SSIS to Azure Data Factory Migration: 50% Cost Reduction Case Study

A London-based global fashion jewellery brand was running hundreds of SSIS packages across multiple on-premises servers, a brittle and expensive infrastructure that could not scale. Numlytics delivered a complete SSIS to Azure Data Factory migration using Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime, achieving 50% infrastructure cost reduction, 80% performance improvement, and zero business disruption throughout the migration.

The Challenge: On-Premises SSIS at Breaking Point

The client's on-premises SSIS environment had grown organically over years, accumulating technical debt that made it both expensive and fragile. The business case to replace on-premises SSIS with Azure was clear, but executing a migration with minimal disruption required deep expertise in both platforms.

• Resource limits: On-premises servers could not handle increasing data volumes. Scaling required expensive hardware procurement cycles with long lead times.
• No centralised monitoring: SSIS package failures were discovered reactively, often hours after the fact with no automated alerting.
• Complex dependencies: Custom drivers, connection managers, and proxy configurations made packages difficult to migrate without specialist knowledge of both SSIS and Azure.
• High operational cost: SQL Server Agent job scheduling, on-premises server maintenance, and licence costs were a significant and growing burden.

The Numlytics Solution: SSIS to Azure Data Factory Migration

Numlytics selected Azure Data Factory with Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime as the migration target, enabling existing SSIS packages to run on Azure with minimal code changes while unlocking full integration with the modern Azure data platform.

1. 01
   Assessment and SSIS Package Inventory

   Numlytics catalogued all SSIS packages, dependencies, schedules, and data sources, producing a full migration inventory and risk assessment before any Azure work began.

2. 02
   Azure-SSIS IR Provisioning

   Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime clusters provisioned and configured, enabling existing SSIS packages to run on Azure infrastructure without full rewrites.

3. 03
   Package Migration and Validation

   SSIS packages migrated using SSMS Migration Wizard and Azure-enabled SSDT. Each package tested and validated against the original on-premises baseline to ensure data quality continuity.

4. 04
   Azure Service Integration

   Migrated pipelines integrated with Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure Monitor, adding monitoring, alerting, and lineage capabilities that did not exist on-premises.

5. 05
   Cutover and Decommission

   On-premises SQL Server Agent jobs cut over to Azure Data Factory triggers. On-premises servers decommissioned, delivering immediate infrastructure cost savings.

The Results

Technology Stack

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