Overview
Allianz Trade needed to migrate more than 1,000 VMware servers to AWS before critical infrastructure reached end-of-life. emagine provided senior cloud architecture expertise, enabling migration progress, strengthening governance and establishing a scalable AWS foundation.
The Challenge
Allianz Trade operates globally as a leading provider of trade credit insurance and risk management services. Supporting this global business requires a large and complex IT infrastructure capable of handling critical financial applications, databases and operational systems.
To modernise its infrastructure and improve long-term scalability, Allianz Trade initiated a major cloud transformation programme.
The organisation planned to migrate its on-premises VMware landscape – consisting of more than 1,000 servers, including SQL databases and business-critical applications – to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The project aimed to move existing workloads to the cloud while building a foundation aligned with cloud-native architecture standards.
The migration was not only a strategic initiative but also a necessity.
A key driver behind the programme was the approaching end-of-life deadline for VMware vSphere infrastructure. If the migration did not progress in time, the organisation would face increased operational risk, potential compliance issues and rising maintenance costs.
Despite the urgency of the project, several obstacles slowed progress.
The internal cloud foundation team was already stretched across multiple initiatives. While the organisation had strong infrastructure engineers, many team members did not yet have deep experience with AWS architecture and cloud-native design patterns.
At the same time, a global migration partner had been engaged to support the transition. However, strong architectural oversight was needed to ensure that partner designs aligned with Allianz Trade’s internal standards for security, automation and cloud governance.
For six months, the organisation attempted to recruit the necessary AWS architecture expertise internally. Despite extensive search efforts, the right specialist profile could not be secured.
Without the right expertise in place, the migration risked further delays.
Allianz Trade therefore needed a highly experienced AWS architect capable of quickly integrating with internal teams, validating technical decisions and helping unblock the migration programme.
The Solution
To accelerate the VMware-to-AWS migration, emagine deployed a senior AWS Cloud Architect who embedded directly within Allianz Trade’s infrastructure and DevOps teams.
Phase 1: Embedding architectural leadership
A senior AWS Cloud Architect was integrated into Allianz Trade’s teams to strengthen architectural oversight and improve collaboration across stakeholders.
Working closely with infrastructure and DevOps teams, the architect ensured alignment with cloud-native standards, governance frameworks and delivery objectives from the outset.
Phase 2: Validating and strengthening architecture design
One of the first priorities was reviewing and validating the architecture designs produced by the global migration partner.
This ensured that infrastructure configurations complied with Allianz Trade’s security policies, automation frameworks and AWS best practices.
By identifying and addressing design gaps early, the project reduced technical risk and improved the overall quality of the migration architecture.
Phase 3: Accelerating delivery through automation
To improve efficiency and reduce manual effort, Infrastructure-as-Code practices were introduced.
Automated templates enabled consistent provisioning of environments and services while ensuring alignment with internal standards.
This approach increased reliability and allowed teams to deploy new environments more quickly throughout the migration process.
Phase 4: Enabling collaboration and internal capability
The architect strengthened documentation, standardised architecture patterns and aligned teams around shared technical principles.
Through close collaboration and knowledge sharing, Allianz Trade’s engineers and DevOps specialists built greater confidence in managing AWS infrastructure independently.
This created a more stable and scalable foundation for the ongoing migration programme.
Transformation timeline
Phase 1
Embedding architectural leadership
Phase 2
Validating and strengthening architecture design
Phase 3
Accelerating delivery through automation
Phase 4
Enabling collaboration and internal capability
The Results
The introduction of senior AWS architecture expertise helped unblock Allianz Trade’s cloud migration programme and restore delivery momentum.
Migration programme back on track
After earlier delays, the migration pilot phase was successfully launched on schedule. This milestone enabled the organisation to move forward with the broader VMware-to-AWS transition.
Improved delivery efficiency through automation
The introduction of Infrastructure-as-Code reduced manual operational tasks and enabled consistent, secure deployment of cloud environments. This streamlined the migration process and improved overall delivery speed.
Stronger governance and architectural quality
Expert validation of infrastructure designs ensured alignment with AWS best practices and internal security and compliance requirements. This improved design quality and reduced technical and operational risk.
Increased capability and reduced long-term risk
Collaboration and knowledge sharing strengthened internal AWS capabilities, enabling teams to take greater ownership of the platform. At the same time, retiring legacy infrastructure reduced operational risk and positioned Allianz Trade for future cloud-native development.