Most firms are simply migrating assets in transactional processes, to gain access to more VM servers, Infrastructure, or to Forklift existing apps and code into the Cloud. There are benefits to offloading IT assets into the Cloud; namely, a reduction in private data centre and operational costs.
However, the chief benefit of Cloud Computing must be to enable the transformation of your business model and processes.
This transformation is a multi-step process which includes transforming your Data, your IT processes, and then over time, your Business model.
Transformation of the Business is comprised of 4 essential components:
- Using a Cloud computing infrastructure – private, public or a hybrid – which will create best of breed IT systems. To do this you will need to:
- First, understand and then eventually transform your Data through proper modelling and a Data Strategy. Having a Data Strategy will transform your IT systems; and this will allow you to manufacture best of breed IT processes to service your external and internal clients.By understanding, mapping and creating proper Data Models and building a Data Strategy, you will be able to:
- Transform IT processes which will allow you to identify how to transform your business, develop new clients and revenue streams and create an on-going competitive advantage. IT and Data, will now become the platforms for best of breed business concepts, which are agile and which transform your market.
- To create transformative business models, Predictive Intelligence and Analytics will need to be used, in a Cloud hosted-Data Warehouse or Data Lake, which will map, reduce, transact and analyse your data from existing systems, and unstructured data.
Data is the key. Clean data is based on clean data models, and an understanding of where your data is, how it is stored and used; and how it can be used to transform IT and business processes. For example, some firms have many databases, embedded within different ERP systems, each with a different definition of ‘client’, and incomplete, or missing data-logical-conceptual models. This makes the use of ‘Big Data’, or Data aggregation, impossible.
Steps to transform your business:
- Understand what IT assets you have.
- Confirm, or create relevant Data models, Logical Models and Conceptual Models.
- Identify what assets can be migrated to the Cloud and why [ROI].
- Assess for ‘cloudification’, the Data models and code details in any migration plan.
- Validate concepts using Pilot Projects.
- Operate the assets in the Cloud and Optimize them [ROI].
- Use the new processes to transform that particular Business Model [new revenues, efficiencies, more ROI].
- Start building systems around the client as opposed to silos. The above steps will eventually lead to transformation of business processes.
- Repeat, update, extend for that Business Process and Model.
- Apply to other processes.
The real purpose of the Cloud is not simply to reduce some operational costs. Best of breed processes should engender a new appreciation of Data and how to use Data to transform business processes, in order to transform your company and what you offer to clients. Mig