Organizations are turning to cloud adoption in larger numbers than ever. In fact, Gartner reported that 85% of organizations will be “cloud-first” by 2025. From the pressure to work remotely, reduce overhead costs, provide superior service to clients, and keep up with the competition, cloud adoption is central to almost any growth strategy.
Shifting to the cloud pays off for many companies: 61% of enterprises that integrated cloud as a part of their digital transformation increase revenue by at least 25%.
However, adopting the cloud—private, public, or hybrid—requires a learning curve. Organizations need to acquire the skills and knowledge to develop the processes for ongoing operations. Those who don’t often find their efforts do not increase revenue as they expected.
Here are 12 top practices you need to incorporate as you begin to use the cloud and make it part of your IT and app dev environments. The most successful organizations in their use of public cloud have all of these practices in place.
(Want more cloud stats? Check out these cloud stats & trends.)
1. Commit to cloud-first
Before you jump into implementing the cloud, have a clear idea of the advantages your organization can gain from it and why it is suitable for your business. Identifying concrete reasons you want to move to public cloud is critical for implementing an adoption strategy and getting everyone on board.
A cloud-first commitment means that your organization will move everything to public cloud unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. Organizations that try to hold onto their on-premises applications and data will find that the results are not what they would hope them to be.
2. Designate a Cloud Steward
A Cloud Steward is a designated person responsible for leading your organization’s cloud initiative. This role includes planning, migration, and ongoing cloud operations, such as optimization, governance, and security. In some instances, the Cloud Steward may also be responsible for the contract with your cloud service provider(s).
A successful Cloud Steward needs to have both IT and business experience. IT experience alone is not enough—a successful steward has a thorough knowledge of the practical applications of the cloud.
(Understand more roles in cloud computing.)
