The conversation around cloud technology has shifted – from one focused on cost reduction potential to the value it can bring to organisations. “Cloud is the most value-creating and disruptive technology of our time,” says Donal Óg McCarthy, cloud lead at Accenture in Ireland.
What this means is that organisations need to consider what the cloud is, what it isn’t, and what it can do for them.
“At its heart it’s a shared pool of configurable computing resources,” McCarthy explains. “It can scale when you need it to. It’s there all the time, on demand, self-service and elastic. It expands and contracts as needed, and you only pay for what you need and what you use.
“Together these attributes help create a powerful enabler of innovation. Those are the fundamental characteristics of the cloud.”
The objectives vary depending who in the organisation you are talking to
Recent years have seen a mindset shift in relation to the technology, he adds. “Cloud is now seen as critical to business strategy. People tend to talk about efficiency and productivity gains, and it is about that. But it is also much more.”
For those organisations not yet exploiting the full value of the cloud, the question is: Where to begin? “Each client’s starting point is very different. We spend a lot of time talking to them about where they are on the journey. We develop a shared understanding of what their cloud strategy should look like.”
Objectives are also important and can include simplifying the organisation’s existing technology estate, generating momentum to win more market share, leveraging the power of the data they generate, or gleaning more insights from that data.
“There’s always more value to be had,” says McCarthy. “Organisations can gain a deeper understanding of their customers and use that to tailor products and services to their needs. That will deliver competitive advantage.”
Achieving those objectives requires a deliberate and well-thought-out cloud strategy from the beginning.
“That strategy provides the guard rails for the journey,” he says. “And the objectives vary depending who in the organisation you are talking to. For example, a CEO looking to unlock new revenue streams and build new business models will view it one way. A COO looking to maximise productivity and efficiencies within the organisation will look at it another way. And the CFO is asking how do I realise greater financial efficiency which is at the heart of the cloud. They want to understand what the spend on the cloud is delivering for the business. They ask how they can use advanced analytics and reporting in the cloud to accelerate decision-making.”
Cloud enables organisations to change course in the middle of a plan. We have never had technology that could do that before
Finding out what’s important to people in the organisation is therefore a key step in the strategy development process.
“The cloud started out as an IT solution, but it is now distributed across the entire organisation. For example, HR is looking to attract and retain talent and offer different experiences to employees. The cloud can allow them to offer people a career renaissance. People can be redeployed to other areas due to the efficiencies delivered by the cloud. That’s a huge benefit in a talent-constrained environment.”
It can also be a powerful enabler of innovation in an organisation. “This has been a hot topic for a long time,” McCarthy notes. “Businesses are constantly looking for ways to do things faster, better and as securely as in the past. The cloud allows them to do things that on premise solutions don’t. It enables you to start to try things, see if they work, fail fast and try again. It allows organisations to reinvent themselves.”
It also allows them to adapt quickly to rapidly changing circumstance.
“It enables organisations to change course in the middle of a plan. We have never had technology that could do that before. Services in the cloud are like Lego bricks or building blocks. You can weave those blocks together to build products faster than ever before. And you only pay for those services as you use them. You don’t have to go through long procurement processes. You can build products, push them out into the market, and test them to see how they work.”
Another significant benefit of the cloud is the fact that users benefit from the technological advances made by the service providers without even thinking about it. “Every day, every week, every month, the large public cloud providers are constantly investing in and adding new services,” McCarthy says. “That allows organisations of all sizes to take advantage of all that innovation. Irrespective of the size of the business, large enterprises get the same service as smaller enterprises. It’s a huge leveller for the competitive playing field.”
There are some challenges, of course. “Security and compliance continue to be a top concern, along with areas such as dealing with legacy infrastructure and the complexity of business and operational change. The good news is that a deliberate cloud strategy can really drive alignment between business and IT from the beginning. As complexity grows, alignment on goals and the full breath of what’s needed to achieve them is even more important for deriving cloud value.
At Accenture, “we take a pragmatic approach that simplifies the complexity of adopting cloud. We put the needs of the business first helping our clients get the benefit from cloud now. We set our clients up for success.”
The big black box that you bought for your busiest day on Christmas Eve, not your quietest morning in winter, no longer exists
McCarthy believes the Covid pandemic has accelerated cloud adoption and revealed how indispensable technology has become to business success.
“Our clients are focused on reimagining what their business will look like. Many organisations have been surprised about how much change they have been able to absorb and are turning the challenge of the past year into an opportunity. Our clients are incredibly future-focused and confident. They are asking what they need to do to be successful. They are focused on reimagining the future of their business. We are seeing cloud powered transformation in every sector. Clients want to take advantage of the innovation, security and elasticity that it offers.
“Cloud is no longer a choice; organisations must use it as a core strategy for the future. It will continue to be adopted at pace. We have seen a huge uptake in the past two years and that pace will continue to accelerate.”
McCarthy’s advice to organisations is to become cloud savvy. “It’s no longer a conversation between the CTO and the CIO. It is now a board-level concern for every organisation. Also, you must be flexible and prepared to adapt your plan. The cloud can handle it.
“Finally, you need to think strategically about leveraging the pay-as-you-use model. The big black box that you bought for your busiest day on Christmas Eve, not your quietest morning in winter, no longer exists.The cloud automatically scales up and down and flexes with your needs. If you think strategically about that, it will unlock so much value for your organisation.”
With cloud, every organisation has headroom to reduce cost, accelerate innovation and improve elasticity. Companies that replatform their business on cloud at scale can substantially outpace their peers. By doing so, they gain computational flexibility, strategic agility and access to the world-class technology capabilities of cloud hyperscalers – virtually overnight.
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Disclaimer: This content is provided for general information purposes and is not intended to be used in place of consultation with our professional advisors.