Agile Cloud Transformation

Cloud adoption: strategies for maximizing potential

Many organizations are adopting cloud technology to optimize cost efficiency, flexibility, scalability, collaboration, global accessibility, and security. According to a Gartner study, global revenue from public cloud services is projected to reach $917 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4% . However, a significant number of organizations are struggling to maximize the potential of the cloud, facing challenges in adoption and implementation. Despite leading cloud organizations articulating clear strategies, multinational enterprises often lack the skills and talent needed to scale cloud transformation beyond the initial migration phase.

1. Value-oriented approach to overcoming ineffective governance

Challenge: Cloud transformation requires effective governance for a value-oriented and cross-functional technology strategy. Without clear governance structures, teams may underperform, affecting development speed and quality.

Solution: Deloitte advocates for a balanced approach between speed and quality during transformation, utilizing the shared responsibility model and agile practices of SAFe. This approach enhances team interaction, streamlines communication, and cultivates a culture prioritizing responsibility and compliance.

2. Application onboarding and enablement instead of just lift and shift 

Challenge: Simplifying the complexity of legacy stacks is crucial for reducing high operation and maintenance costs. Migrating to the cloud through a simple "lift & shift" strategy may relocate issues without resolving them.

Solution: Deloitte’s proposal involves building a migration team that offers comprehensive solutions, including automated and manual migration, target technology strategy development, and pre-migration preparation. This approach reduces operating costs, simplifies maintenance, and streamlines processes.

3. Gradual shift to agile methods to overcome resistance to change

Challenge: Cloud transformation requires not just technological change but organizational transformation. A 'big bang' approach can overwhelm enterprises, reducing performance.

Solution: Deloitte recommends a gradual introduction of agile methods, effective change management, alignment and synchronization of the organization, and setting different planning horizons. This ensures a balance between planning and implementation, avoiding obstacles in the cloud transformation journey.

Deloitte’s adaptation of the shared responsibility model

Deloitte's adaption of the shared responsibility model is a strategic tool for streamlined cloud transformation, emphasizing a clear understanding of security roles and informed decision-making. The model puts forward four distinct layers, with each layer granting the next one as much freedom as possible and as much security as needed.

• Cloud Service Provider layer: Represents providers like AWS or Azure, and offers complex platforms while managing cloud infrastructure, data centers, and security services
• Foundation layer: Provides centralized services for all use cases, including connectivity, security, and enablement. It establishes a consistent, scalable, and developer-friendly environment with standardized services such as account provisioning and monitoring.
• Platform layer(s): Built upon the foundation layer, it includes domain-specific platforms tailored to areas like after-sales and marketing. Assistance is provided to develop and deploy these platforms, ensuring compatibility with overall architecture and addressing specific domain needs.
• Application layer: Responsible for creating and enhancing applications, ranging from microservices to machine learning. It emphasizes application onboarding, migrating legacy applications to the cloud, guiding IT architecture, and supporting cloud-native approaches for continuous optimization.

Deloitte’s take on Agile @ Cloud Transformation

Deloitte recommends implementing its tailored agile model through SAFe to achieve a robust, value-driven process structure for cloud transformation. The model includes agile teams, product owners, and scrum masters to ensure cross-functional collaboration and value delivery. Each layer within the shared responsibility model includes specialized teams responsible for specific tasks, such as the Cloud Service Provider layer providing strategic guidance, the Foundation layer managing the core infrastructure, and the Application layer supporting migration efforts. The Platform Release Train leadership is in charge of the overall cloud transformation vision and roadmap, emphasizing coordination and prioritization, while enterprise application teams temporarily join the SAFe organization during migration and participate in program increment plannings.

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