Modernizing operations in the AWS Cloud
Amazon Web Services (contributors)
August 2025 (document history)
The process of modernizing operations in the cloud involves readiness, automation, and integration. In a migration project, these activities are commonly referred to as operations integration (OI). This guide describes the OI workstream, and specifically how to incorporate tools, people, and process perspectives into various activities to build a modern cloud operating model.
Intended audience
This guide is designed for technology leaders, cloud architects, and operations teams that modernize enterprise IT on AWS. It primarily serves executives who plan cloud transformation strategies, architects who design operational models, and practitioners who implement cloud operations, including DevOps engineers, site reliability engineers (SREs), and IT service management (ITSM) professionals.
Objectives
Business objectives can be categorized as follows:
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Operations readiness: Understand your current IT operations and envision your future state on AWS. This involves defining a comprehensive cloud operating model that takes advantage of the latest AWS services and methodologies. For more information, see the cloud operating model diagram later in this guide.
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Operations automation: Make strategic investments in automation to implement an effective AWS operating model. This includes using services for automated governance, monitoring, and management, and incorporating security best practices and compliance requirements from the start. For more information, see the Using AWS services for automation section later in this guide.
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Operations integration: Maintain operational continuity by extending and integrating your existing IT tools with AWS services. This ensures a smooth transition while you gradually adopt cloud-native solutions. Integration should focus on creating a unified operational view across your hybrid environment. For more information, see the Tools integration section later in this guide.
Summary process
When you start the process, your operations begin in a hybrid state that balances existing systems with cloud implementations. Although full modernization in the cloud is the ultimate goal, the OI workstream ensures that you can effectively manage applications in a hybrid cloud environment by using both traditional and cloud-native tools and processes.
The primary objective of the OI workstream is to evaluate your current operational model and develop an approach to achieve a future-state operating model as you migrate to AWS by following best practices. This requires careful consideration of the interconnections between people, processes, and tools. As the workstream owner, you'll need to identify and document operational gaps in tools, processes, and people. Then you can create a prioritized implementation roadmap by comparing the current state with your desired future-state operational model.
In this guide:
