When we think about cloud adoption, how do we identify its drivers? There are many, but if you’re an IT executive leader and measure on business Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that drive business performance, then you are going to want it to have a great impact on the business.
One of the primary questions and concerns organizations usually have is, “How can digital organizations drive growth?”
A main challenge that is holding businesses back is the so-called “talent pool” for emerging technologies. The pool will be inadequate to fill at least 30% of global demand, and effective skills development and retention will essentially become differentiating strategies. Having essential skilled talent in the workforce is vital for organizations wishing to unlock cloud services and use them for effective business growth. It is critical to invest in existing and new talented workers, as technology is only one dimension of any business. However, technology is what drives growth and secures one of the most valuable assets in the organization: data.
Identify + Document
Before starting on any cloud or digital transformation journey, a framework needs to be in place. Why? Because things will get way out of hand otherwise! How else would anyone be able to address concerns and deliver structure?
A framework is a standard way of identifying and documenting stakeholder objectives, views, and concerns by using a compressed model for addressing challenges and objectives. It also puts the talent into the stakeholder’s shoes to determine what will be impacted from their viewpoint.
So Where Do We Start?
It is essential to start with your organization’s vision and business objectives and determine the way to drive measurable increases and improvements to the objectives. You then can consider the enabler, which is technology.
Each cloud provider has its own Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), though they are all essentially interchangeable because each provider’s CAF is cloud-agnostic. Therefore, it is possible to use AWS’s CAF when migrating to Azure or GCP, for example.
The CAF will help the cloud adoption journey because:
- It is technology-agnostic.
- It can be used within different business units in an organization.
- It is based upon industry best practices.
- It develops effective and efficient plans for the cloud journey.
- It helps create an action plan.
The six guiding principles of cloud adoption that your organization should continually use are:
- People
- Business
- Operations
- Security
- Platform
- Governance
Final Thoughts
With all this being said, it is critical to use and develop talent and skills in the organization, along with a good change management policy and Cloud Adoption Framework. By doing these things, you can use cloud to transform and grow the business with positive outcomes.
