Advantages of Migrating from AEM Managed Service to AEM Cloud Service

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a leading digital experience platform (DXP) that enterprises can use to create, manage, and deliver personalized digital experiences across channels and at scale.

AEM has historically offered different hosting options to fit enterprise needs, including an on-premise version, which can be hosted on your company’s servers; Adobe Managed Service (AMS), where AEM is hosted by and maintained by Adobe’s services organization, and a newer cloud-native option, AEM as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS).

Many organizations are considering moving from on-prem or managed AEM to AEMaaCS. However, the migration can be a significant undertaking. The ROI won’t always be apparent, and the payback schedule will be measured in years. In this post, we’ll explain some options and outline potential benefits when migrating your AEM implementation from on-premise or managed service to the cloud.

Exploring AEM Deployment Options

Let’s take a look at the various options for deploying AEM.

AEM On-Premise

Deploying AEM on-premise means that AEM is hosted and maintained on your servers. This gives you complete control over infrastructure, updates, and security but requires in-house resources or contracting a 3rd party for management.

Adobe Managed Service (AMS) for AEM

AMS provides a hosted AEM environment on Adobe’s infrastructure, where Adobe manages the servers, scaling, and security. AMS balances some of the benefits of the cloud with the increased control of an on-premise approach. However, it still requires manual updates and involves other restrictions related to deployment processes. A major update may be required every couple of years to stay current.

AEM as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS)

AEMaaCS is a fully cloud-native, microservices-based solution for managing digital experiences. Adobe automates infrastructure management, scaling, and continuous updates, ensuring the platform is always up-to-date with the latest features and improvements. AEM as a Cloud Service provides the features marketers and developers need while offering enterprises SaaS-like agility, making it an attractive choice for businesses seeking lower overhead costs and effort.

Why Choose AEMaaCS Over AMS

Enterprises currently relying on AMS may wonder what the benefits of migrating to a fully cloud-native solution could be. Here are some of the ways that AEMaaCS compares to AMS.

Scalability & Flexibility

AEMaaCS is built on a cloud-native architecture that offers auto-scaling based on demand. This ensures efficient handling of varying traffic levels without manual intervention, optimizing performance and cost. Auto-scaling and microservices contribute to effective resource management and maintain performance in high tiers such as author and publisher.

Conversely, AMS requires manual scaling adjustments to infrastructure, which can lead to higher complexity and potential downtime.

Operational Overhead with Cloud Manager

AMS doesn’t mandate that companies use a tool such as Cloud Manager. This can lead to higher operational overhead and more manual management for CI/CD processes and infrastructure. Even with Cloud Manager utilized with AMS, the selective use of features and inability to meet code test coverage requirements can contribute to inefficiencies.

Cloud Manager is an integral component of AEMaaCS, which streamlines operations by providing continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) capabilities, code quality assurance, content copying, integration testing, and performance monitoring. This comprehensive management tool reduces the need for a large internal or external team to handle infrastructure, leading to cost savings and more efficient operations.

Upgrade Requirements

AMS requires operations teams to apply service packs and hotfixes periodically. The increased costs and efforts distract development resources from higher-value tasks such as new feature development and site enhancements. Significant changes between versions can also introduce exceptionally high costs or elevated risk.

With AEMaaCS, Adobe deploys continuous product updates to the cloud offering, minimizing the burden on organizations to prepare for updates and conduct regression testing. While updates are more frequent, they are also more conservative, rarely introducing significant risk to an AEM site project.

Continuous Innovation & Feature Access

As Adobe continues to focus on AEMaaCS, new feature availability in AEM on-premise could be impacted. Cloud customers will continue to get more frequent and advanced updates. In contrast, AEM on-premise updates may be delayed, offer fewer features, and require a manual installation process that involves additional work from developers, authors, QA teams, and other stakeholders.

However, AEMaaCS provides access to continuous updates and new features, including innovations like Edge Delivery Services, App Builder, and I/O Events. Unlike traditional on-premise setups where updates can be slow and cumbersome, AEMaaCS ensures that you benefit from the latest advancements and technologies, allowing for quicker adaptation and keeping systems current with the latest features.

Security & Reliability

AMS offers strong security measures. However, these measures typically rely on manual configurations and may not have the same level of automated auditing and continuous security enhancements as AEMaaCS.

AEMaaCS provides robust security and improved reliability through its cloud-native architecture and stringent controls on direct code changes. Additionally, the Cloud Manager’s Experience Audit feature ensures that deployments meet high standards for performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO, which benefit customer experience and marketing outcomes.

It also helps prevent regressions by validating changes and providing informational results that highlight any differences in scores between deployments. Powered by Google Lighthouse, Experience Audit offers valuable insights to maintain top-tier user experiences and site quality.

Fixed License Cost vs Subscription-Based Pricing Model

AMS requires upfront license fees and infrastructure costs, which may not offer the same flexibility in cost management as a SaaS subscription model.

Like other SaaS solutions, AEMaaCS uses a subscription-based pricing model based on server requests. This could reduce costs, especially with effective caching and Fastly CDN.

While an AEMaaCS subscription offers cost efficiencies, it doesn’t always guarantee lower overall expenses. The final cost impact depends on your optimization and usage patterns, which is a risk to be managed through appropriate sizing with Adobe and a partner like Oshyn.

Streamlining Your AEM Migration With Support From Oshyn

Migrating to the cloud enables modern enterprises to enhance flexibility. It can also lower costs compared to on-premise hosting and maintenance while providing greater scalability to easily adjust resources.

However, migrating to AEM as a Cloud Service is complex, particularly for customers with a legacy AEM codebase and years of customizations. Oshyn is an Adobe partner with decades of experience in content management and digital experience. With our support, we can guide you on the path of least risk and resistance when migrating from your existing AEM on-prem solution to an AEM as a Cloud Service offering. We can also help calculate the expected return on the investment to migrate to the cloud.

Learn more about the benefits of starting early on a migration to AEMaaCS by reading our blog: Starting Early on AEMaaCS Migration.