Most cultural changes in business like agile, DevOps and the shift from Mode 1 to Mode 2 IT practices cannot be achieved without cloud. However, to harness positive results from public cloud, clearly defined objectives need to be agreed up-front by all stakeholders before beginning migration.
This is according to Darren Bak, lead business analyst for Synthesis, speaking at the ITWeb Cloud Summit 2018 yesterday in Midrand. Bak said it is important for organisations to note that the cloud journey is not only an IT conversation, but it requires business objectives.
"If you want to move to the cloud, you need to define not only the IT objectives, but business objectives with actual business outcomes. Migration to cloud is more about a cultural transformation, than it is about IT transformation. Once you get the IT and business people to buy in together, you will have a basis towards all the decision that happens after that.
"Do not migrate to the cloud just because it's a buzzword."
Having an effective business case and the process required to create it can help companies remove friction for adoption of cloud as well as identify the key stages and costs of cloud adoption, Bak noted.
He pointed out that a cloud business case is made up of migration costs, total cost of ownership, cost optimisations and value benefits.
However, Bak said value benefits is the most important part of a business case because it gives a company a much more well-rounded perspective on the cloud journey.
He said the best approach to cloud migration is moving something that has intrinsic business value to the company and using that as a proof of concept when speaking to executives, said Bak.
A lot of people often try to use workloads that are safe and have no business value, he added. Take South African businesses for example. They are still fairly cautious about moving their ERP systems to the cloud - they are moving non-essential stuff like e-mail and CRM solutions, says Rudi Strydom, enterprise architect for Imperial logistics.
However, he believes the more mature they become with cloud use, the more comfortable they will be with what they move to the cloud.
There are complexities in wanting to move to the cloud and organisations need to have a firm strategy in place, noted Strydom. "It's not a wake up in the morning and move to the cloud type of situation."
And there are a number of questions a company should ask itself before it decides on a cloud journey. "That is: where and how should the organisation consume cloud computing services? Where and how should the company implement private cloud environments?
"How will we secure, manage and govern across hybrid environments? Also, how does cloud computing factor into our application strategy and architecture? Are there opportunities for the business to become a cloud computing service provider to others?" The mutually agreed reasons [between IT and business] need to be the reason for cloud migration, he added.
Strydom also pointed out when moving to the cloud an organisation should take into consideration governance and security - what information it wants to move to the cloud and how do you secure it.
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