Many companies that rely on Windows Server find the process of migrating those workloads to the cloud daunting but necessary. Necessary to take advantage of the many benefits of the cloud like cost savings, agility, and innovation; and daunting because picking the right cloud provider is critical for success. And for many businesses that choice is AWS. In this blog, we will break down why AWS is the obvious choice for running Windows workloads.
Benefits of Running Windows Workloads on AWS:
Deep Experience
AWS has been running Windows workloads since 2008, longer than any cloud provider. Not only that, but they also run two times more workloads than any providers, including Microsoft’s own cloud provider Azure! According to IDC’s report in 2017, AWS accounted for 57.7% of total Windows instances in the public cloud.
AWS is constantly evolving and providing more Windows-related services to businesses operating their workloads on AWS. Combine that with their high availability and reliability, and it’s no wonder why many successful businesses chose AWS to run their Windows server workloads.Cost Savings and Flexibility
Migrating to AWS, in general, provides you with significant cost savings and this is no different when you run windows workloads. This is largely due to the many options AWS provides when it comes to Microsoft licensing, many of which extend software lifecycles and leverage cloud-specific efficiencies. Plus, AWS also gives you tremendous flexibility with their pay-as-you-go model. As you no longer have to spend your budget on expensive hardware and instead can scale up or down easily based on your business’ needs.
According to another IDC study, businesses running Windows workloads on AWS managed to lower their costs by 56% over a five-year period after migrating.Higher Performance
It’s inevitable that legacy IT will decline and with it so does productivity and performance. This is why application modernization is important. And with the many generous programs offered by AWS, modernizing your Windows workloads is incredibly easy.
This way, you increase the availability, durability, and scalability of your applications making it easy to deliver exceptional products and services to your customers. Running Windows workloads on AWS allowed businesses to reduce unplanned downtime by 98%, deploy applications/features 71% faster, and increase productivity by 26% according to the IDC.Greater Security
AWS understands how crucial it is for your business to secure sensitive data and as such maintains rigorous security protocols. They are the most secure cloud platform out there, offering you 230 security, compliance, and governance services and features, 5 times more than the next largest provider.
AWS provides your business with all the tools you need to increase security and enhance compliance. The best part? It’s fairly easy and simple to implement these services across your workloads.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to modernize and migrate Windows server workloads to the cloud. And as such it’s important to take into consideration your priorities, existing cloud strategy, and use cases when choosing a provider. In this blog, we highlighted some strengths of AWS when it comes to Windows workloads.
It’s important to keep in mind that successfully migrating and using the cloud is so much more than just running your application there. You need to take into consideration your business needs of security, governance, finance, and priorities. This is where an AWS advanced and trusted partner, like FORTE CLOUD, can help you through your adoption journey.
