slideshow: mastering the fundamental five

Slideshow

MASTERING THE

FUNDAMENTAL FIVE

What are the business objectives driving your

organisation's move to the cloud? Are you

looking to better compete in the digital

marketplace? Get products to market faster?

Improve customer service?

FUNDAMENTAL 1: ALIGNED STRATEGY

MAPPING THE CLOUD MATURITY CURVE

Registered Name: The Economist Intelligence Unit, NA, Incorporated

Once you know your destination, you can

optimise your approach to the cloud to ensure

you get there.

FUNDAMENTAL 1: ALIGNED STRATEGY



Eurostar, the London-based rail operator, focused

its cloud effort on improving the customer

experience with the goal of boosting loyalty,

recommendations and sales. “We are all about

providing the best travelling experience in

Europe. We try make it an effortless experience,”

says Antoine de Kerviler, Eurostar’s chief

information officer. “It’s all about speed with the

trains, and it’s all about speed when we deliver

[digital] services.”

FUNDAMENTAL 1: ALIGNED STRATEGY 4



Business units often push hard for progress, and

sometimes IT departments resist their pressure for

new tools. This situation can lead to "shadow IT",

the introduction of new technologies by

employees without IT involvement or approval.

Yet organisations need centralised IT

departments to ensure their approach to the

cloud is strategic, economical and secure.

FUNDAMENTAL 2: ORGANIZATIONAL

HARMONY



The most effective CIOs help create

organisational harmony by retooling how the IT

department works with the rest of the business,

often facilitating cooperation through regular

meetings with business leadership or by

establishing cross-functional working groups.

Together, IT and business representatives can

then consider how cloud technologies might

support business imperatives.


HARMONY 6



“Not only does cloud change how IT is delivered,

it also changes the way that the business

performs. It’s also a human change, not just a

technology change, and you need to have that

balance in play as well and work on building that

IT-business relationship,” says Dr Richard Sykes,

chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum.


HARMONY 7



Not long ago employees were accustomed to

highly structured work environments and better

technology at work than at home. But all that has

flipped now. Today’s employees—led by

millennials and other employees who thrive on

connection and digital content—expect and

demand both flexibility and office technology

that is as powerful, simple and social as what they

have at home.

FUNDAMENTAL 3: DIGITAL CULTURE 8



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“It’s important to think about the role of people in

driving the adoption of cloud computing....

They’ve been getting a wonderful experience

[from Apple and Google], and they’ve been

getting exactly what they need,” said Barry

Jennings, of law firm Bird & Bird, at a September

2014 conference. “Employees’ expectations of

what technology can do have risen, [and] that’s

put pressure on IT departments within

corporations to deliver those benefits.”




The rise of the digital-savvy will shake many

organisations and change their cultures forever.

During this transition time, organisations will need

to take proactive steps to help people adapt to

change and ensure that their emerging and

existing workforces work together. Education,

training, incentives and competitions can help.




Once business and cloud strategies are in

alignment and employees are prepared to

execute them, companies will want to revisit and

perhaps redesign their underlying technology

infrastructure to ensure it supports their mission

and goals. This effort is often presented as

requiring an either-or choice between private

clouds and public clouds, though it is seldom the

case.

FUNDAMENTAL4 : DYNAMIC

INFRASTRUCTURE 11



That redesign should involve practical technology

choices that respond to a company's particular

needs and capabilities and its current business

requirements. Most organizations need to protect

existing investments even as they add more

flexible, up-to-date systems.


INFRASTRUCTURE



"With the cloud, if you don't like a provider or it’s

not working out for some reason, you can decide

to change it, which we actually did do with an

HR provider," says David Jack, chief information

officer at Hyperion Insurance Group.


INFRASTRUCTURE 13



Companies must also ensure that their approach

to the cloud and data supports corporate needs

and will not run afoul of the authorities. That’s not

always easy. While companies can often assess a

provider’s security credentials, correct

compliance with data-protection law is often

confusing and open to interpretation.

FUNDAMENTAL 5: GOOD GOVERNANCE 14



“Lawyers are often not brought in at an early

enough stage,” says Kuan Hon, research

consultant at the Cloud Legal Project at Queen

Mary University of London. “You need to consult

at an early enough stage” for legal counsel to

protect your company from taking on undue risk.




Organisations must take effective measures to

ensure the prudent management of digital-era

risks. Bottom line: Successful cloud adopters

approach cloud technologies with strategic

seriousness. Their cloud strategies support their

business strategies. They create organisational

harmony and cultural cohesion, make practical

infrastructure choices and ensure good

governance. They have a mature approach to

the cloud that sets them up for success.




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