Partner Article

Which stakeholders are key for successful cloud migration?

Around 90 percent of businesses are now using cloud in some fashion and are keen to increase the footprint. Various stakeholders may understand the specific benefits of moving to the cloud; whether it’s the CFO who wants to reduce capex, the COO who sees an opportunity to improve efficiency, or the CEO who wants to improve the agility and flexibility of the business when reacting to changes in the market. However, before these benefits can be delivered, it’s imperative that the Chief Information Officer (CIO) works with key stakeholders to understand, plan and address around potential issues.

For medium and large businesses, there are many factors that need to be considered beyond cost, like the company’s objectives, legal obligations, specialist applications, company culture, business continuity needs and services being used instead of legacy equipment. The IT lead can address the technical aspects of a project but they don’t have the in-depth insight and vision that specific stakeholders have. Not working with these stakeholders from the start has the potential to delay projects, increase costs and in a worst-case scenario, impair a company’s operations.

As customer behaviour has changed in recent years, banks have had to undergo major IT upgrades, moving away from their legacy systems which are decades old and are consuming APIs or SaaS based platforms to transform their services or alternatively provide new services to Millennials. The banking industry has evolved from ATMs, online banking and now mobile banking. However, the shifts in the banking landscape have meant that banks have bolted on legacy equipment because it is cheaper and less risky than starting from scratch. But every time you bolt on a change, it becomes more complex. The finance sector is a prime example of where there are many moving parts that a CIO must understand by working with the relevant stakeholders. Any delays or downtime could cost millions and also damage a bank’s reputation. Banks, by consuming SaaS platform services and APIs, are migrating to the cloud infrastructure indirectly.

Making the move

Taking the step into the cloud for medium and large size businesses can seem daunting, but working with the right IT partner and company stakeholders at every stage of a cloud migration project can be the difference between success and failure. By delivering a large number of cloud projects for some of the world’s biggest companies, NIIT Technologies knows which stakeholders are the key to implementing a successful project beyond the CIO and CISO.

1. Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Whether it’s to improve the level of customer service across the company or increase productivity through internal communications, it’s critical to understand what the business objective is from the outset. This vision can only be put forward by the senior management team including the CEO, which means it’s key to work with these stakeholders during the planning phase of the project. Not having a clear goal from the start will result in delays and an increase in cost.

2. Chief Financial Officer (CFO): If the IT team can reduce costs for the business then they’re going to keep the CFO happy. But they need to work with him/her to understand and review the potential for a supplier lock-in. Suppliers are nervous about customers changing providers and therefore don’t make it easy to migrate to a competitor, so they will try to lock-in customers. For a business this can mean it’s at the mercy of the supplier when it comes to future costs. By working with the CFO, the IT team can better justify why it may have not opted for the cheapest vendor and why a premium option may be a better choice in the longer-term.

3. Chief Operating Officer (COO): Having the right company culture in place can be the difference between the company running smoothly or members of staff finding it difficult to do their jobs. Small changes can have a big impact, so altering processes and workflows that may have been in place for over five years can be difficult for any business. By bringing in the COO during the planning phase, they can advise and communicate the changes across the company and identify any training that may be required. Also, taking a phased approach to the migration project allows project leads to test new cloud platforms with individual teams, and identify and address any bugs before integrating cloud across the entire business.

4. Chief Legal Officer (CLO): Moving to the cloud can bring a host of legal challenges that need to be considered like copyright, data protection and auditing compliance. These factors are unlikely to be understood by the IT team alone, who will need to seek specialist council from the CLO or an external body who advises the business regarding legal matters. These factors are critical to understand as they are not restricted to just one department and usually have implications across the business.

5. Chief Technical Officer (CTO): Many companies in the engineering, energy, technology sectors will have a CTO, while other businesses may have specialist units. The IT team needs to work with their CTO and specialist teams to identify potential applications which may be difficult to initially take to the cloud. In this scenario, it may be beneficial to keep the applications running locally and undertake a hybrid configuration for a period until its economical and makes sense from an operational standpoint to move everything to the cloud.

Every business is different and will have varying requirements. That’s why it is crucial during the planning phase to engage with the appropriate stakeholders, so the CIO and their IT partner can plan accordingly to work towards supporting the objectives of the business and address potential challenges. Having an IT partner which has experience of working closely with key stakeholders to consistently deliver successful cloud migration projects is a must. This knowledge is invaluable, as it ensures speed of delivery and prevents budgets from being overstretched.

Cloud is ingrained in every part of a modern business from customer engagement to company culture, so understanding how it will shape and support your company is a fundamental stage of cloud migration planning.

By Arvind Mehrotra, President and Global Business Head - Infrastructure Management Services at NIIT Technologies

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by NIIT Technologies .