In 2025, there are still companies that rely on outdated systems that limit performance, security, and scalability. Software migration offers a way to modernize without starting from scratch. Here, we explain what this approach involves, when to use it, and how to reduce risks during the transition. For this article, we’ve consulted with MWDN experts in software migration and cloud computing to help you transition away from legacy systems without problems.
Content:
- What is software migration, and why do you need it?
- Why migrate? Key drivers and strategic benefits
- Types of software migration
- The migration process: Key steps and best practices
- Migration challenges and how staff augmentation can solve them
- Summing up
What is software migration, and why do you need it?
Software migration is the process of transferring software applications, their data, or components from one environment to another. This could mean upgrading from an older system, switching platforms, or moving workloads to the cloud. Software migration is a part of digital transformation and often involves migrating applications, databases, or entire operating environments.
Despite the growing demand and investment, software migration remains a complex task. Industry studies show that nearly 40% of data migration projects exceed their timelines, run over budget, or fail to meet key objectives. Technical risks, including data integrity issues, downtime, and post-migration validation errors, remain the challenges you may face.
Still, the benefits of a successful migration are significant.
Why migrate? Key drivers and strategic benefits
Software migration is a strategic move that can help you stay competitive and resilient. Here are some of the reasons why you should migrate or reengineer your systems.
- Modernization. Application modernization and migration can help you modernize your technology stack, replace outdated frameworks, and ensure the long-term relevance of your systems.
- Cost efficiency. Old systems often require more manual support, expensive licenses, and custom fixes. Migrating to modern environments, especially cloud-based, can lower costs through elasticity, automation, and simplified maintenance.
- Performance optimization and scalability. Modern platforms are designed to handle higher volumes of users, data, and transactions, and migration helps improve application speed, responsiveness, and reliability.
- Enhanced security. Thanks to migrating, you can integrate the latest security standards, monitor threats, and reduce exposure to breaches and compliance risks.
- Business agility and innovation. Migration opens the door to innovation by removing technical barriers that slow down experimentation and adaptation.
- Better UX. Migrating to newer platforms helps you redesign interfaces, reduce loading times, and meet modern usability standards.
- Reduced technical debt. Legacy systems are often burdened with layers of outdated, hard-to-maintain code. Migration and reengineering provide an opportunity to clean up that technical debt, refactor codebases, improve maintainability, and standardize best practices across the development team.
Types of software migration
Not all software migration efforts are the same. The best approach depends on the organization’s goals, the complexity of its current systems, and the desired outcome. Below are the most common types of software migration, each serving a different purpose and requiring a tailored strategy.
1. Cloud migration
Cloud migration is one of the most widely adopted and impactful types of migration. Among the benefits of cloud migration are better support for remote and distributed teams, thanks to centralized access and collaboration tools.
The best cloud migration strategy depends on your goals and risk tolerance, but one of the most effective and widely recommended approaches is the “6 Rs” framework. It helps you choose the right path for each application or workload:
- Rehost (Lift and Shift). Move applications to the cloud with minimal or no code changes. Best for: Fast migrations with limited budget or tight timelines.
- Replatform. Make slight optimizations (e.g., database changes) without altering core architecture. Best for: Gaining cloud efficiencies without a full rewrite.
- Repurchase. Switch to a SaaS solution instead of running the app in-house (e.g., moving from a custom CRM to Salesforce). Best for: Commodity applications not core to business differentiation.
- Refactor / Re-architect. Redesign the application to be cloud-native, often using microservices, containers, and serverless. Best for: Long-term agility, scalability, and cost optimization.
- Retire. Decommission outdated or redundant systems that no longer provide value. Best for: Reducing overhead and complexity.
- Retain. Keep certain apps on-premises (for now), especially if they’re not ready for migration or heavily regulated. Best for: Hybrid strategies or legacy apps with tight coupling.
2. Application migration
This involves moving specific software applications from one environment to another. It may be necessary when changing hosting platforms, consolidating systems after an acquisition, or adopting a new tech stack. The focus here is on preserving application functionality while improving performance or maintainability.
3. Data migration
Data migration focuses on transferring data between storage systems, formats, or locations. It’s often part of a larger application or system migration, ensuring that essential business data moves reliably to its new environment.
A closely related and often more complex endeavor is data center migration, the process of moving an entire IT infrastructure (including servers, storage, networking equipment, and applications) from one physical data center to another, or to a cloud-based or hybrid environment. This goes far beyond simply moving data and involves rethinking how systems interact, how workloads are distributed, and how to minimize disruption during the transition.
4. Database and schema migration
If you change database systems or upgrade versions, you may need to migrate not only the data but also the database schema, the structure of tables, relationships, indexes, and constraints. This process requires careful planning to avoid data loss, data corruption, or performance degradation.
To streamline this complex task, many teams rely on database migration tools that automate key steps such as schema conversion, data validation, and performance optimization. These tools, like AWS Database Migration Service, Azure Database Migration Service, or third-party solutions like Fivetran and Flyway, help reduce manual effort, minimize downtime, and ensure consistency between source and target environments.
5. Legacy system migration
Legacy migration involves moving from outdated or unsupported systems to modern alternatives. Migrating legacy applications, in particular, introduces a unique set of challenges. These systems are often critical to daily operations but were built using outdated frameworks, hardcoded dependencies, or undocumented workflows. As such, migrating them is more about transformation than relocation.
6. Platform migration
Platform migration includes transitions such as switching from one content management system to another (for example, moving from WordPress to CMS solutions). It often involves redesigning workflows, retraining users, and ensuring compatibility with existing tools.
Closely related to this are CRM migration and ERP migration, which involve moving critical business platforms, like Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning systems, from legacy or on-premise solutions to modern, often cloud-based alternatives. These migrations are technically complex and strategically significant, as they touch nearly every department in an organization.
CRM migration may include transferring customer data, email histories, marketing workflows, and sales pipelines, all while preserving data integrity and integration with other systems.
ERP migration, on the other hand, can involve an even broader scope: financial systems, HR modules, inventory management, procurement processes, and more, all of which must continue to function during and after the migration.
The migration process: Key steps and best practices
Software migration best practices include planning, precision, and cross-functional collaboration. Poorly executed migrations can lead to downtime, data loss, cost overruns, or long-term instability. To avoid these risks and achieve seamless software migration, follow a structured migration process, like this one:
Assessment and planning
Before any technical work begins, assess your current systems, infrastructure, dependencies, and business goals. This stage involves answering critical questions:
- What needs to be migrated? (Applications, data, entire systems?)
- What are the expected outcomes? (Performance, cost savings, modernization?)
- What risks exist? (Security, compliance, integration issues?)
- What migration type and strategy best fit the need?
This phase also includes building a detailed migration roadmap, setting timelines, allocating resources, and defining KPIs to measure success.
Inventory and dependency mapping
Many legacy systems have undocumented dependencies, third-party integrations, or custom code that can break under new environments. Use automated discovery tools to identify dependencies between services, databases, and infrastructure layers. The goal is to avoid surprises during the migration.
Designing the target architecture
Once the existing environment is fully understood, teams should design the target environment, whether it’s a new cloud setup, re-architected application, or modernized platform. This includes selecting technology stacks, defining infrastructure resources, and planning for scalability, security, and resilience.
Don’t simply replicate old inefficiencies. Take this opportunity to improve architecture, standardize configurations, and align with modern best practices.
Data and application preparation
Data must be cleansed, transformed, and validated before migration. Applications may need updates to support new environments or APIs. In cloud migrations, for example, apps might need to be containerized or refactored to fully benefit from cloud-native services.
Testing and validation
Testing should be ongoing throughout the process, but formal validation is essential before go-live. Use staging environments that mirror production to test the migration under realistic conditions. Involve end users in testing whenever possible.
Execution and cutover
With the plan, infrastructure, and testing complete, the actual migration can begin. This step must be coordinated to minimize downtime and avoid disrupting business operations.
Execute in phases if possible. Migrate non-critical components first, observe results, and scale up gradually. Monitor everything: logs, performance metrics, and user feedback.
How to reduce downtime during migration?
- Use a phased or incremental migration approach. Instead of migrating the entire system at once (a “big bang” approach), break the migration into smaller, manageable phases. Start with non-critical components and gradually move to core systems.
- Leverage blue-green or canary deployments.
- Perform migration during off-peak hours. Schedule the cutover during nights, weekends, or other low-usage periods to reduce user impact.
- Establish a rollback plan.
- Use replication and sync tools. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be migrated during the downtime window.
- Thorough pre-migration testing.
- Monitor in real time. Rapid response to anomalies helps minimize downtime.
Post-migration monitoring and optimization
Migration doesn’t end at go-live. Teams must closely monitor system health, performance, and error rates. Optimization may involve tuning databases, adjusting configurations, and addressing any unexpected issues.
Conduct a post-mortem review to capture lessons learned, document changes, and apply insights to future migrations.
Migration challenges and how staff augmentation can solve them
With careful preparation and the right external support, especially through staff augmentation, you can easily handle all the challenges that come across your team when you migrate to AWS/Azure/Google Cloud or do other kinds of software migration.
1. Data loss or corruption
Data can be lost or damaged during transfer, especially when moving large or complex sets from outdated systems.
How to address it? Start with thorough backups and use tools to validate data before and after the migration. With help from augmented data engineers, you can ensure accurate mapping, clean data transformation, and a smooth transfer, even across complex legacy systems.
2. Downtime and service disruption
Unexpected outages during migration can affect users, slow down operations, and create costly interruptions.
Way out: Careful scheduling and execution planning are key. Augmented DevOps and infrastructure specialists can design failover processes, implement rollback strategies, and handle migration during off-peak hours to reduce business impact.
3. Compatibility issues
Old software and dependencies may not function correctly in the new environment, resulting in system failures or feature loss.
Your solution: Perform a full system audit before migrating. With support from experienced external developers familiar with both legacy and modern stacks, your team can identify and fix compatibility problems early, before they impact the live environment.
4. Resistance to change
Your team may be hesitant to adopt a new system, especially if they don’t understand the benefits or feel unsupported during the transition.
Here’s what you do: Keep internal communication clear and involve users from the start. With staff augmentation, you can bring in onboarding experts and support specialists to train users, answer questions, and reduce pushback during rollout.
5. Security vulnerabilities
New environments may open security gaps if data is transferred insecurely or configurations are left incomplete.
How to address it? Involve cloud security engineers early in the process. Augmented cybersecurity specialists can review architectures, monitor transfers, and configure proper access controls to ensure security at every stage of the migration.
6. Budget overruns
Migration projects often cost more than expected when timelines stretch or extra work is needed mid-process.
Your way out: Instead of overloading your full-time team or hiring permanent staff for temporary needs, staff augmentation allows you to scale up with specific skills only when necessary, keeping both time and cost under control.
7. Lack of skilled personnel
Many internal teams lack the deep expertise needed for modernizing legacy systems, replatforming, cloud computing, or cloud-native migrations.
Staff augmentation solution: With staff augmentation, you get direct access to engineers who specialize in the exact technologies you’re adopting, whether it’s cloud architecture, data engineering, or platform refactoring, without the delays of recruitment or long-term hiring.
Summing up
Software migration brings risk, but it also brings opportunity. The key is having the right people and a flexible approach. Staff augmentation services provided by MWDN can help you fill skill gaps, increase capacity, and move faster without compromising on quality or incurring long-term hiring costs. With expert support in place, your migration can move forward smoothly, securely, and with lasting results!