For many businesses, digital transformation rightly means moving their technology from on-premises to the Cloud. The benefits of migrating to the Cloud are numerous: cost savings, flexibility, mobility, insights, greater collaboration, immediate access to the latest software, improved disaster recovery, to name but a few.
But just moving existing workflows and business strategies to new digital channels is not enough to drive transformative outcomes. The cloud should not be viewed as something additive, it should be viewed as a foundation for how business is done more efficiently and effectively.
To achieve this, you need to be Cloud Smart. Cloud Smart is about putting data where it is of most value and also where it’s most accessible and usable. It’s about seeing the Cloud as your new ‘business space’ where converged technologies support your new workplace and ways of working.
Here are some of the key considerations for any business looking to be Cloud Smart:
Embrace the Cloud as the home for your business
Moving to the Cloud is not just another investment in technology. The Cloud should be viewed as the new foundation for how business gets done. It should transform virtually all aspects of an organisation, creating new ways of working and unlocking new business potential. This new potential comes from embracing automation and innovative technologies such as machine learning, creating new relationships directly in the Cloud and developing your own tech-led solutions in the Cloud.
Use automation to drive and scale process change
By driving automation of Cloud infrastructure, businesses can build resiliency within their systems. Security and access can be automated, enabling clients and third parties to self-service access to tools, information, and services. This in turn can accelerate collaboration and partnerships.
Ensure that your move to the Cloud gives you agility
The Cloud gives businesses the ability to connect internal capabilities with those of external partners, and to act and change more flexibly and responsively. This enables a business to innovate more quickly and to respond rapidly to new market opportunities. A Cloud native company has the agility for both internal adaptation and adapting with partners it can connect with in the Cloud.
The Cloud must enable you to unlock the power of your data
Moving to the Cloud enables businesses to overhaul their entire data strategy. Integrating all of their data into a smart storage in the Cloud, automating the entire data journey, applying advanced analytics to unlock critical insights and using machine learning to identify key trends and opportunities.
Migration to the Cloud might be led by the CIO and the technology team, but it is for the benefit of everybody in the business. Leaders should embrace the Cloud not as digital transformation but as business transformation. That’s being Cloud Smart.