Establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence

Although the public cloud has caused disruption throughout industries, organizations continue to transform infrastructure and move applications to the public cloud to better cater to customer demand. While adopting a new cloud operation model can be difficult for IT staff, many organizations find that establishing a cloud center of excellence is the best practice for speed and agility within cloud services.

The BECA team has outlined how a cloud center of excellence can transform your organization. Want to learn more about cloud services? Download our guide “Establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence.”

A Cloud Center of Excellence – What is it? 

A cloud center of excellence (CCoE) typically involves a team of 10 executives, including the following: CTO, CFO, IT manager, and more. While this team is responsible for several activities, they primarily focus on introducing and optimizing cloud service capabilities within an organization’s IT environment. Additional responsibilities may include the following:

• Organization of the cloud transformation process.
• Train and assist employees through the migration.
• Develop standardized processes for cloud adoption.
• Define and assess potential risks. 

By taking advantage of CCoE’s over traditional IT operations, organizations could experience greater cross-functional alignment, improved scalability, and cost optimization. Ultimately, having a highly skilled team of IT professionals managing an organization’s cloud services can lead to greater success in terms of innovation, cost optimization, security, and customer satisfaction.

CCoE vs Traditional IT Operations – How Do They Differ? 

A CCoE and traditional IT operating models within a company tend to differ in numerous ways. While traditional IT operations tend to focus exclusively on IT rather than the overall objectives of a business and the optimization of cloud services, CCoE is a cross-functional team that involves the complete alignment of all business operations, technology, and individuals within a single organization.

Additionally, CCoE teams are typically equipped with exceptional interpersonal and information technology skills, as well as the ability to handle conflicts and overcome challenges through communication. 

As a whole, CCoE teams assist in the cloud adoption process in four major ways:

• Development of necessary frameworks for successful cloud services adoption.
• Conducting IT training of employees throughout the organization.
• Organizing processes, assessing processes, and tracking cloud adoption rate success.
• Aligning the cloud adoption strategies with overall business objectives.

In order to accomplish the goal of successful cloud adoption, organizations must shift from traditional IT operating models to a CCoE model. 

Overcoming Cloud Service Transition Challenges 

Integrating a CCoE team into your organization may sound like a great option, but it is important to assess the common challenges associated with adopting a shift within your IT department. 

First, you must initially consider the growth mindset and comfort level of your IT department in releasing some central responsibilities. While CCoE allows for additional agility and speed, there is some level of control that needs to be improved in the adoption process, and it is necessary to ensure your IT department is willing to make this trade.

Another common challenge to consider beforehand is receiving support from your business’s key stakeholders. Within the proposal process, the BECA team recommends including the following information: 

• Expected business goals and outcomes.
• Documentation of the current IT processes and the associated pain points.
• Historical information regarding the IT pain points as well as information about the loss in market share or competitor gain from such pain points.
• Timelines and metrics related to potential improvement opportunities.

After the establishment and initial setup of the CCoE, business stakeholders should take the time to meet with IT leadership on a monthly basis. This will allow for discussion of current progress or issues, and serve as a reminder about the importance of cloud services to the team.

Learn How a Cloud Center of Excellence Can Transform Your Business 

A common misconception of Cloud Center of Excellence teams is that they are complete experts and can be used for their knowledge of cloud services. CCoE teams are much more powerful and useful than this, as the members of these teams are often the driving factor in cloud transformation throughout an entire organization. 

There are numerous benefits to establishing a CCoE for your organization, but three of the primary benefits are: 

• Enforcement of cloud environment best practices set by the CCoE.
• Stakeholder diversity can provide valuable perspectives for CCoE oversight. 
• The agile approach sets CCoE up for ongoing improvements.

Interested to see how a CCoE can transform your organization? Contact the BECA team today!

Download our guide “Establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence” to learn more.