Should I Move to Atlassian Cloud from Server?

Thinking about taking the move from server to the Cloud? Have you already started building a workspace on Cloud but still have some questions or concerns about settling in? If so, keep reading.

In the past, it was most common for teams, specifically smaller teams, to start on server due to the comfortability of user management, security, and integration concerns. However, with the advancements Atlassian has made to the Cloud in recent years, those concerns are lifted and resolved. From Atlassian Access, its user governance, to its compliance and customization ability, Atlassian’s Cloud system is unmatched in its compatibility to team workspaces. In fact, even marketplace add-ons are almost completely available through the Cloud platform, so it can only go up from here.

Click on the video above to hear how Ana Galofre and Michael Abdelnour explain the advantages of Cloud vs. Server. Or skim through the transcription below.
Video Transcription

Ana (00:01):

Hey, Mike.

Michael (00:02):

Hey, Ana. How are you?

Ana (00:04):

I'm doing well. I have a couple of questions for you. Do you have a couple of minutes?

Michael (00:10):

Yeah, for sure. What's up?

Ana (00:11):

Awesome. So as you know, I've had the same Atlassian Jira server customer for many years, a couple of them actually, and it was the default back when we started these, five, six years ago to start on server. But lately, because of all the resources they're putting towards hosting and the upgrades every year, they've been asking me a lot about cloud.

Michael (00:38):

Yeah, that's a big [crosstalk 00:00:39].

Ana (00:40):

Obviously. Yep. But I don't have any cloud customers. And back four years ago. Yet.

Michael (00:49):

Yet, Ana.

Ana (00:50):

When we looked at this, there were a lot of concerns off the top of my head, about integration with their active directory and marketplace add-on feature parity and stuff like that. So you being on the cutting edge, I thought you could maybe talk through some of that stuff so I could talk to them about their concerns.

Michael (01:11):

Yeah, for sure. I think you hit the nail on the head. A couple of years ago, probably more than three years ago, there were a lot of concerns from, especially if any type of customer that has active directory or some type of user management, or anybody that has security concerns. I think a couple years ago, it was really great for small teams, but bigger teams have those requirements. And in the last couple of years, Atlassian and has really, really enhanced a lot of the cloud platform. So today, active directory and integrating with it, or a bunch of other identity management platforms, that's there now.

Ana (01:55):

Okay. They can have that single sign on if they wanted.

Michael (01:58):

Yeah. Absolutely.

Ana (02:00):

Okay.

Michael (02:00):

And then attached to that idea is a whole bunch of security that they've put into it. So there's a whole tool around user governance. And part of this single sign on is with user governance, that's called Atlassian Access. And then there's a whole bunch of compliance and the security stuff is really, really top notch compared to a lot of the other SaaS platforms that are out there. I think that they go toe to toe.

Ana (02:25):

What about marketplace add-ons? That was a big issue.

Michael (02:29):

Yeah. I think that was probably the second. The second biggest reason was, "Hey, I have all these add-ons that I want to use. And if I wanted to migrate, those add-ons aren't there in the cloud. So I'm not going to go." Because a lot of people like to extend and customize their environments.

Ana (02:45):

Yeah. From my perspective, that was a biggie because I'm not a sys admin, but I am a Jira admin, and I use it every day extensively, as you know.

Michael (02:54):

And there's a lot of stuff you can do, right? But I think today, you will find that the marketplace and cloud, there's a lot of parity to what server is. I would say at least 80% of the top 100 apps for server and data center, they have corresponding cloud versions as well. So all the top vendors that are out there, they're making cloud apps to go with their corresponding server ones.

Ana (03:21):

Nice.

Michael (03:21):

And we know actually, as of the last couple of years, folks that are looking to do new marketplace apps, maybe new ideas or different flavors, they're actually going cloud first. So cloud is really where the attention is going. It's really where the energy and the effort-

Ana (03:37):

[crosstalk 00:03:37] I have heard that.

Michael (03:38):

And the whole ecosystem. It's all going to cloud.

Ana (03:40):

Okay, great.

Michael (03:42):

So if you have a customer, like you're talking about, part of what we do is guide them through that process. We guide them through evaluating if cloud is right for them. And I would say more often than not, it is, especially at this point in time. And if it's not, let's figure out what it is. We can work with them. We can figure out how maybe we can get there. And then we guide them through that process of, what does a migration path look like? What are the things to consider? How long does something like that usually take? How do we keep disruption to a minimum for my teams? All that stuff.

Ana (04:15):

Yes. Less disruption, the better, for sure. Awesome.

Michael (04:19):

It's definitely a platform ready to go.

Ana (04:20):

Okay. Well, thank you so much. I'm going to get back with them. And then hopefully, hit you up for some migration discussion. And then we don't have time today, but I'd like to talk to you about the difference between server and cloud licensing, so you can walk me through that next.

Michael (04:37):

Sounds good. Take care.

Ana (04:38):

Awesome. Thanks so much, Mike.

Michael (04:39):

Thank you.

Ana (04:39):

Talk to you later.

Michael (04:40):

Take care.

Ana (04:40):

Bye.

Michael (04:41):

Bye.

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