Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Accelerate Your Cloud Adoption Strategy

The pandemic altered the business landscape worldwide, changing customer behaviours with unprecedented restrictions, and transforming the ecosystem forever. While many believe the change was a long-time coming, the pandemic drastically accelerated it.

In April, Rackspace Technology® hosted a Cloud Innovation Day with Amazon Web Services (AWS). We welcomed leaders from across India to meet with us in Bengaluru for a deep discussion about unleashing the full potential of the cloud.

Customer discussions focused on the reasons behind the acceleration of their cloud journey, beyond merely exiting data centres, and why adopting a more cloud-centric infrastructure allowed for a more agile approach to business decisions.

"The companies who responded best to the pandemic are those who found themselves already on the cloud,” said Aamir Sait, Head of Enterprise Greenfield, India, at AWS. “Because their ability to adapt to the shift in demand meant scaling down or getting started with digital projects that could get them the required business impact was markedly different from those not on the cloud.”

As organisations pivoted rapidly to accommodate the changing work environment and remote working, it also warranted a rapid shift to cloud-based platforms and solutions. Most businesses that thrived during the pandemic have one thing in common – they were either on the cloud before or could rapidly shift to the cloud.

We know that the cloud is here to stay and growing. In our recent Multicloud Annual Research Report 2022, we surveyed 1,420 IT business decision-makers worldwide. And 56% of respondents can’t envision owning a data centre in the next five years.

Moving to the cloud is inevitable, with flexibility and agility proving essential to the modernisation of business operations. However, the accelerated cloud adoption comes with its own set of challenges.

Security and Compliance

The expedited adoption and implementation of cloud services in response to pandemic restrictions have amplified compliance and security issues. Managing data security and compliance is less about new security infrastructure and more about a cultural shift. While cloud computing offers increased security, you need to ensure you find the right service provider to handle your data. Many organisations remain in transition when it comes to the cloud. Better controls and end-to-end policies are the way to address this challenge.

Technical Talent

Managing your journey to the cloud requires skilled talent who can undertake this exercise efficiently. Organisations can either upskill their existing employees or hire from external sources. Many organisations invest in developing a cloud centre of excellence to broaden the employees' cloud skills. An experienced cloud service provider can assess your current and future business needs and identify skills gaps to overcome initial cloud adoption hurdles. For example, consider a more innovative sourcing for cloud services that’ll help you weather the talent drought.

Clear Objectives

IT can be a significant contributor to the company's performance when aligned with the business strategy. However, in haste to migrate to the cloud, some enterprise companies have taken the quickest path without a clear plan. To optimize your cloud migration and adoption, you need to hire experts who can help align your organization's technical and non-technical goals to achieve better business outcomes.

IT teams need to demand a front seat at the table, with the Chief Information Officer’s role growing more prominent. Technology strategy and investments are critical business decisions for leaders, and rising investments in cloud technology indicate that the companies are transforming themselves into modern digital organisations. 

Solving Together™

Rackspace Technology will partner with you to deliver the expertise you need, so you can avoid common pitfalls and accelerate your return on investment.

What will you’ll get:

• A uniquely optimized planning and financial analysis built on business context and user requirements.
• You’ll receive expert direction for a pilot migration execution, creating program confidence and momentum.
• Our experts will create stakeholder alignment, a migration baseline, and a strategy that balances interests between the business and IT.
• We identify workload dependency to enable a risk-mitigated strategy on migration grouping and wave plan.
• We’ll provide your business with on-demand access to a consistent team of highly skilled cloud engineers and architects – called a Pod – who collaborate with your teams to drive better business decisions.

Cloud is even more important for businesses today as we enter a time of recovery and the 'new norm.' However, success is dependent on the implementation of correct cloud services and the right partner on your journey.

Get started today with a cloud readiness assessment to evaluate where you are in your cloud journey and get insights to align your technology strategy with your organisation’s goals.