Start with a free analysis, or discuss your situation with Robbie van Rooijen.
Six steps, one team
Our Approach: From analysis to 24/7 management
SUE operates in six steps: analyze, optimize, modernize, migrate, manage, and improve. You start where you are; most customers begin with a free analysis of their cloud costs or an application. Modernization and management come from a single provider, with results-based agreements. Your team learns alongside us according to the principle “Show. Do together. Do yourself.” and remains in control.
Why a standardized approach?
Many modernization and cloud initiatives run into the same roadblocks: teams start with the oldest technology even though the benefits lie elsewhere, dependencies turn out to be greater than anticipated, and after delivery, costs and technical debt start to rise again. Research firm Gartner therefore recommends steering modernization toward business value and treating it as an ongoing process. Forrester observes that organizations are increasingly entrusting both modernization and management to a single provider, with agreements on results.
Our Approach follows that approach. Every step gives you something you can use on your own, even if you don't continue with SUE afterward.
Where do you start?
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Cloud costs are rising, and no one knows exactly why. Start with Step 1
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A business-critical application is outdated, and the expertise is fading. Start at Step 1
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You want to move away from VMware or a data center. Start with Step 1
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You know which application needs to be updated, but you lack the resources or experience. Start at step 3
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Your plan is ready, and you're looking for a partner to carry out the migration. Start at step 4
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Your platform is up and running, but your team is too small to handle 24/7 management. Start at step 5
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You already have a managed service provider, but things need to improve. Start at step 6
01Analyze
We assess costs, risks, and architecture through a cloud cost analysis or an application analysis using Re:App. You’ll receive a plan and a roadmap for each application.
02Optimization
First, we’ll maximize the benefits of your current environment: lower cloud costs and better security. Those savings will help finance the modernization.
03Modernize
Re:App speeds up refactoring, rebuilding, or conversion. Our engineers test each change against the behavior of the old application.
04Migrate
We migrate applications and data in waves to AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, your own data center, or a sovereign environment, with a fallback option for each wave.
05Manage
We monitor, patch, and troubleshoot Linux, Kubernetes, and the cloud 24/7, with fixed response times and reports you can use during an audit.
06Improvement
Every month, we review costs, incidents, and changes; every quarter, we review the roadmap. New opportunities go back to step 1.
Step 1
1. Analyze
Where do we stand, where are the gains, and what do we do with each application?
We start with your goals: what should the organization be capable of in two to three years, and which applications and systems are most important for achieving that? Next, for each application, we select the path that offers the best balance between value, risk, and cost, as well as the target platform: the public cloud, on-premises, a sovereign European environment, or a combination thereof, running on virtual machines or containers.
What You'll Get: Insight into costs, risks, and architecture; a roadmap for each application, a business case, and a roadmap
Two Ways to Get Started
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Cloud Cost Analysis: usage, architecture, procurement, and security for AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. You’ll receive an overview of potential savings, organized by return on investment and risk. The initial analysis is free.
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Application Analysis: Using our AI platform Re:App we map out business rules, dependencies, and architecture, even when documentation is missing.
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Path forward for each application: leave as is, phase out, migrate, modify, restructure, rebuild, or replace.
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A roadmap in waves, with quick wins at the forefront.
Step 2
2. Optimize
How can we quickly get more out of our current environment?
There’s a lot of value to be found in the environment you already have. Save first, then invest: savings on cloud bills or licenses often become available within a few weeks. You can use those savings to finance modernization and migration.
What You Get: Lower cloud costs, a streamlined and more secure infrastructure
What we do, together with your team
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Costs: rightsizing, clearing out unused resources, smarter procurement using Savings Plans or Reserved Instances, and cost allocation by team according to the FinOps framework.
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Infrastructure: configuration as code, automation with Ansible or Terraform, and decommissioning obsolete servers and clusters.
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Security and compliance: hardening, patching, access management, and logging, in accordance with NIS2, BIO, or ISO 27001.
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Performance and availability: resolving bottlenecks, autoscaling, and monitoring.
Step 3
3. Modernize
How can we make the application future-proof without losing the business logic?
Re:App speeds up the work, and our engineers oversee it. We work component by component, so the old and new systems run side by side temporarily and every step can be reversed.
What you get: Modernized code, tested against the behavior of the old application
What we do
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Refactoring, rebuilding, or converting to another programming language, accelerated with Re:App.
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Our engineers review every change.
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We test every change against the behavior of the old application.
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The old and the new run side by side for a while, and every step can be undone.
Step 4
4. Migrate
How do we move to the new platform without outages?
We migrate applications and data in stages to the chosen platform: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud; your own data center; or a sovereign European environment—on virtual machines or on Kubernetes.
What You Get: Applications and data on the target platform, with a secure foundation from day one
What we do
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First, the basics: a landing zone with networking, access, logging, security, and cost monitoring.
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Next, the applications in waves, starting with the simplest ones first.
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One fallback option per wave.
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Whenever possible, we take advantage of the AWS Migration Acceleration Program to have a portion of the migration costs reimbursed.
Modernize first or migrate first?
That depends on the application. If you need to move away from VMware or out of a data center quickly, you migrate first and then modernize on the new platform. If an application in its current form does not fit on the target platform, you modernize first. We determine that order for each application in the roadmap from Step 1.
Step 5
5. Manage
How does it stay stable, secure, and up to date?
With our Managed Services platform runs 24/7: Linux, Kubernetes, cloud, and security. Would you prefer to manage it yourself, or work with us? In that case, we’ll hand over the platform along with knowledge transfer, or we’ll handle only the nights and weekends.
What you get: 24/7 management with fixed response times and reports
What we do
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We monitor, patch, and repair, with fixed response times.
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Reports you can use during an audit, such as for NIS2, BIO, or ISO 27001.
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We manage Kubernetes clusters entirely through an API and Git.
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We upgrade the operating system and Kubernetes in a single step, and that step can be rolled back.
Step 6
6. Improve
How can we keep costs and technology under control?
Optimization is not a one-time effort: the cloud and applications are constantly changing, and so are costs and risks. While Step 2 brings the current environment up to standard, this step keeps everything in order. New opportunities are addressed in Step 1. This makes modernization an ongoing process.
What You Get: Regular reviews, cost savings, and an updated roadmap
What we do
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A monthly review of costs, incidents, and changes.
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A quarterly review of the roadmap.
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We follow the FinOps Framework phases: Inform, Optimize, and Operate.
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We keep track of upgrades and security updates.
How We Work Together
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Show. Do it together. Do it yourself
We’ll show you how it works, then implement it together with your team, and hand it over as soon as you’re able to manage it on your own. That way, the knowledge stays within your organization.
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Agreements on Results
For each step, we define what it should achieve: a cost savings, a migrated application, or a specific level of availability. We report on these metrics.
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You're in charge
Configuration and code are stored in repositories that belong to you, including the configuration of each server; documentation is up to date; and you can continue on your own or with another party at any time.
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One point of contact, one team
Consulting, modernization, migration, and management are all handled by the same team, so no knowledge is lost during a handoff.
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AI with Oversight
We use AI where it makes the work faster and better, and engineers evaluate the results. The quality standards remain the same.
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Recognized Methods
Gartner principles for modernization, the 7 R’s, the FinOps Foundation’s FinOps framework, AWS Well-Architected, the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, CIS benchmarks, and GitOps.
Customer Results
Clients such as the Dutch National Police, NXP, and Thales have been working with SUE for more than ten years.
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Thanks to AI and parallel development, the desktop application was migrated to a SaaS platform in less than a year, rather than over several years.
Read more
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From on-premises to Kubernetes on AWS, with 99.99% availability and a 25% greater focus on product innovation.
Read moreLearn more step by step
01
Guide
Application Modernization: The Complete Guide
Rehost, replatform, or refactor? Here's how to choose the approach that best fits your goals, budget, and schedule for each application.
Read the guide02
Guide
Cloud Migration: The Complete Guide
From assessment to transition: strategies, planning, and the pitfalls that make a migration more expensive than necessary.
Read the guide03
Guide
Reducing Cloud Costs: The Complete Guide
Where waste occurs, which measures yield the greatest results, and how to establish a sustainable FinOps framework.
Read the guideFrequently Asked Questions About the SUE Approach
All frequently asked questions
No. You start right where you are and take what you need. Each step yields a result you can use to move forward, such as a cost-saving overview, a documented architecture, or a roadmap.
An analysis with a roadmap takes one to two weeks. Optimization often yields initial savings within a few weeks. Modernization and migration are carried out in phases ranging from a few weeks to a few months per application. A large application landscape takes one to two years, with the first results visible after the first phase.
Configuration, code, and documentation are stored in repositories that belong to you. We follow the principle “Show. Do together. Do yourself,” so that your team builds up its knowledge. In every management contract, we specify how a handover will take place—whether to your own team or to another party.
Whenever possible, we agree on specific results: cost savings, a migrated application, or availability. Management services are billed at a fixed monthly rate. For consulting and specialized work, we also charge by the hour.
In small, reversible steps. The old and new systems run side by side temporarily, and we switch over only once tests confirm that the new component functions the same way. Migrations occur in waves, starting with the simplest applications first, with a fallback option for each wave. We specify which applications will be migrated first and which later in the roadmap from Step 1. This ensures that the rest of the landscape continues to run as usual.
We decide on a per-application basis, based on business value and technical condition. A one-to-one migration (lift-and-shift) is fast and suits a data center or VMware exit with a strict deadline. It doesn’t resolve technical debt, and as a result, the cost in the cloud may end up being higher than planned. Rebuilding or restructuring pays off when the business logic is valuable and the code is holding back modernization. In most projects, we combine both approaches: first, we migrate what needs to be moved quickly, and then we modernize on the new platform.
SUE builds and manages its own systems, with over 150 in-house engineers and consultants. The same people who create the roadmap also implement it and can then manage the platform. We are partners with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Licenses are, at most, just one part of the job.
This follows from the analysis in Step 1: the public cloud, your own data center, or a sovereign European environment—on virtual machines or on Kubernetes. SUE is a partner of AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud and recommends the platform that best suits your applications and requirements. When deploying Kubernetes in your own data center or at the edge, we often build it on Talos Linux: every server is identical, and we upgrade both the operating system and Kubernetes in a single step.
Ready for the next step?
Ready for the next step?
Start with a free analysis, or discuss your situation with Robbie van Rooijen.
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