Cloud Transformation – You Already Know How to Do This
Those who have been in business for a long time are familiar with the transformation road to cloud technology. Though you haven’t traveled this specific road, it’s all déjà vu – flashbacks to the transformation roads for mainframe to PC, PC to Web, and Web to IoT devices. A common denominator on any of these roads is this – people fear change.
Step 1 | Understand Cloud Transformation Is Not Just About The Technology
Thus, your journey to cloud transformation begins, as with the other roads, at step 1, the four stages of change within yourself:
Suspicion – You don’t believe the hype. You question if this new technology will save all kinds of time and money, let alone give your business a competitive edge.
Denial – You’ve researched this technology. It will take boat-loads of time, effort and money and might not work in the end. Management will never buy-in.
Fear – You’re not an expert in this new technology so there’s a decent chance you could screw this up, or they’ll think you’re completely crazy either way, they are going to replace you.
Hope – You hope you made the correct choice and that you’ll still have a job when it’s over.
Hope however is not a strategy, so now what? It’s time to step out of your own head and understand exactly what this transformation entails. Fortunately, history has taught us something about these transformation roads; you need a strategic road map, plan, budget, training, patience, and a large helping of empathy.
Understand that this is not just a technology swap, but a cultural shift within the organization. Everyone is affected – think cloud contracts, cloud marketing, cloud sales, cloud development, cloud support, cloud technology, cloud business strategy. People fear change and will need time (and maybe help) as you did to adjust.
You also know as a hard, proven fact that this transformation will not occur in days, weeks or even months. Cloud transformations must happen in strategically planned steps (and a few bouts with Murphy’s Law) over a long period of time. Understanding the breadth and depth of this transformation impact is step number 2.
Step 2 | Planning Your Cloud Transformation
Now it’s time to get management to say yes and put budget behind it. Here you need to answer a very simple but loaded question – What’s in it for the business? Link your organization’s business objectives to this cloud transformation. Document how this move will benefit the business strategically, financially, and competitively, including expected ROI from the transformation.
Management will want to see your strategic roadmap including a budget, roles, milestones, and contingency plans. They will also want to know how employees, customers, and other stakeholders will benefit from the move. Remember people fear change. Executives fear risky moves that may negatively impact the bottom line.
Step 3 | Select Your Cloud Provider
Next up, selecting a cloud provider. Vendor selection is tricky business. This cloud provider will be your business partner going forward. Your transformation success is greatly influenced by your selection. Sound familiar? It should.
As with any vendor selection you first need to do your homework. Each vendor’s offering is compared against your list of requirements. It is imperative you get clarity on your requirements in the following areas:
Technical
Service
Security
Data Governance
Service Management
Cloud providers may be experts in cloud technology, but you’re the expert in what your organization requires to do business successfully.
Step 4 | Cloud Migration
You’ve made your selection. It’s time to get migrating. But how? You’ve reached an unfamiliar part of the transformation road. Fortunately, most cloud providers have guides, training, and information at the ready, for free and for pay, to help lead you through this part of the transformation as well as get the most out of using their platform.
For example see AWS Cloud Transformation Maturity Model, a paper that not only outlines the steps to actually transitioning to the cloud, but as a launching point for all things cloud that you may need along the way and after. Be sure to take full advantage of all your cloud provider has to offer here. Remember people fear change. The more you know the more you will be able to ease the transition for others.
Step 5 | Organize and Optimize Information
As with any transformation, the devil is in the details... well, in this case, it’s Murphy. But, you can only document so much before you are overwhelmed with spreadsheets, dashboards, charts, workflow diagrams, and confluence documents, sometimes to the point of paralysis.
Yet, the details are where transformation projects succeed or fail.
Finding the balance between too much information and not enough is the challenge. For cloud transformations, you need leaders with strong project management skills. They don’t necessarily need to be technical people or the top decision-makers. They must be proven leaders that excel in organizing information, motivating people and driving projects.
Step 6 | Involve The Entire Organization in Cloud Transformation
Everyone needs to participate in this transformation, therefore it is imperative that you listen with the goal of understanding. Having been down similar roads before, we know knowledge lives everywhere in the organization, especially in the brains of those who perform key tasks that keep the business moving.
These are not all technical people, but they do have something to contribute. Just because the sentence starts with “But this is the way we have always done it…” doesn’t mean they don’t have something valuable to tell you about their workflow, the data and services they need, and the workflows of others they touch every day.
When people believe you are actually listening to their thoughts and needs they will provide more constructive feedback, be more understanding when setbacks occur and help where they can to get things back on track.
As we know from past trips down the transformation road, there is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all solution, the road is not always smooth and while we may all be on the same road, it is somehow still unique for each of us. Experience also tells us that planning is the key to success, empathy is the key to momentum, and Murphy is there to make sure everyone is still paying attention.
