“The only constant in life is change.” —Heraclitus
In conversations with executives, I often find that their transition to the cloud is more about transforming business practices and company culture than merely embracing new technology. To illustrate this, I’ve been developing a framework I refer to as the Stages of Adoption, which outlines the recurring activities observed in large enterprises that are reshaping their operations through the cloud. This framework represents an ongoing and transformative journey, aiming to equip executives with a structured approach to foster organizational change.
Initially, I labeled the fourth and final stage of adoption as Optimization. This term suggested that as organizations shift their IT infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud, the process of enhancing applications becomes more straightforward post-migration. While this holds true, I’ve realized that “Optimization” doesn’t fully capture the expansive possibilities that await organizations reaching this stage.
Typically, large-scale cloud migration projects are built on a business case that forecasts a desired outcome. For instance, during my time at Global Media Corp, we aimed to transition 75% of our infrastructure to the cloud over three years to achieve $100 million in annual savings. This objective appears to be common; many executives have shared similar goals, targeting a 75-90% migration of their IT portfolios within the next three years.
However, meeting these business case targets is just the starting point. Organizations embarking on this voyage also have the chance to continually reinvent their personnel, processes, technologies, and perhaps most crucially, their corporate culture. I often liken this journey to a relentless search for a “fountain of youth,” enabling businesses of all sizes to remain competitive in a swiftly changing market landscape. For context, since the Fortune 500 was established in 1955, between 20 and 50 companies have exited the list each year, largely due to technological advancements, with the cloud driving significant disruption.
To better define what we observe in organizations adopting cloud-first strategies while evolving their business practices, I am rebranding the final stage of adoption as Reinvention. This marks the beginning of a mini-series focusing on the transformations within companies that have migrated substantial portions of their IT portfolios to the cloud and modernized their cultures in the process.
The 4 Stages of Adoption: Project, Foundation, Migration, Reinvention
Throughout this mini-series, my team and I will explore the effects on organizational culture, share examples of businesses that have successfully reinvented themselves through cloud adoption, and demonstrate that migrating your IT portfolio to the cloud is merely the first step in unlocking further potential.
As a preview of what’s to come, consider this quote from an early cloud adopter:
“Our transition to the cloud at StreamFlix began in August 2008, following a significant database failure that halted our DVD shipments for three days. This incident highlighted the need to move away from vertically scaled, single points of failure, such as relational databases in our data center, toward highly reliable, horizontally scalable, distributed systems in the cloud. We selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) because of its extensive scalability and comprehensive service offerings. By early 2015, we had migrated most of our systems, including all customer-facing services, to the cloud. Since then, we’ve focused on establishing secure and robust cloud solutions for our billing infrastructure and managing customer and employee data effectively. I am pleased to announce that by January 2016, after seven years of diligent work, we completed our cloud migration, shutting down the last remnants of our data center! Many new systems were created, and new skills were acquired throughout this process. While it took significant time and effort to transition StreamFlix into a cloud-native enterprise, it positioned us favorably to sustain growth and evolve into a global entertainment network.”
—Jordan Lee, Vice President of Cloud Operations at StreamFlix. (Full quote here).
Jordan’s seven-year migration serves as both an instructional and inspirational example of how effective re-architecture can enable companies to maintain their competitive edge as the video streaming landscape transforms.
However, not all organizations mirror StreamFlix’s approach; many prefer a rehosting strategy, also known as “lift-and-shift,” to expedite application migration, allowing for easier optimization over time. I recently discussed the tension between re-architecting and rehosting in a post about six migration strategies, and I plan to delve deeper into this topic in my upcoming article.
Before concluding, I invite anyone who has led their organization through the stages of adoption to share their experiences. Other executives are eager to learn from your journey, and I would love to feature your insights on my blog. For instance, Taylor Grant, the CTO Lead for Cloud Initiatives at Global Insurance Group, recently shared their journey, and I know many more valuable stories exist. If you’re interested in contributing and showcasing your organization’s efforts, please reach out to me at alexm@amazon.com with your ideas, and we’ll help spread the word about your experience!
Keep innovating,
—Alex @alexm alexm@amazon.com
Note: “Reinvention” is the fourth (and ongoing) stage of adoption discussed in my Journey to Cloud-First Series. The first stage is “Project,” the second is “Foundation,” and the third is “Migration.” This series is based on best practices outlined in An E-Book of Cloud Best Practices for Your Enterprise. Stay tuned for more insights in this series.
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