Looking for a strategy to prioritise your cloud capabilities? Use applications! Make it generic. Make it pattern-driven. Find out how.

This article is part of the limited preview of the “The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap”, a generic roadmap for any enterprise cloud adoption programme.

1. Executive Summary
2. The Cloud and Enterprises
3. The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap
   1. The Cloud Programme Roadmap
   2. The First Iteration of The Cloud Programme Roadmap
   3. The Unavoidable Disclaimer
   4. The Roadmap for The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap
   5. The Manual for the Missing Manual
   6. Building the Business Case
   7. Starting the Cloud Programme
   8. Iteratively Building the Delivery Pipeline
      1. Key Achievements
      2. Constantly Monitoring Dependencies
      3. Prioritising Cloud Capabilities By Applications
      4. Iteratively Identifying Patterns to Move
      5. Selecting Cloud Compagnon Applications
      6. Setting Up the Teams
      7. Avoiding Friction for Existing Processes
      8. Recording Outcomes: The Cloud Handbook
   9. Iteratively Executing the Delivery Pipeline
4. A Cloudy Future

Prioritising Cloud Capabilities By Applications

When using the contemporary mantra of “everything’s an application”, adopting the cloud in an organisation is equivalent to provisioning a platform that applications can eventually leverage.

This in return means providing platform capabilities in the cloud that the applications depend upon. While these “cloud capabilities” still need to be aligned with the broader objectives of the cloud programme and the organisation,

Applications leveraging the cloud can be used to drive its build-out.

While some of these cloud capabilities may already be included in the CSP offerings others may need to be provided by the organisation. Regardless of their origin, cloud capabilities still need to meet the corporate standards.

For most organisations, this means that additional work is required before cloud capabilities can be made available to applications.

A delivery pipeline containing a prioritised list of applications adopting the cloud also defines a prioritised list of cloud capabilities to provision.

The general strategies for prioritising applications adopting the cloud can broadly be categorised into

• Application Driven. Applications with a high priority are selected on an individual basis. These applications then trail blaze the availability of their required cloud capabilities. Applications using the same or a subset of the enabled cloud capabilities can then follow suit.
• Pattern Driven. Applications are first grouped by patterns. High priority patterns are then selected as adopters of the cloud and subsequently drive the corresponding cloud capabilities to be enabled.

Note that the difference between the two strategies is that in the pattern driven approach, all applications of a particular pattern are guaranteed to be able to adopt the cloud once the cloud capabilities for the pattern have been provisioned; in the application driven approach, the entire focus is on the selected applications.

Iteratively Identifying Patterns to Move

Find out more about it in the next article.

So, How Do You Prioritise Cloud Capabilities?!

While the above Worx for Me!™ when it comes to prioritising cloud capabilities, you may have an alternative or better way.

Think this is all rubbish, massively overrated, or generally heading into the absolutely wrong direction?! Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and teach me something new!

As always, prove me wrong and I’ll buy you a pint!