There are many roadblocks along your journey to digital transformation. Following the guidance from the Cloud Adoption Framework closely is essential when undergoing your cloud migration. While the Cloud Adoption Framework helps make cloud adoption easier, there are still several missteps that can lead you astray. In this article, we’ll briefly review the Cloud Adoption Framework, the main missteps made during the strategy and planning phases, and we’ll also provide some quick remedies to easily avoid these mistakes.
A Review of The Cloud Adoption Framework
Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure was developed as the One Microsoft cloud adoption approach. It consolidates advice and guidelines from Microsoft professionals and customers throughout the industry into one best practices guide. It shares the full lifecycle framework with detailed tips and information. If you want to learn more about the Cloud Adoption Framework, check out our previous article on the topic here.
In this article, we’ll be going over cloud adoption antipatterns. Antipatterns are missteps that occur during the cloud adoption process, usually in the design, planning, or implementation stages. They are often blockers that prevent organizations from reaching goals and achieving innovation. Next, we’ll cover common cloud adoption missteps that occur in the planning and strategy phases and how to avoid them.
Cloud Adoption Framework diagram provided by Microsoft.
Common Cloud Adoption Missteps During the Strategy Phase
The strategy phase of the Cloud Adoption Framework looks at documenting business strategies and outcomes from your organization so that key stakeholders and your team members have a clearer picture of what’s going on. Two main antipatterns can take place during this stage of cloud adoption: inadequate motivation and misaligned motivation.
Inadequate Motivation
When an organization adopts the cloud without clear or well-defined goals in mind beforehand, many issues often follow. It’s hard to measure project performance without predetermined indicators of success. If a company announces cloud-led strategies without thinking through what that actually entails, it doesn’t truly give them the benefits of cloud adoption.
Organizations can avoid this simple mistake by defining their goals and KPIs before embarking on their cloud adoption journey. In doing this, measures of success become more clear and project success also becomes replicable.
Misaligned Motivation
Sometimes cloud adoption plans can fail when motivations are misaligned or not properly communicated within a company. For example, if a business sees a benefit in a specific cloud adoption strategy but does not share that with the rest of the organization, other departments have a more difficult time onboarding these strategies and implementing them.
This issue can be mitigated by clearly outlining and sharing reasons for specific cloud adoption strategies with the entire company. It creates a cohesive environment within the organization that allows for those strategies to be built upon successfully and with ease.
Common Cloud Adoption Missteps During the Planning Phase
The planning phase of the Cloud Adoption Framework looks at taking the goals formulated during the strategy phase and turning them into a tangible plan. This cloud adoption plan can then guide teams to stick to the strategies they came up with previously, as well as helps to prioritize cloud adoption motivations. There are three main antipatterns that often take place during this stage: wrong operating model, wrong service model, and replacement instead of modernization.
Wrong Operating Model
In choosing the wrong operating model issues such as misunderstandings, extra pressures on the IT department, and more can ensue. This is due in part to the fact that the operating model is not lining up with the company’s priorities and goals as defined in the strategy stage.
One way to mitigate this issue is by comparing models with your current operating plan before switching over. By analyzing the pros and cons of each model and weighing the benefits, it will be much easier to find the right fit. To learn more about comparing cloud operation models, read this guide from Microsoft.
Wrong Service Model
It’s important to properly look at and understand the differences between a PaaS and IaaS service model. Some may assume that a PaaS service model is more cost-efficient but that’s not always the case, and making this assumption can sometimes lead to product delivery delays, unexpected cost increases, and more.
The best way to avoid this issue is to minimize disruption to your business at the beginning of the cloud adoption process. Using IaaS and gradually adopting a PaaS model will allow for less disruption and will also give your team some time to gain cloud adoption skills.
Replacement Instead of Modernization
Replacing large and complex products or application environments is a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly. Yes, it’s true that working in old, complex architecture landscapes is far from ideal and can lead to delays and issues. But completely replacing these systems is often very costly and involves many risks.
Instead, looking at modernization as an option is a better alternative. Small, persistent changes to your systems can often have a bigger and safer impact than completely switching your software. As well as this, it’s often quicker and usually much cost-efficient.
What’s Next?
This blog article is the first of a four-part series focussing on common cloud adoption missteps. Follow along with us to learn about some common errors in the next stages of the cloud adoption framework.
Many organizations find it beneficial to work with a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) when undergoing cloud adoption. Read our article on the benefits of using a CSP here.
If you’re interested in having Optimus as your CSP, you can reach us at this email: info@optimusinfo.com
