Atlassian Cloud migration: What to keep, what to leave behind, and how to decide
- Atlassian
The move from Atlassian Data Center to Cloud is more than a technical project—it's a strategic opportunity. While it can be tempting to plan a simple 'lift and shift' migration, that approach often means carrying years of digital baggage into your new environment.
Many organisations we work with find their current systems are encumbered by legacy configurations, outdated documentation, and a patchwork of unmanaged apps. Simply moving this complexity to Cloud doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just changes its location.
Before you migrate a single piece of data, the most important question to ask is: what should actually make the journey?
The hidden costs of migrating your mess
A migration is the perfect moment to assess the current state of your Atlassian tools. If you don't, you risk perpetuating issues that are already hindering your teams' productivity and efficiency.
Common problems we see include:
Outdated and untrustworthy content: Your Confluence instance has become a digital archive of conflicting, irrelevant, and incorrect information. Users can't trust what they find, leading to frustration and a reliance on support tickets for answers.
A fragile 'house of cards' configuration: Your operations sit on a complex web of apps and customisations that no one fully understands. Making changes is risky, and the original developers may no longer be available to help.
Unsupported apps and broken workflows: Many marketplace apps that bridge functionality gaps in Data Center won't be available for Cloud, or may function differently. Migrating without a plan can lead to broken workflows and leave your teams without the tools they rely on.
Lack of clear ownership: Over time, as people have come and gone, the governance of your Atlassian suite has eroded. No one is responsible for maintenance, leading to unchecked sprawl and performance issues.
Migrating this entire setup without a clear strategy means you're not only paying to move the problem—you're also missing the chance to build a cleaner, more efficient, and future-proof system in Cloud.
How a Decision Sprint provides clarity
So, how do you untangle this complexity and decide what is truly important? This is where our extensive discovery process, supported by our Decision Sprint methodology, comes in.
A Decision Sprint is a structured, fast-paced workshop designed to solve complex challenges and align stakeholders around a clear plan of action. Instead of months of meetings, we guide your key teams through a focused process that rapidly cuts through the noise.
In the context of a migration, a Decision Sprint helps you to:
Define what 'good' looks like: We work with you to establish a shared vision for your new Cloud environment, based on business goals and user needs.
Audit and prioritise: We facilitate a structured review of your content, configurations, and third-party apps. Our discovery process identifies what is business-critical, what can be archived, and what is incompatible with Cloud. For those essential but unsupported apps, the sprint helps you decide the best path forward—whether that's finding alternatives or adapting workflows.
Build a practical roadmap: The outcome is not just a decision, but a clear, actionable migration plan that has buy-in from everyone involved, distinguishing between what is essential and what is simply a 'nice-to-have'.
How we can help
Brew Digital excels at breaking down complex challenges like these. We don't just facilitate the conversation; we bring expertise in user experience, technical implementation, and data analysis to the table. For example, we can use AI to analyse thousands of service desk tickets to identify what users are actually doing, providing data-driven insights to inform your decisions.
The road to a successful Cloud migration starts long before the technical work begins. It starts with a smart, strategic plan.
If you're ready to make your move to Cloud an opportunity for genuine improvement, let's start the conversation.
