With the build phase complete, companies can begin carrying out tests and learn the value of using the cloud through pilot projects and initial implementation. The next step is to expand the approach to achieve their cloud transformation goals.
The scope and timing of this transformation will vary depending on the current technology landscape and industry-specific factors, but the main enablers remain the same.
On the technical side, there are four pillars for this phase:
1. Establish clear principles and guidelines for which technologies, services, and tools will be part of the target ecosystem, and which ones will be decommissioned or only used in specific cases. Having a sharp vision with consistent principles will speed up the design phase of new and updated applications.
2. Develop standard templates, configurations, security policies, and integration mechanisms. It also ensures architectural coherence, a reduction in operational complexity, and cost optimization. This will facilitate the definition of infrastructure requirements and ease validation processes when introducing modern technology stacks. A strong baseline for security and monitoring must also be factored in as a priority.
3. Implement automation to eliminate bottlenecks in repetitive tasks and support a high volume of service and component requests.
This can be done using the standards and toolkits provided by cloud service providers (CSPs) and third parties.
4. Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for modern technology and ensure that standard configurations enable monitoring by design (e.g., monitor spending, usage, downtimes, and enforce tags for granularity) to optimize cloud resources.
In addition to technical scaling, the IT operating model should also evolve to support the transformation, with four key focuses:
- The Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) roles should evolve to have a clear corporate mandate, becoming fully accountable for their responsibilities within the transformation, and providing a single point of contact for each aspect of the pipeline (e.g., deployment, security, monitoring, continuity, and economics).
- Organizational structures and processes should be redesigned to take advantage of automation opportunities provided by the cloud, with strong standardization in terms of requests and input to limit ad-hoc solutions that slow down process execution.
- Proactive cloud cost management and FinOps (Financial Operations), including strong ownership of a CCoE resource with (at least) weekly procedures to identify cost optimization opportunities that can lead up to 20% to 40% savings on monthly cloud costs. This is described in greater detail in the BCG article: “Harnessing the Power of Cloud FinOps.” Business should also be an aware of this process, leveraging granular resource tagging to track the cost of initiatives, applications, and business lines. These should be considered accountable for the cost and be included in the business case.
- Bold upskilling and insourcing plans should be developed to ensure the key skills required to execute the strategy are in place, such as FinOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), cloud architects, and cloud developers.
The phase should take 12-36 weeks to achieve a stable situation. This estimate depends on the aggressiveness of the cloud strategy and the benefits of cloud-based solutions versus on-premises solutions for the specific company.
A high-trust environment is essential during the scaling phase. Empowered teams must be able to make decisions independently, without requiring centralized approvals. Minimal risk decisions can also be pre-defined and pre-approved, so that only the most urgent decisions are handled by senior management, streamlining the governance process.
Recognizing the need for new, different skills is the first step in addressing this challenge. Hiring more experienced staff is one option, but it is not always sufficient as they may lack in-depth knowledge of the company’s specific environment. To overcome this challenge, it is essential to develop detailed upskilling and insourcing plans to ensure that the necessary skills are acquired and retained within the organization.
Next Steps
Many organisations that successfully build and scale their cloud migration make the mistake of becoming too conservative.
They slow their progress and settle for incremental optimisation, rather than taking a truly innovative approach that will set them apart from the competition.
Avoiding “cloud rigidity” calls for innovation, and in the third and final part of this series, we will explore how to take cloud migrations to the next level.
Find out how to master Cloud Success in our article series.
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About the Authors
Combining experience in top consulting firms and major corporations, Gianfranco is highly successful in delivering complex IT transformation and restructuring. Gianfranco joined BCG Platinion in 2017 to lead the recently founded Italian branch. He is in charge of promoting the business objectives as well as the development of staff and office activities. Before joining, Gianfranco covered key leadership positions within renowned consulting firms, and held managerial positions as CTO for one major Italian Utilities and as COO for an Italian Telco operator. His professional experience is primarily dedicated to IT strategy, transformation and restructuring, IT application & infrastructure optimization, as well as digital architecture, cloud strategy and complex digital transformation programs mainly in the Energy & Utilities and TMT industries. Gianfranco received his degree in Economics with Honor from Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy in 1999.
Alessandro has 20 years of consulting experience, with a focus on Technology & Digital transformations in several industries, including Energy and Consumer Products. He also serves as the Global Lead for TDA (Tech and Digital Advantage) in Energy. In his BCG career, he gained significant experience in several Digital & Technology core topics such as Data Platform and Next generation IT Architecture, ERP and Enterprise software, leading Customer Journey transformations, and Data Science use cases realization. Moreover, he helped many companies in many sectors in their journey to Cloud.
Michele Colombo is a Principal at BCG Platinion based out of Milan and focusing on IT Strategy, Cloud & Data projects for clients in the Financial Institutions, Energy and Private Equity industries across Europe, Middle East and Asia.
As a manager at BCG Platinion’s Milan office, Antonio Spanò has eight years of experience in consulting. He specializes in leading projects for the industrial goods and energy practice areas, ranging from IT strategy to digital and cloud transformation implementation, across Europe and the Middle East.
Marco Tassiero is a Manager at BCG Platinion with more than 7 years of experience in Digital Transformation and Application Landscape Modernization projects. He joined the firm after a previous experience in another consultancy company focused on Customer Journey Automation and Customer Service Excellence. In his role in BCG Platinion Marco has supported clients from different industries, such as Energy and Consumer Goods, in designing, launching and managing their Cloud Journeys.
Federico is a Senior Consultant at BCG Platinion with 7 years of experience and a focus on cloud & data strategy projects as well as IT transformations. Since he joined BCG Platinion in 2019, Federico has supported clients across several industries, from Energy and Consumer Goods to Financial Institutions. Today Federico is specialized on supporting the development of the IT & digital agenda of clients in the Industrial Goods industry practice area, across Europe and Asia.
Abhinav Gupta is a Knowledge Expert at BCG based out of Bangaluru. He has 8 years of experience working with clients in addressing challenges with respect to cloud migration journey, IT Sourcing, IT cost optimization & Infrastructure transformation.
