Deciding that cloud adoption is what’s best for your enterprise is a positive first step toward digital transformation; however, transforming to a cloud-based infrastructure requires more than just an understanding of the technology. It’s important that as you proceed, you understand the best practices in cloud adoption and how to overcome the common barriers associated with the process.
Follow These 7 Cloud Adoption Best Practices
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Define The Cloud. Before you can begin the process of moving to a cloud environment, you must first determine what the cloud means to your enterprise based on your needs and goals. Whether you view the cloud as automated virtualization on premises, using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or using the native capabilities of public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud provides a different operating model for IT where infrastructure becomes code and functions become fully automated.
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Determine Why The Cloud Is Right For Your Enterprise. One of the biggest obstacles enterprises face in the cloud adoption journey is acceptance by their people. To help you gain the confidence of your team and encourage this culture shift, it’s imperative you outline and share the reason why deploying cloud-based infrastructure is the right choice. Before you begin cloud initiatives, openly discuss the hidden issues and fears, understand and agree on the desired outcomes, and establish a shared vision. For example, are your security and governance groups involved at an early stage? People are more willing to accept change when they know why it is being introduced and how it will help them.
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Is The Timing Right? Even if you know moving your enterprise to a cloud-based infrastructure is the correct course of action, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do it right now. From pre-existing vendor contracts to internal changes, there are many reasons why waiting to proceed with your cloud adoption journey is the best call. To experience the greatest deployment success, you need to ensure your enterprise is in a sound spot operationally and financially to handle the changes that lie ahead. Remember, this transformation will have an impact on all aspects of the organization.
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Establish A Cloud Business Office. Power inevitably comes with great responsibility. Once you decide when you will begin your journey to a cloud-based infrastructure, the next thing you need to establish is a cloud business office (CBO) that will direct and guide the decisions and communication for your cloud programs. Think of it as a governing body.
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Understand Your Cloud Economics. While this may appear to be an obvious part of the process, more than 50% of enterprises don’t take time to thoroughly evaluate the business case for moving forward with cloud adoption processes. To fully understand the cost of moving your enterprise to a cloud-based infrastructure, you need to look beyond the hard costs of ownership to the soft costs – quantify intangible benefits such as the impact of productivity and faster software cycles.
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Execute Well. Transformation takes time, so don’t worry about boiling the ocean right away. Turn your burners on low and pick a few areas to focus on as you begin your cloud adoption process. Once you know what you are going to concentrate on first, don’t be afraid to hire a partner to aid your team. One barrier to successful cloud adoption is having the right people in the right places throughout the deployment. Your IT team is focused on the mission-critical programs that support everyday operations; let someone with the skills, time, and knowledge do the heavy lifting of the transformation to cloud-based infrastructure. It is not about “Us vs. Them.” There is plenty of work for everyone!
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Keep Learning. The cloud is all about agility, lessons learned, and additional improvements. Whatever applications, operations, or services you end up migrating to the cloud, make sure you foster a company culture of continuous learning to keep getting the most out of your cloud adoption journey.
Ready To Move Your Enterprise To Cloud-Based Infrastructure?
Avoid the common barriers often faced in the cloud adoption journey; contact WEI today to find out how HPE can be your partner in moving to a cloud-based infrastructure.
Next Steps: Download WEI’s executive brief titled, “Between OpEx and CapEx: Creative, New Ways to Fund IT” to find the middle ground between CapEx and OpEx.
