By Dipanjan Saha, Head of Managed Services, EPAM Systems, Inc.
Cloud mastering is a complex multifaceted journey but achievable. It means optimising all aspects to ensure maximum value for each penny of cloud investment. There are a few critical and fundamental aspects of cloud mastery. Achieving this can help enterprises drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and gain competitive advantage.
Cloud center of excellence
A successful cloud mastery strategy begins by establishing a roadmap with clear objectives. This involves decisions like choosing the right cloud partner, prioritising migration-ready applications, and defining success metrics. The Cloud Center of Excellence provides this organisation-wide blueprint to navigate cloud complexity.
The Cloud Center of Excellence comprises members from varied domains. Each domain plays a strategic role in formulating and executing the company’s cloud strategy. For example, information security professionals handle security measures for IT assets in the cloud and implement access controls. The finance professionals are responsible for setting cost goals. The risk and compliance experts help navigate the ever-evolving regulatory landscape. Human Resources aid in talent acquisition, skill transition, and the implementation of training programs. The governance team oversees strategy adherence, security, compliance and optimal utilisation of chosen cloud services.
Enterprises cloud strategies may vary depending on several factors, but a Cloud Center of Excellence is important for all. This is so because leadership and management in the form of strategy and governance are necessary for building a continuous cloud journey. A Cloud Center of Excellence ensures strategy alignment with the technology employed. Without it, there is a risk of budget overruns and legal and regulatory challenges.
Aiming for cloud-native architecture
Cloud complexity prohibits enterprises from fully embracing its capabilities. A key to unlocking the true potential of the cloud lies in cloud-native architectural principles.
Pluggability, replaceability and scalability are the keys to championing and accelerating the adoption of cloud-native principles. Pluggable, scalable and replaceable components in enterprise computing can continually evolve through agile development. Additionally, adopting a cloud-native architecture provides access to the latest innovations offered by cloud providers. A firm can leverage this to gain a competitive advantage.
Data: A strategic component for cloud mastery
The cloud offers the possibility of extracting insights from data at a rate that was incomprehensible earlier. Strategically choosing the right data management solutions in the cloud can significantly contribute to business value. The selected technology should support all use cases, ensuring a secure position for future applications. Prioritising a speedy and secure transition along with flexibility is crucial.
Seamless integration of cloud data with advanced services can provide potent solutions for evolving business requirements. For instance, NoSQL Databases provide low-cost storage for vast unstructured and semi-structured data. Microsoft Power BI or Salesforce Tableau offers real-time visualisation of rich databases. Using technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning for cloud data unlocks capabilities like predictive analysis and end-to-end visibility.
Developing digital immunity
A secure foundation is required for developing an enterprise’s strong digital immunity. This entails various aspects like safeguarding against hackers, disaster recovery strategies, and designing robust systems. Enterprises employ the defense-in-depth approach for protection against hackers. It means that every element of an IT environment should be built robustly and securely. For this, a few practical strategies include employing AI-powered firewalls, System Information Event Management, strong identity authentication, antivirus tools, vulnerability management, and teams of ethical hackers for simulated attacks.
The cloud can be a powerful asset for building backup systems and disaster recovery plans. These are critical to combat potential data center failures caused by an event like a storm, fire or electrical outage. Focusing on resilience is equally important and extends beyond robust software. Resiliency means addressing every possible failure and threat in securing and maintaining the availability of systems, data and networks. For example, failures in services like firewalls and content distribution networks might be rare but are plausible. Architects must consider such possibilities and design systems to withstand them.
Building the right workforce
Continuous transformation driven by cloud computing requires enterprises to cultivate a new breed of IT professionals. This necessitates organisational change encompassing employee engagement, streamlined operations, talent management and real-time financial oversight. Companies need new levels of employee engagement supporting clear and transparent communication about future goals, areas of improvement and available resources.
Clear directives make employees more likely to adapt to changes, enabling them to align with the ever-evolving company’s cloud strategy. Streamlined processes are critical for supporting agility. An enhanced talent management process is needed, defining clear career paths aligned with the contemporary job roles of the digital era. Training programs tailored to help employees with their professional growth and incentives are also crucial. Continuous monitoring of cloud operations is essential as part of real-time financial management. It enables companies to identify opportunities for optimising costs.
Driving innovation through strategic partnerships
Navigating cloud complexity can slow down enterprises by inhibiting progress, hindering innovation, and escalating costs. The co-development approach with the right cloud partner can be instrumental in addressing these challenges. Partnering with experienced firms expedites migration, reduces inefficiencies, and accelerates productivity. These aspects not only help navigate complexities but also catalyze innovation. In addition, the co development approach combines partner expertise with in-house talent. This helps
mitigate time lost in talent retention and reskilling during migration. With time and cost
inefficiencies reduced, partnered teams can innovate together.
