Cloud technologies are becoming more and more popular, and most companies rely on cloud solutions only – on-premises software keeps losing its market position and seems to leave the market as outdated legacy solutions. Nonetheless, many people still have little experience interacting with cloud solutions – some still have security concerns, even though practice and thousands of successful users have proven that this is nothing but a myth. Thus, we have written this guide to help you get rid of any concerns regarding cloud solutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world of business communications and overall business functioning significantly. Remote teams, lack of personal communication, growing trend,s and demand for digitalization and improvement of services made companies look for solutions that could help them switch to a new, totally digitalized world – and cloud solutions became a magic wand for such occasions.
So, what does cloud for business mean? How can benefit from using cloud solutions for business? What is cloud solutions for business?
Envision
Cloud technologies are the fastest-growing segment of the software market nowadays, and it seems to be the fastest-growing and evolving solution ever. Cloud solutions have resolved the biggest issue of on-premises solutions – costly maintenance and setup, which means they become affordable not only for large companies and enterprises but for small and midsize businesses too.
Why is it going this way? First of all, cloud solutions open new doors for developers and users that were closed before. What matters the most today? Time and resources, and cloud solutions help to save both.
For instance, such vital aspect of business functioning as integration between different business tools works much more efficiently and in time-saving manner than it was working with on-premise solutions. Building business infrastructure with cloud solutions means less expenses, but more outcomes – that is why those on-premises solutions that are still active are used either by legacy companies who have been using them for years or they are used by large enterprises that can afford wasting money on non-realistic advantages such as “data security”.
Execute
“Success often stems not from groundbreaking innovation but from impeccable execution,” states Naveen Jain, CEO of Infospace. The business case serves as the linchpin for leadership in determining the viability of green-lighting cloud initiatives, encompassing the anticipated value realization of cloud adoption in terms of total cost of ownership (TCO) and business value. It specifically outlines measurable outcomes related to cost, risk, productivity, agility, and innovation, facilitating data-driven decisions and garnering buy-in from stakeholders across the business for transformation.
The Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) emerges as a crucial facilitator for the focused and organized effort required for successful cloud adoption. This multidisciplinary team propels enterprise maturity by delivering repeatable, automated, and self-service cloud policies, best practices, training, and architecture. With senior leadership support, the CCoE becomes a transformative mechanism for the entire enterprise, capable of starting small and scaling as needed. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all CCoE structure, cloud-mature enterprises consistently establish one to expedite their cloud adoption journey.
In the pursuit of maturity, mature enterprises prioritize speed over perfection, avoiding analysis paralysis. Empowering teams to make crucial decisions, they establish incremental targets and benchmarks, adapting as necessary. Cloud deployments adopt an on-demand, pay-as-you-go model, fostering quick and cost-effective experimentation, allowing teams to learn by doing and embracing failure.
Distinguishing between outcome-based and activity-based delivery, mature enterprises align business and technology teams with customer needs, focusing on delivering products rather than projects. Organizing around products, they bring customer requests and requirements to the product teams, fostering a customer-centric approach.
Mature enterprises embrace agile design and build principles, delivering value incrementally and frequently. They avoid prolonged projects with significant upfront investments, leveraging cloud-native technologies for experimentation, flexibility, and incremental delivery. Cloud financials receive dedicated attention, with mature enterprises investing in continual spending optimization and implementing automated guardrails to detect and prevent unwanted spending.
With the shift to cloud services, IT operations in mature enterprises focus on higher-value activities, utilizing cloud-based tools for proactive issue prevention. Automation plays a key role in activities like patching, backups, replication, scaling, and data tiering. These organizations take advantage of fully managed services, allowing teams to concentrate on business value and innovation rather than managing internal IT operations.
Skills enablement becomes a strategic focus for mature cloud enterprises, with investments in developing emerging skills and cloud fluency across all organizational levels. Roles are defined for a cloud-enabled future, aligning existing roles with these definitions. Clear communication from leaders alleviates fear, uncertainty, and doubt during organizational transformation.
In assessing success, mature enterprises measure cloud value in business terms, incorporating KPIs for productivity, risk reduction, and business agility. Beyond tracking progress toward goals, these KPIs help stakeholders comprehend the value of cloud resources and investments. Baseline comparisons between pre- and post-transformation metrics, as well as industry standards, contribute to a data-driven evaluation of success.
Evolve: Final Thoughts
“Continuous improvement surpasses delayed perfection,” as stated by Mark Twain. In addition to crafting sound strategy and executing flawlessly, what distinguishes cloud-mature organizations is an unwavering commitment to continuous measurement and improvement. While a “lift and shift” cloud migration approach may provide speed, it often carries the burden of technical debt as a byproduct. Mature companies take a proactive stance, aggressively modernizing through the adoption of cloud-native technologies to fully capitalize on the inherent benefits of the cloud.
These organizations prioritize rigorous cost optimization efforts to both explain and control spending. Constant evaluation of new cloud services is a norm, fostering the development of innovative solutions. Self-service and automation become guiding principles for all initiatives, emphasizing efficiency and scalability. Metrics are systematically gathered and utilized to incrementally enhance capabilities, guiding decision-making processes.
Crucially, cloud-mature organizations benefit from unwavering leadership support and genuine collaboration among employees, fostering a shared understanding of the organization’s language and objectives. This collective commitment to continuous improvement positions these enterprises at the forefront of leveraging the cloud’s transformative potential.