Cloud Migration: “Why Is the Switch from Data Center Already Worth It?”

Why an early migration to the Atlassian Cloud pays off

Atlassian has announced that it will discontinue the Data Center (DC) variant. This makes one thing clear: carrying on as before with DC is no longer a sustainable option. The question is no longer “Cloud or Data Center?”, but rather: When do we migrate to the cloud—and how do we do it in a way that truly makes sense from a business, technical, and economic perspective?

We see a migration as far more than a technical relocation. It is an opportunity to fundamentally modernize how you work, your processes, and your tool landscape.

Start early instead of improvising later

Those who start planning now gain one thing above all else: control over the pace.

Instead of ending up in a hectic big-bang project at the last minute, you can:

• break the migration into meaningful stages (e.g., by organizational units, products, or tools),
• allow sufficient time for analysis, testing, and pilot phases,
• and define the roadmap, milestones, and pace yourself.

The closer the end of life for Data Center gets, the greater the risks become: scarce internal resources, overbooked service providers, parallel large-scale projects, and increasing time pressure. Under such conditions, shortcuts are often taken—unintentionally—in quality, security, and change management, with consequences that can lead to higher operational costs later on.

An early migration, by contrast, means less stress, lower risk, and more room to shape the outcome.

A better user experience—and the opportunity to clean up

The Atlassian Cloud was designed from the outset for a modern, intuitive user experience. The interface feels like a typical SaaS product: clean, consistent, without “legacy charm.” This has tangible effects:

• new employees find their way around more quickly,
• training effort is reduced,
• day-to-day adoption increases.

It becomes especially interesting if your current DC or Server instance has grown organically over time. In that case, the migration is a one-time opportunity for a “deep clean”:

• old, unused projects or spaces don’t have to move along,
• overloaded workflows can be reduced to standard processes,
• the number of custom fields can be reduced to a sensible level,
• inconsistent configurations can be standardized.

Instead of simply carrying existing complexity into the cloud, this creates a leaner, clearer environment that fits your organization today—not the one you had five or ten years ago.

Operations, security, and compliance reimagined

With the cloud, you hand over technical operations to Atlassian. That may sound like a loss of control, but in practice it often means relief and improved security:

• updates, patches, security fixes, and backups run automatically,
• availability is clearly regulated via SLAs,
• your IT no longer has to manage servers, clusters, databases, and monitoring.

This shifts the focus:
Your teams can invest more time in governance, architecture, and functional support—topics that are close to the business.

The concern that cloud solutions and the GDPR are difficult to reconcile is often more of a gut feeling than reality. What matters is that you:

• choose the region deliberately,
• define clear role and permission concepts,
• create and document data security policies,
• and implement these guidelines consistently.

With a well-structured cloud implementation, many organizations ultimately gain transparency and security instead of losing them.

Functional advantage – innovation happens in the cloud

Atlassian now develops its cloud products with top priority. In concrete terms, this means that new features are created first—and in some cases exclusively—in the cloud.

These include, for example:

• powerful automations,
• modern form and request solutions,
• integrated knowledge bases,
• AI-powered features that simplify routine tasks and link content more intelligently.

At the same time, many features that were previously only available via third-party apps are gradually being integrated directly into the cloud. This reduces:

• dependencies on individual app vendors,
• potential upgrade conflicts,
• and configuration effort.

While Data Center is heading toward end of life, the cloud is where your Atlassian ecosystem continues to grow. An early migration secures this functional advantage.

Scaling and costs – from rigid to flexible

The Atlassian Cloud follows a user-based subscription model. That may sound simple, but it has a major impact on planning and budgeting:

• you adjust the number of licenses to actual usage,
• can accommodate growth, peak workloads, or reorganizations more flexibly,
• and don’t need to launch new infrastructure projects when the organization changes.

On the cost side, the following are eliminated or reduced, among other things:

• expenses for server hardware and storage,
• database licenses and backup infrastructure,
• a portion of operational and administrative effort.

Of course, governance, permissions, and functional support don’t disappear. But the work shifts:

Away from “firefighting in operations” toward actively shaping a platform that supports your business. For agile, growing organizations, this model fits modern IT strategies far better than rigid, self-operated DC installations.

Migration as a lever for modernization – not just “lift & shift”

The greatest value is created when you don’t see the migration as a pure IT upgrade, but as a transformation project.

Typical levers include:

• cleaning up projects, workflows, and fields,
• streamlining the app landscape to only what is truly needed,
• introducing clear governance rules to prevent future sprawl,
• standardizing setups to simplify onboarding and maintenance.

Helpful guiding questions:

• Which processes do we really need—and where is complexity just habit?
• Which custom solutions require high maintenance effort but deliver little value?
• What does a configuration look like that is still manageable in three years?

This turns the migration into an opportunity to improve collaboration and transparency—not just to change the underlying platform.

How HONICON supports you on this journey

If you are currently still using Atlassian Data Center and want to plan the move to the cloud strategically—or if you want to further develop your existing cloud instance in a structured way—we support you throughout the entire journey:

• assessment and analysis of your current environment
• migration strategy and roadmap with clear milestones
• technical implementation, testing, go-live, and post-migration support
• training and change management so your teams not only accept the new environment but use it productively

The discontinuation of DC should therefore be seen not just as an obligation to change, but above all as an opportunity.
We know both worlds—Atlassian Cloud and Data Center—whether for small instances or environments with several thousand users. We support you on the path to a modern, high-performing, and future-proof Atlassian cloud environment that fits your requirements today and tomorrow.