Moving to AWS is a decision most organisations get to eventually. On-premises hardware ages, software licences compound, and the team maintaining it grows without adding product value. AWS gives you elastic compute, managed databases, serverless execution, and global distribution -- but only if the migration is planned and executed without disrupting the business that depends on those systems today. We migrate businesses to AWS: EC2, RDS, Aurora, S3, Lambda, ECS, and EKS. From a cloud readiness assessment that maps every dependency, through phased migration and cutover, to post-migration cost optimisation that prevents your AWS bill from exceeding what you spent on-prem.
Recent outcomes
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2,000+ shipments yr 1RaftLabs migrates businesses to Amazon Web Services -- including lift-and-shift to EC2, re-platforming to ECS and Lambda, database migration to RDS and Aurora, and infrastructure-as-code with Terraform. Every migration includes a cloud readiness assessment, phased execution to keep systems running, and post-migration cost optimisation. Focused environments cost $20,000 to $80,000; complex multi-application migrations run $80,000 or more at fixed price.
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AWS is not a destination you reach and stop thinking about. It is an environment you design, migrate into, and then optimise continuously as you understand your real usage patterns. The first bill after migration often surprises teams who mapped their on-prem capacity directly to cloud instance sizes without adjusting for the different cost model.
Getting the migration right means getting the assessment right first. Application dependency mapping, database sizing, network architecture, security requirements, and cost modelling -- all of this before a single resource is provisioned. The migration that avoids mid-project surprises is the one that already knows where they would have come from.
Capabilities
Lift-and-shift migration from on-premises servers to AWS EC2. Application dependency mapping to understand what connects to what and what order migration must follow. AMI creation from existing server images where possible. EC2 instance type selection based on actual CPU and memory utilisation, not peak theoretical load. Auto-scaling group configuration for variable workloads. Load balancer setup with health checks. Security group configuration with least-privilege network access. DNS cutover planning with rollback steps. The migration that gets you off physical hardware without requiring an application rewrite first.
Re-platforming applications from EC2 to container-based and serverless infrastructure where the cost-benefit of re-architecture is clear. Containerisation of applications with Docker (multi-stage Dockerfile builds producing minimal production images, stored in ECR) and deployment to ECS Fargate for workloads that benefit from managed container infrastructure -- no EC2 instances to patch, no cluster to manage, tasks run and scale automatically. Lambda migration for stateless, event-driven workloads -- scheduled jobs, API handlers, and file processing pipelines -- that run more cheaply without persistent compute: a Lambda that processes a file and exits costs nothing while idle, versus an EC2 instance that charges 24/7 whether it is processing or not.
API Gateway HTTP API (lower cost than REST API for most API use cases) configured with Lambda authorisers for JWT validation. Lambda function URLs for direct invocation without API Gateway for single-function microservices. Lambda Layers for shared dependencies, reducing deployment package size and cold start duration. Provisioned concurrency for latency-sensitive Lambda functions where cold starts of 200-800ms are unacceptable. ECS Fargate Spot instances for batch processing workloads where interruptions can be handled -- Spot pricing delivers 50-70% cost reduction versus standard Fargate. The re-platforming that reduces operational overhead and ongoing cost without a full application rewrite.
Managed database migration from on-premises MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MSSQL to RDS and Aurora. AWS DMS for continuous replication during the migration window to minimise downtime. Schema validation and data integrity checks before and after cutover. Multi-AZ configuration for high availability. Automated backup and point-in-time recovery configuration. Read replica setup for read-heavy workloads. Parameter group tuning for performance. The database migration that arrives in AWS with the same data, better availability, and lower operational overhead than the on-prem equivalent it replaced.
All AWS infrastructure defined and deployed using Terraform -- never manual console clicks that cannot be reviewed, versioned, or reproduced. Every resource -- VPC, subnets, security groups, EC2 instances, RDS clusters, IAM roles, S3 buckets, CloudFront distributions -- declared in version-controlled code. Environments (development, staging, production) created from the same codebase with environment-specific variable files. Remote state management with S3 backend and DynamoDB locking. Modular structure so the infrastructure can be extended without unintended side effects. Your team inherits an AWS environment they can read, modify, and recreate rather than a manually configured system only one person understands.
AWS architecture designed for the availability requirements your business actually needs -- not over-engineered for theoretical scenarios. Multi-AZ deployment for RDS, ElastiCache, and ALB to eliminate single points of failure within a region. Multi-region active-passive or active-active architecture for workloads with strict uptime requirements or geographic latency constraints. Route 53 health checks and failover routing for automatic traffic redirection when a region has an availability event. RDS cross-region read replicas with promotion capability. S3 cross-region replication for object storage. The architecture that matches your actual SLA requirements with the AWS infrastructure that delivers them reliably.
Post-migration cost analysis and optimisation that prevents the AWS bill from exceeding what you spent on-prem. CloudWatch metrics analysis to identify right-sizing opportunities -- instances running at 15% CPU average over 30 days are candidates for downsizing. AWS Compute Optimizer recommendations reviewed and applied for EC2, RDS, Lambda, and ECS Fargate task sizing. Reserved instance and Savings Plan purchasing for stable workloads where a 1- or 3-year commitment delivers 30-60% savings over on-demand pricing -- compute savings plans are applied automatically to the highest on-demand spend regardless of instance family, giving more flexibility than instance-specific reserved instances.
S3 storage class lifecycle policies move objects to S3 Standard-IA at 30 days, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval at 90 days, and S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval at 180 days -- automatically reducing storage cost for data that is rarely accessed without any application change. Idle resource identification: unused Elastic IPs ($3.60/month each), unattached EBS volumes (charged even when not attached), snapshots older than the retention policy, and stopped EC2 instances still incurring EBS and Elastic IP charges. AWS Cost Anomaly Detection alerts configured per service and per tag so a misconfigured Lambda function that runs in a loop at 1,000x normal invocations triggers an alert within 2 hours, not at month-end when the bill arrives. Cloud cost typically lands 20-40% below equivalent on-prem spend within 12 months of optimisation.
Bring us your current infrastructure details. We will assess the migration scope, map the dependencies, and give you an honest cost and timeline before you commit.
Cloud Migration -- full cloud migration capability overview
Azure Migration -- migration to Microsoft Azure for organisations in the Microsoft ecosystem
Database Migration -- focused database migration to managed cloud database services
Microservices Migration -- breaking monolithic applications into microservices on AWS EKS
DevOps -- CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation on AWS post-migration
Compliance Automation -- automated compliance evidence collection for AWS environments
Frequently asked questions
Lift-and-shift (rehosting) is the right approach when your goal is to get off on-premises infrastructure quickly, the application is stable and not cloud-optimised, and the operational benefits of cloud -- no hardware to manage, easier backups, faster provisioning -- are the primary driver. It is lower cost and lower risk than re-platforming. The application runs on EC2 instead of a physical server. Re-platforming makes sense when the application is a good fit for managed services: a stateless web application that would run more cheaply on ECS or Lambda, a database that benefits from Aurora over self-managed MySQL, or a scheduled job that should be a Lambda function rather than a cron on an EC2 instance. For most migrations, we recommend a phased approach: lift-and-shift first to exit on-prem, then re-platform specific components where the cost-benefit is clear and the risk of re-architecture is manageable.
Data migration is the highest-risk part of any AWS migration. Our approach: assessment first -- we document every database, its size, schema, relationships, and data quality issues before any migration work begins. We select the migration method based on the database type and acceptable downtime: dump-and-restore for databases that can tolerate a maintenance window, CDC replication (using AWS DMS or native replication) for databases that need near-zero downtime cutover. All migrations are tested in a staging environment that mirrors production before the live cutover. Automated validation compares row counts, checksums, and data samples between source and destination. The production cutover follows a documented runbook with defined rollback steps. We do not declare migration complete until automated validation passes.
The most common AWS services in our migration work: EC2 for lift-and-shift compute, ECS or EKS for containerised application workloads, RDS for managed relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL), Aurora for higher-throughput relational workloads, S3 for object storage and static assets, Lambda for scheduled jobs and event-driven workloads that fit the serverless execution model, CloudFront for CDN and edge delivery, ALB for load balancing, VPC with public and private subnets for network isolation, IAM for access control, Secrets Manager for credential management, and CloudWatch for monitoring and alerting. Terraform is the infrastructure-as-code tool we use to define and deploy all AWS resources so your environment is reproducible and version-controlled from day one.
Focused AWS migrations -- a single application or a small cluster of related services -- typically run $20,000 to $80,000. This covers the assessment, migration execution, infrastructure-as-code delivery, and post-migration validation. Complex environments with multiple applications, legacy dependencies, large database migrations, and multi-region architecture requirements typically run $80,000 or more. The assessment engagement that precedes the migration quote is what makes a fixed price possible -- we price based on what we find, not what we assume. Post-migration cost optimisation is scoped separately and typically delivers a 20-40% reduction in AWS spend within the first three months.
Work with us
We scope AWS Migration Services in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.