Enterprises have been adopting the cloud over the years. The COVID-19 mandates accelerated the pace of cloud adoption. The trend towards cloud migration continues as hybrid work gains ground and represents the future of work. Global spending on cloud strategy or cloud computing will grow from $371.4 billion in 2020 to $832.1 billion by 2025.

Side-by-side, the cloud ecosystem is also transforming and co-opting the latest technology. Cloud computing has attained the maturity level to deliver benefits beyond cost arbitrage. With a holistic strategy, cloud deployments drive transformation change and promote innovation.

Here are the key considerations to develop a holistic cloud strategy to derive the full benefits of the cloud.

1. Identify the purpose of the cloud deployment

The competitive advantages of cloud deployments are realized only through a holistic cloud strategy. Piece-meal shifting of applications and data to the cloud does not deliver the full financial benefit and ecosystem value. Pursuing cloud adoption at scale without a plan may increase cost and complexity for the enterprise.

• Have clarity on the direction and objectives of the business. For instance, a business may need the cloud to onboard new customers. Or it may require the cloud to streamline operations or anything else. Make sure the cloud architecture makes it easy to achieve such objectives. For instance, an enterprise bogged down with data centers, legacy applications, and fragmented processes would do well to set up a cloud-based data hub to consolidate data.
• Trace the gaps between the current capabilities and the ideal state vis-à-vis the business objectives. Work to fill the gaps. Transformation requires understanding the current state and evaluating the best way forward. For instance, a new cloud-based DevOps platform could accelerate time to market to save costs and enable innovation.
• Opt for industry-specific cloud platforms where available and relevant. Such custom cloud stacks come optimized for the industry. For instance, the supply chain of a retail business is different from the supply chain of a healthcare provider. An HVAC maintenance provider would require an entirely different set of resources.

4. Prioritize business needs

An effective cloud strategy enables the enterprise to meet customer demands seamlessly. It aligns with the business strategy and allows the enterprise to respond to the changing customer needs and desires.

Develop enterprise-centric cloud architecture with a top-down approach. Make sure the cloud deployment allows the business to:

• Launch new products and services with unlimited scale. Good cloud deployment allows for effortless handling of surges in demand and seasonal supply chain spikes. Disney+, Walt Disney Company’s streaming video service, launched in 2019, gained 60.5 million + subscribers by August 2020.
• Realize innovation possibilities. When needed, ensure ready access to the latest technologies, such as AI, Machine Learning, IoT, and blockchain.
• Launch personalized digital customer experiences. Consider Peloton, the in-home fitness company. The company leveraged the cloud to enable people exercising on stationary bikes to ride together virtually. In April 2020, the company supported about 23,000 customers through a streaming class powered by the AWS cloud.
• Make real-time adjustments to supply chains. Consider FedEx Surround, FedEx’s partnership with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. The offering performs real-time analytics and provides actionable information for better performance. Dispatchers may, for instance, adjust routes based on IoT data during inclement weather.

3. Get the cloud strategy approach right

Many enterprises see their costs rise after shifting to the cloud. The reason is failing to assess business needs and strategy well before embarking on the cloud journey.

There is no single best approach for cloud adoption. The best approach depends on the specific business need. 

• Do not go overboard with cloud adoption. Adopt the all-in-one approach of moving all workloads and applications to the cloud with extreme caution. Such an approach might be overkill and resource-draining.
• Consider the hybrid approach of moving some parts of the workload to the cloud to optimize cloud investments. This approach balances business benefits with regulatory compliance. The hybrid multi-cloud strategy takes the hybrid approach to the next level. Here, cloud migrations take place to multiple public cloud providers to reduce the risk of relying on a single provider.
• Optimize only when needed. Opt for lift and shift to reduce the data-center footprint in a time-bound manner. Lift and shift refer to moving applications in-house to the public cloud without optimisation.
• Consider a cloud-first approach. Deploy new applications in the cloud unless there is a good reason for on-premises deployment.
• Identify the workloads or applications marked for cloud migration. Assess the inter-dependencies of such workgroups, and sequence them for migration.
• Make sure cloud migration is within the budget. Scope creep is a big reason for cloud migrations going wrong.

4. Re-evaluate enterprise architecture

The cloud makes the enterprise agile, resilient, and flexible. But such benefits are realized only with corresponding changes to enterprise architecture.

• Enforce central oversight on enterprise cloud deployments. The ability to purchase resources from cloud vendors quickly leads to the fragmentation of cloud resources. Each empowered department or business function may sign up for various resources with different cloud vendors. The situation soon leads to shadow IT and data silos. The enterprise ends up spending on redundant cloud services.
• Re-assess tools and technologies. Many traditional tools that work well with in-house IT do not work with the cloud. Leveraging some benefits of the cloud requires deploying additional tools. Make sure the new tools integrate with the enterprise ecosystem.
• Re-assess IT governance policies. Make IT governance cloud friendly. Approach governance as guardrails rather than as restrictive loops. Here are the top security considerations for hybrid and multi cloud deployments.
• Relook service-level agreements. Ensure cloud providers implement robust security and fulfill the enterprise compliance requirements.

5. Relook HR

Do not ignore the HR element when embracing the cloud. Cloud migration may require an HR churn, bringing in new talent competent to manage the various facets of the cloud.

• Evaluate the skill-sets, roles, and responsibilities of the employees dealing with the cloud. Identify the gaps and offer training and development to bridge the skill gap.
• Hire new talent competent to leverage cloud possibilities. Enter outsourcing agreements if needed.

The cloud is fast becoming a de-facto model for enterprise infrastructure. The cloud is also a must-have for enterprise resiliency and adaptability. But several enterprises that embrace the cloud wholeheartedly that embark on a “cloud-first” approach do not have a well-articulated cloud strategy. A holistic cloud strategy makes the company purpose-driven and makes the business competitive.