Lessons Learned
Of the four stories we discussed, this insurance com-
pany did the best job of changing its culture to
accommodate a cloud initiative. The company set
reasonable goals and engaged with experts to help
plan out a project to meet those goals. It assigned
people to specific tasks and gave them the time and
expert resources needed to do their jobs well. Even
though the organization operates in a decentralized
manner, it set up a clear path to manage tasks, report
on process and escalate issues to the right people.
Being new to the cloud, the client set reasonable,
achievable goals and therefore accomplished them.
Even though this company’s cloud journey has only
just begun, it has set itself up for success. It has the
right processes and the right governance model in
place. It has also established a communication strat-
egy to frequently provide updates and share the suc-
cesses of its cloud program throughout the enter-
prise. It continues to transform its workforce culture
to adopt new ways of thinking and building agile
solutions while growing a cloud skills pipeline of
organic talent. And when new challenges present
themselves, this organization will be ready.
Get the Most Value from Your
Cloud Transformation
Every cloud project is different. Therefore, there are
no cookie-cutter approaches to success. But there
are best practices which companies can follow that
will help them deal with challenges that may crop up
along the way. The best move companies can make is
to be open to changing the way they operate, to align
with the needs of cloud projects. Take a step back and
plan. Support a culture of cloud learning and provide
opportunities for people to take on new cloud roles.
Open up new lines of communication to get depart-
ments thinking along the same lines. Understand
your cloud maturity baseline and then plan from
there.
Clients may be challenged by a lack of resources or
leadership support, but a transformation program,
coupled with a prescriptive approach from an experi-
enced partner, can help on all these fronts.
Cloud initiatives can be challenging to pull off. But
with a little ingenuity, the right people in the right
roles dedicated to the effort and a prescriptive meth-
odology, cloud initiatives can indeed succeed.
FALL 2018 | THE DOPPLER | 89