Digital Perspectives

As my colleague Simon Mitchell discussed in the previous blog of this series, the UK Government is facing unprecedented technology and political change, but unfortunately are still behind in Cloud adoption as the skills gap across the public sector increases.

It’s been shown time and again that a fast migration to cloud provides quick organisational savings and rewards, so it’s no wonder that executives are keen to realise these benefits by beginning their own journey’s to cloud as quickly as possible. 

Migrating to the cloud is a multi-step process and every organisation takes a unique path. Most Government departments prefer to optimise existing applications for the cloud versus a “lift and shift” or re-platform approach. Challenges arise when organisations start optimising applications for the cloud in order to unleash new business value through new application development.

I would suggest considering the 6 R’s, to help smooth the journey:

1. Remove
2. Rationalise
3. Re-engineer
4. Relocate
5. Remediate
6. Remain

Cloud-first organisations’ have learnt and shared best practices, which helps to smooth and accelerate the transition for those following in their footsteps. For example, 90 percent of “fast adopters” indicated that they used global systems integrators, when planning their cloud strategy, to augment in-house expertise and to speed migration. Looking to accelerate the pace of  your journey to cloud? You will need to consider the many requirements you have and create a comprehensive plan of action.

Solid executive sponsorship is key to success, along with the development of an engaging and compelling business case. The cloud sponsor has to be sure that the leadership in their organisation is comfortable with making the necessary effort to facilitate a mass migration.

Take a look at the points summarised below to get an idea of the key components of a 100 day migration plan:

• Foster and nurture a culture of experimentation
• Engage partners who can help accelerate the effort, whilst ensuring it’s done safely
• Create a cloud center of excellence with a core cloud team that can drive strategy and the approach across the entire organisation
• Implement a sustainable hybrid architecture that makes it possible to connect existing data center investments to the cloud so that both can be used concurrently

At Accenture, our experience shows that operational agility is fast becoming the top business priority for Government departments migrating to the cloud—surpassing even cost savings. Organisation that want to achieve the type of agility they need to deliver excellent citizen services are adopting a cloud-first approach along with a robust eco-system of digitally enabled cloud solutions. We look forward to continuing to help organisations speed their journey to the cloud, maximise their existing investments and deliver increased value. 

Watch out for further blogs in this series, on how you can maximise your journey to the cloud and click here to read more.