Patrick Mutzner, Lead Modern Cloud: Availability, scalability, lower costs, redundancy ... No, seriously, these often-marketed buzzwords are of course based on very central and important characteristics of a public cloud such as Azure, which a company can take advantage of. But these cannot be generically applied to all possible cloud customers. Our task is to work with our customers to identify the relevant specific benefits and align the cloud migration accordingly. Depending on a company's requirements and context, there may be various advantages, such as the easy global accessibility of data and services, the partial delegation of operational responsibility to the cloud service provider, the relatively simple implementation of strong security measures and comprehensive cloud or hybrid solutions, calculable costs, high stability or the seamless integration of individual cloud services and identities. This list is not exhaustive, but these advantages are among the most frequently cited by our customers.

Patrick Mutzner, Lead Modern Cloud: Fortunately, almost anything is possible in the context of cloud migrations, as the flexibility and variability of the available cloud services result in a wide range of combination and configuration options. This means that almost all required or desired functionalities can be realized. In our experience, it is much more important that the customer has an answer to the question of future cloud operation. Because if the use of infrastructure and platform services means that a large part of the operational responsibility for the underlying components lies with the cloud service provider, the customer or their operating partner has responsibilities that they must fulfill. These include, for example, optimization, monitoring, back-up, security configurations and documentation. If the customer is unable to take on these tasks themselves, we are happy to offer our support with our managed cloud services. Another very important point is the support of our customers' management for cloud projects. We have found that cloud projects generally have a higher success rate and are more sustainable if they are anchored strategically and operationally. I would therefore also include this point as a kind of prerequisite.

Patrick Mutzner, Lead Modern Cloud: As with any other migration project, cloud migrations also involve technical risks, but these can be minimized with test migrations or prior deployment in a test environment. We usually define the appropriate measures together with the customer during the planning phase, depending on the requirements and criticality of the migrated services. If critical problems occur after the migration despite these measures, we have the option of a rollback, in which the original environment is reactivated. However, we have hardly ever had to take this step. In my view, a lack of expertise on the part of our customers' IT teams when it comes to cloud concepts and technologies is a far greater risk. This can lead to limited acceptance of the cloud solution, excessive demands and the associated quality gaps in operation.

Patrick Mutzner, Lead Modern Cloud: If it is not a simple and classic 1:1 migration of a virtual server, identifying the appropriate target architecture is something that requires close collaboration between our experts and the customer's teams. The diverse combination and configuration options already mentioned can lead to lengthy discussions and design workshops. We have recognized this area of tension and try to proceed in a standardized manner wherever possible, to accompany our customers on their journey and to make concrete recommendations and draw on reference architectures from our experience or from Microsoft.

Patrick Mutzner, Lead Modern Cloud: We see a different philosophy behind this. Bringing someone into the cloud implies compromises that you have to accept in order to achieve this goal. We also see the danger behind this statement of tackling too much at once. We are convinced that this should not be the case for sustainable cloud adoption. We are enthusiastic about the cloud, think in terms of the cloud, actively look for ways to harness the right benefits for our customers, generate enthusiasm for diversity and create a sense of achievement and enjoyment. And we do this in small steps that are digestible for everyone involved.