Atlassian’s announcement to phase out its Data Centre products by 2029 has set the global technology ecosystem abuzz, sparking reactions ranging from concern to optimism. For Otunba Taiwo Ojo, Co-Founder of Alluvium, a technology firm with a growing footprint across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, the development is hardly surprising.
Speaking during a virtual session with Remotework News, Taiwo-Ojo popularly known as JAYTEE described the decision as a long-anticipated shift that aligns with Atlassian’s long-term strategy of becoming a cloud-first enterprise.
According to him, industry insiders had seen this move coming years ago, particularly given Atlassian’s strong emphasis on cloud adoption. He revealed that Alluvium, one of Africa’s foremost Atlassian partners, had already anticipated the shift and been preparing its clients for what he called the “inevitable migration.” His message was clear: the 2029 deadline is not a distant prospect but a call for immediate action.
“Alluvium had positioned itself ahead of this announcement,” Ojo explained, recalling how the company launched proactive initiatives years ago to ease the transition for its clients. He highlighted Cloud Connect, a pioneering event held in Nigeria, which educated enterprises across West Africa on the benefits of cloud technology long before Atlassian formally announced its data centre sunset. The event, he said, was a signal to businesses that change was not only coming but was inevitable.
The tech guru emphasized that while Atlassian’s decision has sparked anxiety among some businesses, disruptions in technology invariably create opportunities. Change, he argued, paves the way for dialogue, innovation, and value creation, particularly for companies ready to embrace new solutions. He urged businesses to approach the coming years with an open mind, focusing not on what is being lost but on what stands to be gained.
The Alluvium boss also highlighted that security was a major factor behind Atlassian’s pivot, explaining that cloud platforms offer stronger safeguards against cyber threats through centralized patching, vulnerability management, and continuous monitoring, capabilities often lacking in self-managed data centres. By shifting to the cloud, customers would benefit from a far more robust security posture.
Cost efficiency was another driving force. Ojo pointed out that maintaining on-premise data centres comes with significant hidden costs, including energy, hardware upgrades, and specialized staffing. Migrating to the cloud, he maintained, eliminates much of this burden, freeing resources for innovation and growth. “The financial logic is clear,” he stressed, insisting that businesses would save money in the long run while accessing more powerful features.
Equally crucial, he said, is the pace of innovation. With cloud platforms, Atlassian can roll out new features, updates, and competitive tools much faster than on-premise models allow. “Without innovation, companies risk becoming obsolete,” Ojo warned. “The cloud ensures Atlassian and its customers stay ahead in a highly competitive industry.”
Alluvium’s role, he added, is not simply to advocate migration but to walk alongside its clients as “co-pilots” in the process. The company, he said, works with customers to weigh the costs of action versus inaction, factoring in financial risks, security vulnerabilities, and operational inefficiencies. This, he argued, is the essence of Alluvium’s value proposition, offering guidance, validation, and tailored strategies for every stage of the journey.
He acknowledged, however, that regulatory and compliance concerns could slow adoption for some organizations. In response, Alluvium has been designing phased migration strategies and hybrid solutions where necessary, ensuring that even the most heavily regulated industries can transition without compromising their obligations. Ojo stressed that no client would be left behind.
The African context presents its own complexities. With over 50 countries, each with its own data residency laws, cloud migration is not straightforward. Ojo pointed out that Atlassian’s reliance on AWS and Google Cloud, which have limited infrastructure on the continent, could pose compliance challenges. Yet, he argued that the cloud could still offer African businesses better reliability than many local data centres, which often struggle with power and connectivity issues.
Alluvium has therefore been engaging directly with Atlassian to advocate for expanded data residency options tailored to African realities. He described local knowledge as a key advantage in bridging the gap between global technology providers and national regulations, as he hopes that Atlassian will prioritize flexible compliance tools to ease migration for African enterprises.
He therefore called on Atlassian to strengthen communication channels with customers and align its product roadmap with real-world requirements, identifying compliance-friendly features and migration-support tools as top priorities, stressing that smoother processes would encourage more organizations to make the leap sooner rather than later.
While much of the conversation revolved around large enterprises, he revealed that Alluvium offers special incentives, including over $30,000 in free Atlassian licenses for startups in accelerator programmes or with less than $10 million in funding. He described the initiative as an effort to empower young companies with world-class collaboration tools without the burden of high upfront costs.
For larger organizations, Ojo’s message was more urgent: start planning now. Those without regulatory barriers to migration, he said, should seize the immediate benefits of stronger security, cost savings, and rapid innovation cycles. Waiting until the last minute, he warned, could expose businesses to unnecessary risks and chaotic last-minute transitions.
The Alluvium co-founder promised that his company would remain a steadfast partner regardless of where clients currently stand in their migration journeys. “Our mission is to be co-pilots on this journey,” he said. “We will walk with every customer until they are fully ready for the future.”