This is the final blog in a series around the subject of cloud transformation. The use of the term “transformation” in the title was a very intentional decision by the authors (Joel Thimsen & Victor Wolters) of this series. The desire is to send a message that adoption of cloud technology for any organization is a transformational activity. It is not just an incremental improvement. Once an organization commits to the use of cloud technology, it should immediately start planning for a major organizational shift. This planning should cover all parts of the business – not just the technology group.
One of the major reasons that many organizations do not see a significant improvement in overall velocity of change is the lack of planning upfront.
As this series of blogs has identified, the adoption of cloud technology will impact the full organization from top to bottom if it is implemented properly. Cloud technology has the ability to truly transform the way an organization executes business now and in the future. This same technology can help an organization become a technology driven business. This will allow the business to find completely new and more profitable ways to meet their target audience’s demands.
As we have covered in this blog series all of the following topics need to be given some consideration relative to an organization’s cloud transformation planning:
- Business drivers
- Cloud readiness
- Organizational impacts
- Potential CoE/C4Es
- Application migrations
- Beyond application migrations and infrastructure
- New application development strategy
- Lift and shift implications
The depth and breadth that any particular organization would need to apply to a single topic listed above will depend on many factors.
The following areas of influence will provide some guidance on which topics require more or less attention:
- Top priorities from the broader business strategy
- Executive leadership direction and guidance
- Urgency of need to transform the business
- Expectations around financial considerations like ROI, investment funds, and revenue impacts
- Overall organizational change velocity abilities
It is vital to have a trusted partner working with you to help keep things moving while the transformation is happening during any kind of major organizational shift. The challenge of keeping things moving in the current day-to-day operations while trying to change those same processes and tools is one of the main causes of failure. A solid partner who takes time to understand your business and the future transformed state is a KEY success factor.
The partner will have the time to gather the right information and quickly map out the change plans. This allows the current organization to keep moving while starting to understand the change plan. Finally, the right partner can help with the transition by providing key resources in all parts of the organization to act as change agents.
Perficient hopes you found this blog series helpful in your planning for your organizations cloud transformation efforts.
