Sky High: More Thoughts To Consider Before Transitioning To The Cloud

In our previous blog, I talked about the essential factors that a company must consider in leveraging cloud resources to accelerate their goals. The objective here is not just about putting some of the workload in the cloud; rather, it is about realizing the transformation adopting cloud technologies will bring about. In particular, it is more important to think of the cloud not only as a set of infinitely scalable services and resources but as the underlying technologies and best practices that can be adopted as a framework for your software architecture in general. While I don’t mean to belabor the point, adopting the cloud in a manner where it can truly unlock operational efficiencies and leverage its advantages is truly an organizational change.

Business strategy

You’re unlikely to see the phrase “we want to use cloud more” in any organization’s strategic plans. However, the cloud can play a strategic role in expediting innovation; optimizing and reducing IT costs; helping a company meet the scalability demands required as new services, products or markets are launched; and making data accessible and actionable across disciplines in the organization. The cloud can assist with predictive maintenance, supply chain transparency, testing, quality, process automation and smart manufacturing. The chart from Accenture below captures the broad areas where the cloud can be leveraged easily in support of an organization’s goals (Fig 1).