It’s no surprise that to be successful at anything, you simply have to start. While this is easier said than done especially for large enterprise organizations, the goal of simply moving forward is sometimes enough for innovation.
Cloud adoption fits this example perfectly. For many leaders, the journey into the cloud is confusing, while others slide right in and hit the ground running. If your strategy describes the latter, check out our five tips below and plan on joining us for the Hybrid Cloud Innovation Tour, a free one-day event in Atlanta on October 11th where you can discover even more salient cloud adoption strategies. More information is below.
Tip #1: Get buy-in
Successful cloud adoption means buy-in from leadership and staff. Though cloud can be transformative, getting the right people on board ensures organizational harmony and retention. Developing training programs and transitioning slowly are some great points to start at as well.
Tip #2 Know your goals
With every business strategy undertaken, there need to be goals attached. Aside from following the buzzwords, migration into the cloud requires real strategic action that involve sitting down with stakeholders to determine viability. Among some of these approaches include:
- Addressing costs and knowing your cloud economics: Being able to approach your adoption strategy from assets will allow you to better understand how your contracts are signed or how features play into overall cost.
- Development of a Center of Excellence (CoE): In our work with customers, developing a Center of Excellence enables the design of best practices, accountability, and strategy. This also allows everyone from developers to managers to risk officers to have a say in how the organization adopts cloud solutions.
Tip #3 Develop a strategy
Now that you’ve gotten everybody together, it’s time to develop the strategy. This can include everything from:
- What assets currently exist that can accompany your organization into the cloud.
- What tools you’ll purchase to complement cloud adoption, including DevOps, innovation, and maintenance.
- How you’ll go-to-market in the long run with a cloud-first approach.
- Which leaders will be responsible for what as the organization moves into the cloud.
- How the organization will stay secure in the cloud.
Note that while you may create a strategy today, how it looks in a half year from now may be completely different. It’s perfectly fine to switch course as needed.
Tip #4: Create an Minimum Viable Product
So you’re excited and now it’s time to jump in. Wait!
While it’s compelling to hop in head-first, the better strategy is to move in slowly. Target easy-to-migrate applications that can serve as a foundation for the tougher assets later. Furthermore, having early wins will convince stakeholders and leadership that migration to the cloud is doable and get more staff on board.
Tip #5: Prepare for Scalability
Now that you’ve proven cloud can be a viable path for the organization, the next step is to scale up. This occurs in several ways:
- Automation: Explore what can be automated as you continue to migrate applications. Automation is favorable to manual processes as it reduces error and security vulnerabilities.
- Determine application viability: As you move your applications, categorize them into four buckets: Rehost, replatform, refactor, replace, or retire. Once complete, take action and make your way into the cloud.
Discover More
Is your organization moving into the cloud? Join us on October 11th in Atlanta for the Hybrid Cloud Innovation Tour:
Event Information
Tuesday, October 11th
9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Georgia Aquarium
225 Baker Street, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30313
If you can’t make it, download our hybrid cloud guide today and learn more about our Innovation Lab, a 6-8-week program designed to help innovative organizations migrate to the cloud, gain stakeholder buy-in, build a minimum viable product, and thrive.
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