Transforming Your Business: The Human Factor in Pursuing a Cloud-first Strategy

By Priya E. Abraham

Second in a series of three articles on SME cloud migration.

​In the first article of the SME cloud migration series, we established the benefits of the cloud-first strategy. In our second edition, we proceed to move from the why to the how. 

The increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions means that the internet is full of handy suggestions for the tools at the disposal of small businesses. For a recent overview, we’d suggest Techradar’s list of best small business software for 2020 as well as our own suggestions for secure remote tools from the beginning of the year. 
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The less talked about cornerstone of a successful cloud journey, is nonetheless the human factor in addition to the technical.

Human Factor in a Successful Journey to the Cloud

This comes down to transformation enablement - guiding your enterprise, its networked team and management, through the process of adapting their work behaviour in order to adopt new ways of working. ​

One of the main reasons behind the complexities of cloud migration is the lack of transformation enablement within the organisation which starts well before the adoption of new technology. Transformation enablement is a continuous process, which assists your organisation by defining more efficient ways of working and in proving the value the migration will bring to your team.  
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For instance, if an organisation wanted to encourage the adoption of a new cloud service, it might first communicate the purpose and benefits of the cloud service to its networked teams  and management through internal project marketing. It might then pursue training and further education with the people development team and only then develop an external communication strategy with the assistance of its marketing team. On the technical side, it would develop a Proof of Concept (PoC), which would outline the advantages of the migration to the technical team and gain buy-in from decision-makers.

Consolidating Your Transformation Enablement Action Plan

To ensure success in adoption of any new cloud project, decision-makers must be organised and communicate their needs effectively with their team. Here is a quick preparation list for decision-makers to keep in mind when collaborating with the transformation specialist: 
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• Sharpen the cloud strategy. Develop guiding principles for your enterprise IT cloud strategy. Analyse the key people involved in the journey across departments and support a common understanding of benefits from the cloud roadmap and support process to reach management buy-in.
• Align with your brand identity. Make sure your internal and external communication with regard to the goals of your cloud migration strategy is also aligned with your unique brand identity. 
• Engage the key people involved. Assign them as transformation agents that can disseminate the message in the organisation.
• Develop a common cloud glossary comprehensive for non-techies. It is important that everyone throughout the organisation can refer to the same terminology and speak the same language.
• Analyse the impact of the cloud strategy on existing job roles. Everyone on the team should be aware of what to expect.
• Describe potential skill gap. Develop an employee training plan to meet this gap. Identify relevant skills for future cloud operations.

Cloud migration, as any other substantial procedural transformation, requires getting every member of the enterprise on board with the project. Besides the technical how-to, it is therefore just as important to consolidate a strong internal strategy to ensure success in your cloud migration journey. 

Get in touch to further explore how this applies to your business specifically:

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