Cloud Adoption Journey

Sergio Rojas

As many companies embark on their digital transformation journey to the cloud, making sure that both business and IT are aligned at every step of the way is easier said than done. 

My past work helping organisations through their journey to the cloud has given me a good insight into the most common challenges that organisations face. I think that the AWS CAF (Cloud Adoption Framework), properly applied, is an excellent reference to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud. Although the framework was originally developed by AWS, it can be applied in my opinion to any transition to the cloud regardless of the supplier chosen.

In this blog, I will discuss how the framework provides organisations with a clear methodology and toolset to set out on their ‘Cloud Adoption Journey’. I will also highlight the key points that in my opinion make the framework a useful reference when transitioning to the cloud.

The framework provides a structure for business and IT to work together towards common strategy, vision and implementation, supported by modern IT automation and process optimization.

In order to do so, it looks at 6 key areas that need to be taken into consideration when making the transition to the cloud. 

Here’s an AWS CAF Action Plan template, which enables you to develop an efficient and effective plan for your unique cloud adoption journey and represents how perspectives and capabilities link together:

What it will help you to do

Based on my experience, the cloud adoption framework will help you transition to the cloud for the following reasons:

It encourages the need for stakeholders at any level of the organisation to get involved in the cloud journey

One of the most common misconceptions I have come across in the past whilst working with organisations is that transition to the cloud only concerns the technical team. This, whilst absolutely necessary, brings up new challenges such as cost control. 

It provides the foundation to take the steps to put IT working for the business and build a digitally driven strategy

I have seen (and still see) many cases where the business needs a family car but gets a Formula One and vice versa. The cloud provides tools to measure KPIs so you can ensure that there is a strong alignment between your organization’s business strategies and IT goals. AWS CAF establishes processes and guidelines to use the tools provided by the cloud.

An example of this is Zaizi’s Digital Transformation in a day which is a service created by Zaizi and its partner Fluent Interaction designed to help you accelerate your digital transformation plans. This service is based on CAF principles and uses cloud tools combined with Fluent’s expertise in User Centred Design and Zaizi’s expertise in service development and integration to deliver the following outputs:

It highlights the need for change in the processes and especially the mindset of the organisation

The Cloud brings agility as well as a wide set of features that can bring great benefits for the business. However, your organisation will not be able to benefit from them without the right mindset and processes.

An example of this is quality assurance/testing. The Cloud enables organisations to execute quality assurance and testing processes in a more agile way that addresses some of the challenges of traditional testing including:

Organisations require a transformation in the processes, mindset and skills to shift from the traditional approach to the agile approach.

Zaizi’s TaaS (Testing as a Service) is a service for delivering high-class end-to-end testing capabilities for your digital service or solution. TaaS provides the tooling as well as the expertise to help your organisation to shift from the traditional to the modern way.

It elaborates how important skills are and provides a guide to fill the skills gap

With the introduction of cloud the skills needed in the organisation changes. The CAF provides a guide on how to provide new training for your current employees and highlights the necessity to change HR processes to recruit the skills necessary in the organisation to benefit from the cloud.

Last but not least, it is a framework based on years of experience

Albert Einstein said, “Experience is the mother of science” and I totally agree with him. The CAF is a result of years of experience of AWS and partners such as Zaizi helping organisations with its cloud adoption. In fact, the framework has been modified based on feedback from partners, customers and AWS teams to improve clarity and consistency and to better facilitate prescriptive guidance.

Zaizi has been helping organisations with digital transformation and cloud adoption for years. 

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