2 Jul 2026
Move PaaS and OnPrem customers to SaaS
As Akeneo accelerated its transition to a SaaS-first business model, I designed and led a strategic program to migrate legacy PaaS and On-Prem customers to SaaS while protecting recurring revenue.
The Challenge
Migrating €10M+ of ARR without breaking customer trust
A few years after I joined, Akeneo expanded its product offering with two cloud deployment models alongside its existing On-Premise solution: PaaS and SaaS.
Within a few years, nearly 60% of recurring revenue was coming from SaaS subscriptions. However, around 40% of ARR still relied on legacy On-Prem and PaaS deployments, creating operational complexity and slowing the company's SaaS-first transformation.
To fully embrace a SaaS operating model, Akeneo decided to progressively sunset its legacy deployment options.
Many customers had heavily customized environments, strict security and compliance requirements, and concerns about changing the way they operated. Akeneo partners and integrators also needed to adapt their implementation practices, while Akeneo's Product team had to close functional gaps that prevented some customers from moving.
I was asked to design and lead a company-wide migration program that would align Product, Customer Success, Sales, Professional Services, Partners and Leadership around a shared strategy, while minimizing customer risk and securing recurring revenue.
The Approach
What I did
Designed the migration strategy
I started by analyzing our entire installed customer base to understand ARR, deployment models, technical complexity and migration readiness. Based on this assessment, I segmented customers into tiers and built a strategy to focus on highest-value accounts first.
Turned customer insights into action
Working closely with Customer Success, Support, and Product, I identified the main blockers and barriers to SaaS migration and captured recurring objections from customers. These insights helped prioritize product improvements, refine our migration approach and anticipate customer concerns around security, compliance and change management.
Enabled customer-facing teams
To ensure consistent execution, I created migration paths, playbooks, messaging, executive presentations and enablement materials for Customer Success, Professional Services, and Partners — helping every team clearly communicate the business value of SaaS while confidently addressing objections.
Led cross-functional execution
Finally, I established the governance of the program, coordinating Product, Support, Customer Success, Sales, Professional Services, Partners and Leadership. Through dashboards, executive reporting and regular steering committees, I tracked progress, removed blockers and aligned priorities across teams throughout the program.
The Outcome
Results
€10M+
ARR migrated to SaaS in the first 18 months
50+
Enterprise customers migrated
40%→20%
Non-SaaS revenue reduced to below 20%
🏆
Akeneo's internal Program of the Year award
Key Takeaway
No transformation is too complex when people are aligned around a shared objective.
When we launched this program, migrating more than €10M of ARR to SaaS in less than two years seemed incredibly ambitious. With a clear strategy, shared priorities and great execution, even the most ambitious programs become achievable.