Repurchasing in AWS

Repurchasing is one of the methods of migration when developing an in-house solution for a specific need is no longer viable.  Typically, a development team would have made multiple attempts at providing themselves some function the application needs that a third party already provides.  Of the migration options available, this will be the simplest migration method available to developers in the cloud.

When DIY Does Not Work

As mentioned in our main article, this method is very niche in its purpose but is incredibly easy to conduct.  Reasonably, any developer would want to keep as much of their projects as in-house as possible.  It helps to ensure that all dependencies are consistent or easily accessible and that costs are minimized.  However, this can work against any time or monetary constraints that the company has set out for itself if the proposed solution takes too long to build or proves to be overly ambitious.  As fast as this might be, it’s meant as a last ditch option to instead outsource some application functionality to a third-party service.

Why Consider Repurchasing

Repurchasing does require compromising a few potentially critical business matters.  Along with the previously mentioned risks of dependencies or costs, whatever solution is purchased isn’t guaranteed to be compatible with what’s already built.  There are also concerns with if the third-party vendor goes out of business and the software goes unsupported or potential new system vulnerabilities that could result in having external access implemented.  But depending on the circumstance, this can be a good method of simplifying the application or removing legacy solutions from the application.  Additionally, it will generally require less fuss from staff to manage. 

Adjusting Operational Costs

Currently, pay-as-you-go subscription models are comparatively more ideal than lump-sum models over the course of years that are easier to replace.  This will especially come in handy when the new solution eventually becomes obsolete. 

Retiring Legacy Solutions

Software at its current pace is constantly evolving.  As innovation keeps pace and open-source software becomes incredibly popular, enterprise software just isn’t where it needs to be anymore.  Being able to purchase open-source software allows applications to refresh frictionlessly in a marketplace where developers can more easily find what is compatible with their systems.  For example, our services are also distributed through the AWS Marketplace.

How to Repurchase

Before making any new purchases, it is important to thoroughly understand the application’s own system requirements beforehand.  Typically, entries on the AWS Marketplace will have an extensive list of compatibility requirements, version options, and configuration options.  Any staff involved in finance and procurement will need to be aware of any decisions made on the Marketplace.  More importantly, security and operations will need to be fully involved to avoid creating any of the potential security risks mentioned previously.

Another potential concern is how any data held with the service that will be dropped can be ported over.  Plan in advance the necessary maintenance window that will be needed for this phase.  Running a test environment could also help significantly in securely carrying data over.