Moving out of a server room costs money before it saves money: an assessment, the migration work itself, and a few months of paying for the old setup and the cloud at the same time. AWS, Microsoft and Google know this, and each runs a programme that pays for part of it. The catch is that the programmes are written for partners, not customers, and none of them publishes a simple price list.

This post explains, in plain terms, what each one covers, who tends to qualify, what to have ready, and the mistakes that cost companies funding they could have had.

What the funding usually pays for

• The assessment: discovering what you run and building the business case.
• Partner services: part of the cost of the people doing the migration.
• Cloud credits: money off your cloud bill while you move, or as your usage grows.
• Tools: the providers’ own migration tools, most of them free.

It doesn’t usually pay for software licences you buy, your own staff time, or running costs after the migration is done.

AWS: Migration Acceleration Program (MAP)

• Three phases: Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate & Modernize. Assess looks at your readiness across business, process, people, platform, operations and security. Mobilize closes the gaps and builds the foundation. Migrate & Modernize does the move.
• What you get: tools, training, expert help and what AWS calls “financial investments”, typically credits and funding towards partner services. AWS doesn’t publish amounts or thresholds.
• Tools: AWS Transform (for VMware, .NET, mainframe and SQL Server), AWS Application Migration Service for servers, and AWS Database Migration Service for databases.
• Workloads AWS highlights: Microsoft, VMware, SAP and mainframe.

Microsoft: Azure Accelerate

• The name: Microsoft’s migration programme has been called Azure Accelerate, and partners report it is being renamed Frontier Accelerate for Azure for Microsoft’s 2027 financial year. The content is what matters; we confirm the current name and terms when we apply.
• What you get: funded assessments, funding towards delivery by a partner, and Azure credits. Microsoft also runs a team that helps deploy some workloads at no cost.
• Tools: Azure Migrate for discovery and moving servers. Combine it with Azure Hybrid Benefit if you own Windows Server or SQL Server licences.
• How you get in: through a Microsoft partner.

Google Cloud: Rapid Migration and Modernization Program (RaMP)

• Four phases: Assess, Plan, Migrate and Innovate.
• The assessment: a free RaMP assessment based on real usage data, with a total cost of ownership and ROI case, a technical report and formal qualification for funding.
• Service funds: Google publishes a baseline of 20% of the projected annual cloud spend of the migrated workload, capped at US$2 million per workload, to offset partner or Google services. Some strategic workloads, such as Oracle and SAP, can qualify for more.
• Credits: cloud credits paid quarterly, based on the growth of workloads that are “tagged” as part of the migration.
• Tool: Migration Center in the Google Cloud console.

Side by side

Who usually qualifies

None of the three publishes a strict minimum, and decisions are made case by case. In our experience the things that help are:

• A clear list of what you are moving, and a realistic estimate of the cloud spend it will create.
• A committed timeline, not “sometime next year”.
• Moving whole workloads, not a single test server.
• Working with a partner who knows the programme’s paperwork.

Mid-sized Indian companies moving a server room of a few dozen servers do qualify for help regularly. Very small moves may only get credits or the free assessment.

What to have ready before you ask

• A list of servers and apps, with what each one does and roughly how big it is. A spreadsheet is fine.
• Your current costs: hardware due for renewal, data centre or colocation fees, support contracts and licences.
• A target date and the reason behind it, such as a lease ending, a hardware refresh or a VMware renewal.
• Who decides: the person who will sign off the move and the budget.
• Which cloud you lean towards, or that you are open to all three. Being open lets us compare offers.

How applying works

1. Assessment first. Every programme starts by measuring what you run and what it will cost in the cloud.
2. Business case. The partner builds the case the provider asks for: workloads, projected spend, timeline.
3. Application. The partner submits it to the provider. You may be asked to sign a short agreement.
4. Approval. The provider confirms what it will fund. Only now should anyone count on the money.
5. Migration and tracking. Funding is often released in stages, and some credits depend on tagging the migrated workloads correctly.

1. 1Assessment
2. 2Business case
3. 3Application
4. 4Approval
5. 5Migration and tracking

Mistakes we see

• Starting the migration before applying. Work done before approval often can’t be funded.
• Forgetting the tags on Google Cloud, so the growth-based credits never arrive.
• Picking a cloud for the funding alone. A year of credits is worth less than three years on the wrong platform.
• Applying to one provider only. If you are open to more than one cloud, compare what each will offer.
• Ignoring the end date. Credits expire. Plan the migration so you use them while they last.

Where DevOps TechLab fits

We have run more than 165 migration projects and moved over 1,245 workloads, and we’ve secured AWS, Microsoft and Google migration funding for many clients. Our migration assessment is free. We check what you qualify for on each cloud and apply with you. All funding is subject to programme approval.