The Doppler Effect
In Q4 2017, we partnered with Cloud-
Health Technologies for their second
annual “Secrets of the Cloud Leaders”
report. To identify patterns of success,
we surveyed and conducted focus groups
with 550 senior managers involved in
cloud operations for global enterprises of
500 or more employees. All questions
centered around their organizations,
cloud operations and — most importantly
— how they were measuring their success
in the cloud.
We decided to compare the experiences
of those who are realizing value in the
cloud with those who are not so success-
ful. Upon closer examination, we were
able to drill into what these leaders are
specifically doing, and sometimes, more
importantly, what they are not doing.
What we found was that many cloud lead-
ers — even CIOs who are experiencing
success with their cloud transformations
— are still “missing it” when it comes to
measuring cloud success. Most respon-
dents understood TCO savings, but did
not have a complete grasp of their entire
ROI. Virtues that translate into more
intrinsic, yet greater, value were often
ignored. These include: reducing time-
to-market; uncovering new business
models and revenue streams; and even
improving an organization’s ability to
effectively recruit top talent.
Why? After deeper discussions with
these cloud leaders, we frequently found
that measuring these virtues often led to
internal debate with peers and therefore
caused them to fall back on more con-
crete and defensible TCO calculations.
These regularly resulted in contentious
discussions with business unit leaders
about who took how much credit for the
overall company success.
This approach is not only a bit lazy, it is
inherently dangerous.
Most CIOs intrinsically understand the
value of what it means to save a million
developer man-hours over the course of
the year and showcase their organiza-
tions as innovators. But their peers often
do not… and that is where the trouble can
begin. It is time to have the cloud discus-
sion with all key stakeholders in the orga-
nization, and redefine what true success
looks like.
For the long-term success of any cloud
transformation, we believe it is essential
for CIOs to understand, measure and
communicate the full ROI landscape, or
they risk disruption at the first sign of any
budget scrutiny. In our 10th edition of
The Doppler Quarterly, we discuss mov-
ing beyond using TCO savings for your
cloud justification. On page 82, CTP’s VP
of Global Delivery, Robert Christiansen,
outlines four alternative operational met-
rics that organizations should use to
benchmark their cloud success.
Success in the cloud requires a new way
of doing just about everything. It requires
significant effort to understand this brave
new world, but it is absolutely worth it.
Bruce Coughlin
Chief Executive Officer
SPRING 2018 | THE DOPPLER | 1