Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - SaaS migration: Inside a real-world multi-tenant transformation (SAS306)

Summary

Todd Golding, a partner solutions architect at AWS, discusses strategies for migrating legacy or modernized systems to a multi-tenant SaaS model.
The session emphasizes the importance of both technological and business transformation during the migration to SaaS.
Golding presents a strategy that involves moving to a SaaS model as quickly as possible, accepting technical debt initially, and then incrementally modernizing.
The talk outlines the creation of a lightweight control plane for managing tenants, including onboarding, tenant management, and user management.
Tenant context is crucial for operational efficiency, and the session discusses how to inject tenant context into existing applications.
The full-stack silo model is introduced as a way to quickly migrate to SaaS by giving each tenant dedicated infrastructure, which can be later modernized incrementally.
The session covers the importance of building out the control plane with metrics and billing services to support the SaaS business model.
Golding suggests using the strangler pattern for modernizing services incrementally, moving from a full-stack silo to a pooled multi-tenant model.
The session concludes with the idea that the first few services modernized will be challenging, but it's important to keep moving forward and not aim for perfection initially.

Migrating to SaaS is not just a technological shift but also a business transformation that requires changes in how the product is sold, marketed, and billed.
The full-stack silo model, while not the final goal, is a valid starting point for SaaS migration, allowing businesses to operate in a SaaS model sooner and begin the transformation process.
Injecting tenant context into existing applications is essential for operational visibility and control, even if it requires modifying legacy code.
The control plane is a foundational component of SaaS architecture, and investing in a robust control plane early on is critical for long-term success.
Incremental modernization using the strangler pattern allows for a gradual transition from legacy systems to a fully modernized SaaS platform, reducing the risk and complexity associated with large-scale rewrites.
The session highlights the importance of flexibility in the migration process, acknowledging that not all services need to be pooled and that some may remain siloed based on customer needs or tiered service offerings.
Embracing technical debt as part of the initial migration strategy is acceptable as long as there is a clear path for incremental improvements and modernization.
The talk reinforces the idea that perfection is not the goal during the initial stages of migration; instead, progress and learning from the process are more valuable.