From the factory floor to the accounting department, businesses are adopting cloud computing as a way to lower operational costs, increase productivity and speed time-to-market. In fact, according to Gartner, worldwide spending on public cloud services will grow 19% in 2019 to reach nearly $300 billion.
As organizations continue their digital transformation journeys and adopt cloud computing as standard practice, they’re also making changes to their organizational cultures. These cultural shifts are often an important step in the adoption process but can be overlooked. Let’s look at three key cultural shifts necessary for your organization’s successful adoption of cloud computing.
- Cloud Culture: Shift From Control to Collaboration
- Organizational Agility
- Cloud Literacy
- Automation and Shift to Continuous Delivery
- Cloud native Culture
- Change in Roles & Responsibilites
- Conclusion
Cloud Culture
Shift From Control to Collaboration
At the heart of every successful relationship is trust – the belief that you can rely on the other person to do what they say they will do. When organizations successfully transition from a command-and-control culture to one driven by collaboration, they open the door to greater trust within the organization.
That’s because collaboration is a two-way street – it requires communication, transparency, listening, cooperation and a willingness to share information and ideas. This shift in organizational culture is important. When organizations are able to collaborate effectively, they are also better able to respond to changes in the business environment and customer needs.
Organizational Agility
Most organizations have had to deal with a sudden change in the marketplace. While many are able to react and respond, some are not and are caught by surprise. How the organization manages and reacts to the change makes all the difference in the world.
- Organizations that adopt cloud computing, agile software development have a leg up on the competition because they are prepared to react and respond to changes in the marketplace.
- They have incorporated the concept of organizational agility into their culture and are able to respond quickly and effectively to changes.
- Organizations that have embraced this model have also adopted a culture of continuous improvement. They have a culture of collaboration and a willingness to take calculated risks.
Cloud Literacy
This is the broad understanding of cloud computing, including knowledge of the different types of cloud services like AWS, Azure, GCP,… and the way they can be applied to specific business needs.
When your organization has a cloud-literate culture, the people within it will recognize the benefits of cloud computing and how those benefits can help them solve business problems.
It is important to understand that cloud literacy is not specific to any one industry – it is a way of thinking. Organizations that have adopted cloud computing as part of their IT strategy have taken the first step in becoming cloud-literate.
Cloud-literate organizations know the difference between cloud computing and managed services. They also recognize that cloud computing is not a silver bullet, and that it is always necessary to take a look at the specific situation, select the appropriate cloud service and then make sure it integrates seamlessly with existing systems.
Automation and the Shift to Continuous Delivery
Organizations that have adopted a culture of continuous delivery have automated their software delivery process and moved to continuous integration. These organizations are able to respond to business needs quickly because they’ve automated their software development and delivery process.
By implementing continuous delivery, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes, Dockers,.. they are able to move software through the entire software development lifecycle quickly, efficiently and with greater predictability.
By doing so, they have eliminated the wasteful and time-consuming practices of regression testing, manual exploratory testing and multiple rounds of performance testing. They have an automated software delivery process in place – one that is based on continuous integration.
Cloud-Native Culture
A cloud-native organization is one in which the people, processes and technology have been designed for cloud computing from the ground up.
- Organizations that have successfully transitioned to cloud-native status have made cultural and organizational changes necessary for success with cloud computing.
- They have embraced a culture based on collaboration and risk-taking, with a focus on continuous improvement.
- They have incorporated automation into their software development and delivery process, and they have adopted continuous integration.
With these components in place and the necessary cultural changes made, organizations are then able to fully realize the benefits of cloud computing.
Change in Roles and Responsibilities
While many organizations have successfully transitioned to a cloud-native culture, they may still have some roles and responsibilities that don’t fit into the new culture. When your organization is ready to make the shift to cloud computing, it’s important to review all the roles and responsibilities within the organization and make sure they fit with the new culture.
It’s also important to be mindful of the need to have a mixture of skills and experience – including both old and new. To make the shift from a control-driven culture to one that is collaborative, agile and cloud-native, it is often necessary to make changes to roles and responsibilities.
Conclusion
The shift to cloud computing has resulted in cultural changes in many organizations. These changes are necessary for successful cloud adoption, and include a transition from a control-driven culture to one that is collaborative, agile and cloud-native. When organizations make these changes, they open the door to greater productivity, speed and reduced costs.
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