Building A Cloud Native Foundation
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There’s no doubt about it, hosting workloads and data in the cloud is the new normal. The next logical step? Moving application development to the cloud as well.
However, transitioning to a cloud native strategy can be incredibly difficult and requires careful planning. With this in mind, we invited two cloud transformation experts to share best practices on building a foundation for cloud native architecture: Chris Ellis - Director, Nintex and Amin Talebi - Managing Director, SRKK.
Though, during their session they discussed a number of best practices and real-world case studies, they agreed that successfully migrating to a cloud native environment requires 5 key ingredients: Vision, Skills, Incentive, Resources and Action Plan.
To watch the FULL 20 minute session, simply sign in below. Or read on for a small taste of what was discussed.
Vision
The very first step on any transformation is vision. The creation of a, as Chris Ellis puts it, a “guiding light” that defines the initiatives key objectives. Ideally this vision will come from the top and ensures that everyone involved in the project understands what they’re striving for.
Skills
No matter how promising one’s vision is, without the right people with the right skills, successful execution will be impossible to achieve. “One of the things that we find is that when teams aren’t equipped with the right skill sets, it creates a lot of anxiety. You get a bunch of people pointing at each other, asking ‘are you going to deliver this, are you going to build this? Am I going to build this, I don't feel like I'm trained and capable to do that.’ So you need the right skills in place from the onset.”
Incentive
Resistance to change remains one of the most challenging yet mysterious aspects of transformational leadership. Despite all of the research and money poured into the topic, 70% of organizational change efforts still fail.
Convincing people to embrace uncertainty and “trust the numbers” will only take you so far. A more simple and human approach is to give them incentives. As Chris puts it, “Now, incentives could be monetary, they could be results based. But the point is to get everybody in a positive sentiment and get everybody working and moving in the right direction. Without incentives, it's going to be slow.”
Resources
“The next thing that we need are resources,” Chris explains. “We need knowledge as a resource. We need money as a resource, we need time as a resource. And we need people as a resource. We need all of these resources in place, even before we pick out the technology.”
In other words, before you select your cloud platform or iPaaS, make sure your organization is 100% aligned in terms of people, processes, finding and project planning. Otherwise people will likely get confused and frustrated.
Action Plan
Last but certainly not least, comes the action plan, a checklist or roadmap towards cloud migration success. As Chris put it, the “action plan can take many forms. We've seen people build them in Promap. We've seen people build them in, in project with Gantt charts and timelines and deliverables. But it's clear, it's central and it's properly communicated. And with that action plan in place, you can then and only then you have this recipe for serious change in moving to the cloud.”
However, that’s not all. Not even close....
To watch the full session and learn about how companies such as KFC are building a strong foundation for cloud native innovation, simply sign in above to watch on demand.
