How do we know when it makes sense to move or migrate to the cloud some specific LOB applications, some legacy IT solutions or even a core and strategic business?. Well, it is all about motivations, company challenges, future business outcomes and bring value related to cost savings or innovation.

Who is going to assume a change if it´s just a pain in the neck for the stakeholders or someone of them..?. You have to argue why it makes sense identifying the business challenges, the motivations to move to a public model and even a clear roadmap aligned with any stakeholder in this party if you don´t want blockers from the very first start. Remember the origin for AWS is to identify stakeholders and group them within the six perspectives we´ve mentioned before. (See first CAF post). Microsoft starts through guidance, tools and narratives based on previous experiences to shape the 3 strategies needed to prepare a plan that we´ve also mentioned before. (See first CAF post).

To do that AWS CAF use the envisioning step where you need to present solid basis to operationalize the responsibility of the digital transformation. You can do it with specific KPIs, metrics, or measurable benefits on business goals and outcomes. We need to strive for preparing interviews, collect data, analyze current IT solutions, processes and impact for each business area within the company. We need to determine how cloud technologies accelerate a positive change and provoke or inspire crucial advantages for the business goals.

Microsoft CAF call it business strategy as involves in the process several steps together…where once again it is crucial to identify motivations and business outcomes through the correct understanding of company´s processes, the current technologies and the stakeholders. But Microsoft goes one step ahead as they start to prioritize a first workload, a first project aligned with the previous analysis which provide a great value to determine if the public cloud covers the evolution that the customer is looking for.

To summarize we have collected a lot of information from people or stakeholders, from processes or justifications or motivations, we have identified business outcomes and goals to achieve. What comes next?..we are aligned to that comprehensive scenario with technology and we know then how to bring value to the company. Microsoft ask for the first workload to get somehow a prototype and validate technologies in the coming actionable plan. AWS ask for the same action or may be not depending on the scenario through a goal within the Envisioning step called demonstrate how technology will enable business outcomes.

AWS then moves to the next step called alignment. Here you got the blockers, all the concerns coming from the six AWS CAF perspectives, and we got all the answers to the questions we did and we´ve gathered from several stakeholders involved in the digital transformation.

We know how to face with the gaps and the interrelations and dependencies between business areas through the process flow. Then, surprise AWS start to create a comprehensive plan. (We will see in details how in the coming posts)

Microsoft prefer to drill down a bit their steps to create their plan tailoring on three parts: Digital estate, initial organizational alignment and skill readiness. Then prepares its own cloud adoption plan based on the information and analysis done on these small steps.

Related to the plan itself we have to remark some differences on the approaches of both cloud giants but we will address the plan´s stages in the next post and see how different roads lead to Rome.

Enjoy the journey to the cloud with me…see you in the next post.