projecting from a move to the cloud. What is your budget? What is your time frame for
entering the marketplace? How much do you expect to save through efficiencies, and/
or generate in terms of revenue? You can make some projections based on assumptions
aligned with your own particular industry. For example, an oil and gas company might
project out a cloud-driven business scenario based on the price of oil staying at $50 a
barrel. If the price drops below that, the whole project will have to be rescoped.
Based on the answers in the business section of the Manifesto, leaders can determine
how to set up the cloud-native environment. But before all the services can be ordered,
the leader needs to incorporate answers from the technology and people sides.
Technology
Cloud implementations do not exist on their own, separate from the rest of the organi-
zation’s technology capabilities. They dovetail with existing tools, processes and
resources. So, it is critical to ask detailed questions about what is optimal and what is
possible on the technology side. For example, what tech stack is your organization
using? Are you currently deploying on-premises, in the cloud or in a hybrid IT environ-
ment? What dependencies does your application have? What is your development pro-
cess, agile or waterfall? And how automated is it? If you are in an industry with stiff reg-
ulations, for example, where the FDA requires you to validate all changes before
anything goes out, you should think twice before making heavy investments in technol-
ogy tools and processes. You can streamline the development of apps, but it might be
hard to speed up the release schedule.
People
The people function deals with more than just the number of people hired and the skills
they will need to succeed in a cloud environment. You have to develop plans based on
where you are getting your people, whether you are hiring new resources or retraining
experienced staff, and how self-sufficient you will want the teams to be. What is the
strategy to educate existing workers about the impacts of a radically altered release
schedule? Are certain groups more likely to resist than others? Are you trying to reduce
vendor lock-in, or are you willing to go deep with a cloud vendor? That will influence
whether you need specialists on more than one platform, and how teams working on dif-
ferent technology sets will interact with each other.
Conclusion
Cloud native computing is a big step for organizations to take. The ones who are serious
about implementing change are all in on the concept, but they may underestimate the
impact it will impose on the organization. To succeed, they will not only need to prepare;
they will first need to dig deep and figure out how to prepare. They will have to ask the
right questions – and get help from a partner who has been through the process.
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