Series: What’s Stopping Businesses from Application Server Migrations: Insights From Industry Players - Part 1

Ensuring Business Continuity When Changing Application Runtime

In today’s digital age, the only constant is change. Yet, one area where change often induces hesitation is in the modernization and migration of application servers for software. Moving mission-critical applications to a different runtime environment can indeed be a daunting prospect, entailing significant investments of time, money and resources. However, when unsatisfied by their current solution, why is the fear of migration operations not giving way to the fear of missing out?

In this blog series 'What’s Stopping Businesses from Application Server Migrations – Insights from Industry Players', we will look at what industry experts say and debunk server migration myths.

FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out or Fear of Migration Operations?

For a number of organizations, the biggest concern is facing the unknown and various ‘what ifs.’ Francisco Gonzalez, CTO at Le Website Tech, says: “What's preventing me from transitioning to an alternative application server? Oh, where to begin! First, there's the fear of the unknown. Will the new server solve more problems than it creates? Or will it be the tech equivalent of jumping from the frying pan into the fire?”

He continues: “Finally, there's the inertia. The ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it’ mentality. Except, it is kind of broke, just not enough to justify the upheaval of change. So, we're stuck in this limbo of dissatisfaction, dreaming of a better world but tethered to the current reality by a web of complications.”

Javier Muniz, CTO at LLCAttorney.com, adds: “A common misconception is that server migration is a purely technical exercise – in reality, it straddles the business-technology intersection. I've found that the three most common inhibitions companies face are: uncertainty about ROI, perceived risk of operation disruption, and lack of technical expertise.”

Fear of Disrupting Business Operations and Impact on Customer’s Satisfaction

When it comes to the unknown, perhaps the most common fear is around business disruption and its impact. Matthew Franzyshen, Business Development Manager of Ascendant, a full-service IT company based in New Jersey, shares his experience: “As a CIO who's grappled with the challenges of application server migration, I can tell you that the biggest roadblock is often the fear of disrupting existing systems. In my previous role, we were stuck with an outdated application server that was holding back our digital transformation efforts. The main factors stopping us from migrating were the potential downtime, the risk of data loss, and the steep learning curve for our IT team. We had custom applications deeply integrated with the old server, and the thought of rewriting or reconfiguring them was daunting.”

James Wilkinson, the CEO and co-founder of Balance One Supplements, a global ecommerce store specializing in the sale of dietary supplements, agrees: “Migration to a new application server is a highly disruptive process, hence our hesitation. A migration gone wrong might lead to a website crashing or slowing down, which obviously affects user experience and translates into a loss of sales. I recall a report claiming that every hour of downtime for a website running an e-commerce platform could amount to the business losing more than $1 million. Clearly, a great deal of planning and rigorous testing are imperative, which takes time and resources.

“Second, migrating existing data and functionality can be labour-intensive. We have lots of products, personalized product recommendations and online customer accounts. Migrating all that data and making sure that all the functionalities look and operate the same way on the new server is a highly complex and technical task. We want to make sure that all the data remains intact and secure during the migration.”

Disruptions to business continuity is a fear that the team at Contellect shares, as Jason Smit, CEO comments: “When we were thinking about switching application servers, it wasn't just a tech hiccup we were concerned about; it was the potential for a three-ring disaster between our remote workforce that spans time zones, as well as our international clients who would expect nothing short of seamless performance.

“The elephant in the room for us was integration. Our current monitoring and reporting tools were the glue of our operation, keeping tabs on everything from content production rates to client satisfaction metrics. They are the eyes and ears that let us choreograph our global dance of deadlines and deliverables.

“Switching servers always risks throwing this delicate ecosystem into chaos, and losing our real-time insights on project statuses, resource allocation, and client needs would be very problematic and our biggest concern.”

Debunking Migration Fears: How You Can Overcome Application Server Migration Headaches & Remain Operational

Yes, an application server migration can be a somewhat mysterious and unnecessary task to burden your team with. Especially when worried about limited ROI, new risks and unexpected downtime, it may seem like there are more reasons to stick with your current runtime than to change it. After all, what you currently use might be ‘okay’ and ‘working fine’, so why should anyone risk potential disruptions, increases in cost and all that stress?

But the truth is, there’s likely a better and low-risk option out there just waiting for you. All you need is the right product and the right expert to guide you through the migration process.

If you’re frequently frustrated with your current application server provider, it’s worth exploring alternatives. A quality application runtime vendor will also be a dependable migration partner, helping you navigate any concerns you may have. This partnership can ultimately unlock new opportunities, giving you the freedom to focus on innovation instead of constant troubleshooting, and allowing you to grow, scale and adapt without compromising on security or reliability.

How to identify your dream application server and solution provider? It’s simple: when considering a move away from your existing solution, favor an application runtime vendor that offers extensive migration support.

Opt for a Vendor That Offers Migration Support Services

Start with choosing a specialist that will carry out a comprehensive review of your current architecture and services with you. The process should include the evaluation of your project scope, as well as the identification of key dependencies and issues to resolve before the migration begins. By fully understanding your existing applications, infrastructure and expectations for the project, the migration expert should then design and deliver a custom migration roadmap that reduces operational service disruption and maintains the stability of your business-critical applications. The resulting plan should outline the goals to keep you involved in the implementation, so you can understand the underlying methodology and strategy for fulfilling business-critical requirements.

Finally, select a vendor whose technical team is prepared to handle any challenges that come up during large-scale migrations and who is dedicated to ensuring operational continuity throughout your project. By doing so, you will be able to minimise downtime, and maximise performance and customer satisfaction.

At Payara, we don’t settle for ‘okay’ or ‘fine’ and we don’t think you should either. Our migration specialists want to address your biggest migration fears, provide expert guidance in this process, supporting you every step of the way and instilling in you the confidence, comfort and control you deserve from your migration partner. Through our Payara Accelerator’s Migration and Upgrade offering, we make sure that you can successfully switch application runtime without any headache.

When Payara’s team supported Insurtech leader CDL in its migration, Dave Eyre, Principal Engineer commented: “During this phase, we made use of a lot of resources, available through Payara online knowledge base (…). This was especially useful to help the team configure elements via the console and help us to learn the different commands and processes.”

In choosing the right migration partner, you’re not just making a technical decision—you’re investing in the future of your business. A successful migration can empower your team to innovate freely, scale effortlessly and deliver outstanding experiences to your customers. With Payara’s expert support and proven methodology, you’ll have the tools, knowledge and confidence to move forward with your migration seamlessly. Trust us to turn a potentially challenging process into a smooth transition that strengthens your operations and sets the stage for continued growth and success.