The cloud is changing the business landscape. But it’s also a once-in-a-generation opportunity for enterprises. Don’t be left behind!

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
   1. Cloud is Part of the Future
      1. The Advantages for Cloud Companies
      2. The Opportunities for Traditional Enterprises
   2. Cloud is Hard
   3. Cloud in Highly Regulated Industries is Even Harder
3. The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap
4. A Cloudy Future

Cloud is Part of the Future

It’s early 2021 and while the cloud may no longer be the hottest topic on the market, the platform’s capabilities, impact, and pivotal place on the business roadmap have been thoroughly demonstrated in the past months.

The Advantages for Cloud Companies

Companies that embrace the cloud are able to scale their business with unexpected exponential customer demands (or cliffs) and thus seize serendipitous opportunities. They are able to significantly shorten or even entirely skip extensive capacity planning, lengthy procurement cycles, or prolonged technology refreshes.

Instead, they leverage elastic cloud resources that scale with their business needs — not the other way around. Thereby, shifting capital expenses to operational expenses as a side effect. And all that at the click of a button. Or even better: a fully automated process!

By ingraining cloud into their corporate DNA, these “cloud companies” are also able to leverage cutting edge technologies and industry standard solutions. Thus, not only outsourcing large parts of the undifferentiated heavy lifting to the cloud service providers (in short: CSPs) but also tapping into the vast open source offerings built on and around these platforms.

This also allows these “cloud companies” to attract, hire, and retain a diverse workforce with transferrable skill sets.

Make no mistake: The cloud is levelling the playing field for technology-first businesses. All those leveraging it, are able to play in the same league as the technology titans — as long as they can pay the bill, that is.

Entire businesses are now “born in the cloud”. They never physically own a single server and all their hardware is already in the hands of their very capable workforce. Yet they serve the world and are very healthy organisations.

The Opportunities for Traditional Enterprises

But what about traditional enterprises that are not in the cloud yet? Those who still have an on-premise footprint? Those who can move certain parts of their business to the cloud but haven’t started yet?

Cloud is a once-in-a-generation opportunity (and epic transformation programme of the same magnitude) to redefine the capabilities of modern corporate technology. Unlock additional business. And thoroughly put technology at the forefront of it.

In combination with other organisational transformation programmes, the cloud is also a golden opportunity to evolve into a technology-first business. Rather than remaining a business that happens to use technology. Before eventually being marginalised by a disruptor.

So, with marketing departments spreading the message that cloud is easy and seemingly everyone in the industry is doing it as well (or is keeping suspiciously quiet about it), the real question becomes

How hard can it be to get a business to the cloud?!

Well. Let’s start by removing some common misconceptions.

Cloud is Hard

Find out more about it in the next article.

So, How Do You See the Cloud?!

While the above Worx for Me!™ when it comes to the role of the cloud in the future, 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!