Building the business case for a Databricks migration

A migration is approved on value, not technology. Here is how to build a case your CFO will sign.

By NeuralShore EngineeringPublished October 14, 20261 min read

Cover illustration: Building the business case for a Databricks migration

Short answer

A Databricks migration business case counts the full cost of staying (licences, peak-sized infrastructure, maintenance, delayed projects), the full cost of moving (conversion, overlap, training), and the value of new outcomes such as real-time fraud detection or Genie. A short assessment turns these into numbers based on your real workloads.

Key takeaways

Include the cost of staying, not just moving.
New outcomes often outweigh savings.
Start with a fixed-scope assessment.

Technical teams often know a migration is overdue. Finance needs a clear case before approving it.

Count the full cost of staying

Licences, support and hardware renewals.
Infrastructure sized for peak demand.
Staff time spent keeping old jobs running.
Projects delayed because the platform cannot support them.

Count the full cost of moving

Assessment, conversion and reconciliation effort.
Running both platforms during the overlap.
Training and change management.

Add the value of what becomes possible

The strongest cases include new outcomes: real-time fraud detection, Genie for business users, or document AI for claims. These often outweigh infrastructure savings.

Start with an assessment

A short, fixed-scope assessment gives you an inventory, a wave plan and a cost model based on your real workloads. It turns a vague ambition into a decision.

About the author

NeuralShore Engineering, Databricks delivery team

Databricks architects, data engineers and AI engineers at NeuralShore, DLytica’s Databricks delivery company. Leadership comes from IBM data and AI architecture.