How to migrate to JSM Cloud without breaking your Ops
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How to migrate to JSM Cloud without breaking your Ops
Stephen Laurin
AP Matthews
Published on 28 July 2025
3 min read
Stephen Laurin
AP Matthews
Published on 28 July 2025
3 min read
What Vera Bradley’s clean-slate approach teaches us about low-risk, high-impact ITSM migration
Migrating your ITSM platform—especially to the cloud—can feel like a high-wire act. You’re balancing legacy complexity, business continuity pressures, and stakeholder expectations, all while trying not to break what’s currently (barely) working.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
When Vera Bradley, a nationally recognized fashion and lifestyle brand, decided to move away from its legacy ITSM platform, they faced all the usual risks: peak operational demand, complex workflows, and a highly customized existing system. What made their migration successful wasn’t just the platform they chose—it was how they approached the transition.
Step 1: Rethink the migration mindset
Many organisations treat ITSM migration as a one-to-one system swap: replicate old workflows and customisations in the new tool, then flip the switch.
That mindset often leads to expensive delays, missed opportunities, and worse—carrying over the same inefficiencies that made you leave in the first place.
Vera Bradley took a different route. They partnered with Adaptavist to start fresh, implementing Jira Service Management (JSM) Cloud using a greenfield approach. By resisting the urge to rebuild legacy complexity, Vera Bradley laid the foundation for a modern, agile ITSM capability—one that could grow with them.
When it was originally implemented, we put a lot of customisations in there which made it difficult to have it be malleable as our processes changed.
Ashley Harman
Senior Manager, PMO, Vera Bradley
Step 2: Build around functionality, not familiarity
A successful migration means letting go of what’s familiar in favour of what’s functional.
Working with Adaptavist, Vera Bradley focused on core use cases first—incident, service request, change—and aligned them to ITIL best practices using out-of-the-box features wherever possible. Instead of rebuilding workflows just because “that’s how we’ve always done it,” they streamlined, standardised, and leaned into the native capabilities of JSM Cloud.
Adaptavist was willing to be that thought leader and show their expertise on Atlassian tooling to really make sure we were not just thinking in the now.
Ashley Harman
Step 3: Reduce risk with parallel testing
To minimise disruption, Vera Bradley ran JSM Cloud in parallel with their legacy platform. This allowed them to validate automation logic, ticket flows, and SLA tracking before making the switch—ensuring continuity for both corporate and retail users.
This parallel approach helped them avoid downtime and ensured operational readiness for go-live.
Step 4: Build internal capability from day one
Many organisations go live with a new platform, only to find themselves dependent on external support for every change request.
Vera Bradley avoided this by embedding training into the migration plan. With guidance from Adaptavist, they established a Centre of Excellence—empowering their IT team to own workflows, make changes, and evolve the system independently.
The result? Confidence, not just compliance.
Because intentional training time was built in... it went so smoothly. We had all that knowledge for how to make this tool work best for us.
Ashley Harman
Results that prove the model
- 50% reduction in ticket triage time
- Unified service desk across corporate and retail
- Integrated knowledge base and SLA management
- Internal teams managing the platform post-launch
Final takeaway: migration doesn’t have to be disruptive
The Vera Bradley story proves that with the right approach, ITSM migration can be a launchpad for transformation—not a roadblock.
Start clean. Keep it simple. Enable your people. And choose partners who can help you think long-term.
Talk to us about your JSM migration goals
Written by
Service Management Practice Team Lead
With extensive experience in business consulting, Stephen has assisted organisations of various sizes in implementing and improving service management practices. He excels at navigating complex implementations in the Atlassian ecosystem, with a primary focus on practicality and efficiency.
Principal Marketing Manager, Strategic Solutions