Cost-Optimized Migration Case Study
Part of the Cloud Computing Roadmap
In short
Companies don't move to the cloud for fun. They want it cheaper, faster or safer. A case study that shows a before-and-after bill, with each saving explained, speaks the language managers care about.
A written case study (real or hypothetical) walking through migrating a legacy application to the cloud with a specific focus on cost — before/after cost comparison and the specific optimizations applied.
Think of it like this
The mess committee's report
When the hostel switches mess contractors, the committee writes a report. Old cost per plate, new cost per plate, what changed in the menu, and why the new one saves money without making the dal watery. Everyone can check the numbers.
Watch it happen
Structure of a strong case study
1/6Describe the old setup and its monthly cost: servers, licences, power, people time. Say clearly if numbers are estimated.
The big ideas
What you need to know
Real or clearly hypothetical
A made-up company is fine. Just label it hypothetical and use real pricing calculator numbers.
Right-size first
Old servers are often oversized for peak. Matching cloud sizes to real usage is usually the biggest saving.
Turn off what sleeps
Dev and test environments that stop at night and on weekends can cut their cost sharply.
Commit only after measuring
Savings Plans or reserved instances cut prices for steady workloads. Buy them after usage is stable, not on day one.
See it in code
Walk through the code
1# Monthly cost by service, for your before/after table2aws ce get-cost-and-usage \3 --time-period Start=2026-09-01,End=2026-10-01 \4 --granularity MONTHLY \5 --metrics UnblendedCost \6 --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE \7 --query "ResultsByTime[0].Groups[].[Keys[0],Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount]" \8 --output table1/3One full month of data. The end date is exclusive.
If you ran the migration in your own account, pull real numbers with Cost Explorer. Each API call has a small charge, so don't loop it.
Save yourself the pain
Common mistakes
Oops
Comparing only server prices and forgetting data transfer, backups and support.
Do this instead
Include every line on both sides, including egress and on-premises power, space and staff time.
Oops
Claiming huge savings with no workings shown.
Do this instead
Show each number's source: calculator link, bill export or a clearly stated assumption.
Your mission
First milestone: the baseline
Quick check
When should a team buy a 1-year commitment like a Savings Plan after migrating?
Go deeper
- 1Frame a realistic legacy scenario (on-premise or poorly-optimized cloud) as your starting point.
- 2Apply the 6 Rs framework (Phase 13) to justify your migration approach.
- 3Show a clear before/after cost estimate with the specific levers (right-sizing, storage tiers, reserved pricing) you used.
More projects at this stop
Deploy a 3-Tier Web Application on AWS / Azure / GCP
Serverless API Project
Infrastructure as Code Project (Multi-Environment)
Highly Available Architecture Project
Monitoring & Alerting Setup Project
Portfolio Website or GitHub Showcase
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