Organizations making the move to the cloud often only focus on the data, infrastructure, and IT that will be impacted. However, the hardest part about cloud migration is the impact that it has on the people within an organization, according to Ronnie Scott, a Technical Solutions Architect with Cisco.
“When it comes down to it, the success of migrating to the cloud will often come more from how your organization works internally than it will what products you choose to consume or what cloud vendors you go to,” explained Scott at Cisco Live.
Scott has found that many of the issues the arise when organizations migrate to the cloud result from varying views on the cloud, the process, and the benefits of the technology. To remedy this, education is key at every level, from the security team to the operations team. “Training and education are critical. Everybody needs to know how this works,” said Scott. And then, they need to work together by building cross-functional teams for research, education, and analysis. “Take the right people from each team. Put them together and get them to meet every now and then,” explained Scott. “This way, everyone in your organization understands the process and their roles within it.”
With this foundation in place, Scott offered five tips for organizations of any level to make the migration process smoother.
Define Who You Are
“If you are going to go to the cloud, come together as a team, work out what we can do, set realistic targets, and decide this is who we are as a culture,” said Scott.
Define a Realistic Mandate
The Amazon mandate states that “all teams will henceforth expose their data and functionality through services interfaces,” and goes on to say that employees who do not do this will be fired. It’s best to find something that works for your organizational culture and stick to it.
Build a Process
“Take those mandates and create a process in the organization that makes it work,” explained Scott.
Define Your Priorities
“What are the areas and benefits we want to get out of our cloud? You need to work out why you are doing this,” said Scott.
Build a Sustainable Toolkit
“There are many tools and many applications you can buy, you can use, you can consume, or you can build for yourself, that will help you,” said Scott. Find them and use them.
