). This framework provides a clear, step-by-step process to guide businesses through their migration journey.
• The Cloud Readiness Assessment: This assessment helps identify gaps and build a solid migration plan. This ensures that your organization is fully prepared for the move to AWS.
• Comprehensive Planning and Execution: Detailed migration planning and execution support ensure that the migration is efficient, with minimal disruptions to business operations.
• Workshops and Training: AWS MAP includes training sessions and workshops to educate organizations on AWS services, best practices for migration, and effective cloud management.

Support and Optimization 

AWS also offers technical expertise and resources on-demand to ensure you have the support needed throughout your migration journey:

• Expert Support: AWS MAP offers access to AWS experts and certified partners like StratusGrid who provide hands-on support and technical guidance throughout the migration process.
• Advanced Tools: The program utilizes a range of AWS migration tools, such as AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) and AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), to facilitate the migration of various workloads.
• Performance Optimization: After migration, the program helps optimize workloads for better performance and cost-efficiency on AWS.
• Cost Optimization: Implementing AWS cost optimization strategies ensures that businesses can run their operations cost-effectively in the cloud.

How Your Company Can Benefit from the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) Through StratusGrid

Besides the financial assistance, StratusGrid can help you take full advantage of the AWS MAP at an operational level. Here’s why enrolling in the AWS MAP is a great business strategy if you’re moving to the AWS cloud:

1. Speed to Market: By leveraging AWS MAP, you can expedite your migration process and quickly reap the benefits of the cloud.
2. A Dedicated Team of Experts: StratusGrid has a proven track record of successfully migrating customers to AWS. Let our team of experts remove the friction from your journey to the cloud.
3. A Thorough Cloud Readiness Assessment: A mistake many organizations make is simply moving their existing infrastructure to the cloud. If you don’t redesign your infrastructure to take advantage of the new architecture, you won’t benefit to the fullest extent. We’ll perform a comprehensive cloud readiness assessment. This test will help determine where your organization is in its cloud journey, identify strengths and weaknesses and create an action plan to resolve identified gaps. 
4. Post-Migration Optimization: The AWS Migration Acceleration Program helps customers optimize their workloads for AWS once the workloads have been transitioned to AWS. There may be gaps or overlaps in your existing systems or solutions that would be better for you. Once your workloads are transitioned, StratusGrid will analyze your performance and identify areas of improvement.
5. Monitoring and Support: You will have access to monitoring and support after you have migrated your workloads to AWS, to avoid any potential issues.
6. Access to Expert and Proven Methodology: AWS MAP is based on over 14 years of experience helping many enterprise customers successfully migrate their data.
7. Lower Cost of Migration: MAP provides you with best practices and tools to help you reduce the cost of your migration. We help reduce the costs at every migration stage, from assessment and mobilization of your resources, to migration and modernization of your workloads.

Contact StratusGrid, a premier AWS partner, for a consultation on your migration strategies.

StratusGrid’s Proven Three-Phase Migration Approach

Migration in MAP is done in three steps:

Step 1: Assess Your Readiness

The first step in the AWS MAP is to assess your readiness for migration. This step involves a thorough migration readiness assessment that helps identify gaps in your current IT environment across six dimensions of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF). 

The goal is to understand where your organization stands in terms of cloud adoption capabilities and what improvements are needed. This assessment helps build a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model to justify the migration project and identify the capabilities required for a successful migration.

Additionally, you can identify up to $60,000 in funding in this phase.

Step 2: Mobilize Your Resources

Once the assessment is complete, the mobilization phase begins. This step focuses on establishing a robust operational foundation for your migration. By leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and conducting pilot migrations, you can minimize disruption and ensure a smooth transition. 

The mobilization phase also involves identifying up to $400,000 in additional AWS Migration Acceleration Funding based on projected AWS spending. This stage helps in preparing your organization for the actual migration, ensuring that all necessary resources and strategies are in place.

Step 3: Migrate & Modernize Your Workloads

The final step in the AWS MAP is the migration and modernization phase. In this phase, you design, migrate, and validate your workloads using cloud-based services. The goal is to ensure continuity of critical operations and scalability for future growth. 

Throughout the migration process, additional funding, discounts, and optimizations are incorporated, potentially leading to millions of dollars in savings. This phase ensures that your migrated workloads are running efficiently and effectively on AWS, optimizing both performance and cost-efficiency.

To make sure that you’re not leaving any money on the table, contact an AWS premier partner like StratusGrid for a consultation call.

How to Achieve Maximum Financial Benefits From the MAP Program

The AWS MAP program is a cost-effective solution for organizations to migrate mission-critical workloads to AWS. However, it is crucial to understand that AWS has some ground rules on how it calculates those financial benefits. It is neither a one-time disbursement nor an automatic monthly percentage of your total cloud bill.

To ensure you receive the most financial benefits:

• Understand MAP-Eligible Services: Not all services are eligible for MAP financial credits.
• Tag MAP-Eligible Resources: Resources part of the migration project must be tagged according to AWS’s best practices. Without tagging, AWS will not consider them as MAP-migrated resources. Read AWS’s best practices for tagging AWS resources here.
• Track Credit Accumulation: Credits are disbursed quarterly, so keep track of the calculations.

How Do I Know if I’m Eligible for MAP Funding?

Eligibility for AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) funding depends on several factors related to your business and the specific workloads you plan to migrate.

Generally, to qualify for MAP funding, your organization needs to meet a minimum migration size and show potential for significant cloud consumption. 

Schedule a consultation with our experts today to begin planning your seamless migration to AWS.

BONUS: Find Out if Your Organization is Ready for The Cloud ⤵️