Technology isn’t everything - what’s important when introducing cloud services

Transformation and innovation - sure, but how?

One of the main calls for the cloud is to promote and accelerate innovation. However, the introduction of cloud services is no guarantee that more innovative ideas will suddenly emerge and the latest processes or methods will be used. In some companies, the specialist departments take the lead and implement innovations and new value-added services with cloud technologies. In some cases, this happens on their own initiative without IT, as IT is often perceived as too slow, too conservative and not competent enough when it comes to the cloud. As a result, competence centers are sometimes created in the specialist departments in the form of shadow IT, which develops services that apparently cannot be provided by IT. IT then struggles to fulfill one of its main tasks - namely to ensure that IT security and governance are enforced. There are three ways out of this situation:

1 - Transform your IT from operator to partner and consultant.

The biggest challenge for IT is to take on the new role of active consultant and to be perceived as such by the specialist departments. This role requires employees who engage in dialog with the specialist departments, understand their needs and support them in the creation of suitable, innovative solutions, i.e. who have the “consultant gene”. In order for these requirements to be implemented in an agile manner, IT needs a cloud competence center that creates the architectures, builds the solutions and develops them further. In other words, making “products” out of them.

2 - Combine the broad expertise of your IT with the specialist knowledge of the business departments

To develop these solutions, the specialist knowledge of the business department is combined with the competence center of IT - a “joint development” approach. For example, IT develops and operates the cloud platforms and services, which represent basic services and on which other IT products are based, while the specialist department contributes specialist knowledge, e.g. in AI or data analytics. Applications are developed jointly in DevOps mode.

3 - Promote innovation through transparent, lean guidelines and governance requirements

However, all the great innovative ideas come to nothing if the rules of the game do not allow new technologies and approaches to be tried out. Therefore, the guidelines and governance requirements must be lean enough to ensure the greatest possible freedom with the best possible security. This works if there are areas on the cloud platforms where you can play and try things out without compromising security. And, in turn, the productive areas are protected in the best possible way, which is very well possible through clever architectures using the possibilities offered by public cloud providers.

Migration - yes, no or maybe?

“Which migration strategy is the right one?” I am often asked. My answer: “It depends!”. The decisive factor is what the target image of the cloud strategy looks like and what the company actually wants to achieve by introducing cloud services. Promote innovation? Reduce costs? Consolidate data centers? Less CapEx? More speed? Flexibly adapt IT services to fluctuating requirements? Clear investment backlogs? Implement upcoming upgrades?

These are all parameters that influence the migration strategy and must be evaluated individually for each company. There is therefore no one-size-fits-all solution, but always an individual approach that depends on the initial situation and the desired target state - as well as on how the company is set up internally (see points 1-3). The migration strategy is defined on this basis: Big-bang, cloud-first, opportunistic or selective migration. These steps are often accompanied and supported by external service providers in order to accelerate the transformation and migration process.

Conclusion

The introduction and use of cloud services has a significant impact on the company’s overall organization and way of working. The provision and operation of cloud services differs significantly from traditional infrastructures due to the dissolution of knowledge silos, product-oriented services, higher change cycles and more complex billing modes. IT and specialist departments are moving closer together and providing services jointly. This requires a transformation of the IT organization and the integration of business and IT.