6 min readLegacy data warehouses are no longer excusable for global enterprises. The limitations they cause are hard to ignore. Slow queries, rigid architectures, and costly maintenance make it clear when a system has reached its breaking point.
Modern teams feel this every day: analysts waiting hours for refreshed reports, engineers patching performance issues instead of improving the platform, and decision-makers relying on outdated information because the data simply can’t move faster. That’s usually when the conversation about EDW (Enterprise Data Warehouse) modernization begins.
A modern cloud EDW on Amazon Redshift offers a way forward. It gives companies the flexibility, scale, and reliability that older platforms were never designed to deliver. And the path has already been proven. Lyft, for instance, grew from a small startup into a global brand with Redshift at the center of its data ecosystem.
EDW modernization is a practical step toward systems that support growth instead of limiting it. And for many organizations, AWS Redshift is where this transformation starts.
KEY BENEFITS OF MODERN CLOUD EDW ON AMAZON REDSHIFT
Modernizing an enterprise data warehouse brings several practical benefits. One of the main advantages is cost efficiency. Traditional on-premise systems often require expensive hardware and software licenses, and maintaining them can slow down teams. Moving to a modern cloud EDW on Amazon Redshift reduces these upfront costs and lets companies run their data warehouse more cheaply while handling larger workloads. In other words, investing in EDW modernization delivers measurable ROI by cutting costs and improving overall efficiency.
Integration is another major benefit. Older systems often need complex processes to combine data from multiple sources. With Redshift, companies can query large datasets directly from AWS S3 without first transforming or moving the data. Analysts can quickly build accurate datasets, and teams can store data in a central repository for future use. This makes it much easier to connect different sources and keep data flowing smoothly. For organizations transitioning from on-premise setups, Redshift simplifies the process of moving and organizing data in the cloud.
Simplicity is also key. Redshift is designed to deploy, scale, and manage quickly. Many routine tasks, like system monitoring and maintenance, are automated, so IT teams can focus on supporting the business rather than keeping the system running. For companies looking to migrate an on-premise data warehouse to AWS, this ease of use makes the move faster, safer, and less disruptive.
FINANCIAL SERVICES EDW MODERNIZATION CASE STUDY
SoftServe is an early adopter of Redshift and has over 170 AWS-certified architects and developers ready to tackle complex data challenges.
One of our clients, a Boston-based financial services company, manages over $100 billion in investments across private and public equity, venture capital, credit, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. With operations spanning multiple sectors and regions, their teams were struggling to keep pace with the constant flow of data from global trading.
The challenge
Every day, millions of transactions passed through their systems. The legacy mainframe could only refresh data during low trading hours in the US, which meant that analysts were working with information that was hours or even a full day out of date. Reporting was slow, decision-making was delayed, and the company knew it needed a partner to help modernize its data environment and make insights faster and more reliable.
Our approach
SoftServe stepped in to guide the company through their first AWS project. We started by testing different solutions in proof-of-concept trials, exploring both standard and custom approaches. By leveraging Redshift Spectrum, AWS S3, Lambda, and CloudFormation, we built a modern, flexible data environment that could handle their high-volume, around-the-clock transactions.
The results were transformative:
- 50% faster data processing, allowing teams to access up-to-date insights almost in real time
- Modernized full stack development, creating a scalable architecture ready for future growth
- Data quality assurance guidance, ensuring accuracy and reliability across all AWS technologies
This project is a perfect example, showing how a legacy system can be turned into a modern cloud data platform that is faster, simpler, and more efficient for the business.
HOW REMOTE EDW MODERNIZATION ASSESSMENTS WORK
For more than 26 years, SoftServe has been delivering services to clients remotely, and EDW modernization is no exception. The first step in any enterprise data warehouse modernization project is an EDW modernization assessment, which helps companies understand their current environment and plan the most effective path forward.
Our remote assessment covers several key areas:
- Architecture assessment and analysis to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement
- Migration patterns and best practices workshop to guide how data moves from on-premise systems to the cloud
- Dependencies analysis and use case prioritization to focus on the most critical workloads first
- High-level design of the target Redshift environment to ensure a scalable and efficient setup
- Modernization planning, including recommended actions, cluster configuration, and cost estimates
Amazon Redshift offers high performance and cost savings, running up to three times faster than other cloud data warehouses and at roughly half the cost. By combining SoftServe’s expertise with AWS technologies, companies can accelerate modernization while keeping it cost-effective.
Whether your organization is new to Amazon Web Services or has existing experience, our structured assessment and planning process helps ensure a smooth, efficient move to a modern cloud EDW.
Let’s talk about where you are in your enterprise data warehouse journey and why tens of thousands of customers rely on Amazon Redshift for modernizing their data platforms.
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