One step forward and two steps forward
In any uncharted journey, there comes a time when you look ahead and think, “where do I go next?”. It’s not unlike reaching a fork in the road and choosing which path to take.
https://medium.com/hybrid-cloud-survival-guide
On our hybrid cloud journey, we started with clear intent — intent that we were able to mature over time as we learned more. We developed an approach where we could quickly create value from what we learned. We built a robust platform where we could more effectively track value in ways that mattered for us (and of course, our executives). We found ways to have fun and celebrate, to get our users to adopt our platform, and then do more.
So what’s next? Let’s try to gain some insights into what happened with our fictional protagonist, Sam, on her organization’s journey with hybrid cloud.
Sam and her team are feeling really successful. They have modernized many business workloads to their new hybrid cloud platform and migrated many more. They figured out how to measure modernization and migration value in ways that resonate with the big boss, and with teams across the IT organization and business who develop and deploy applications on the platform. They’ve found ways to celebrate this success and are changing the culture to be more open, innovative, and collaborative.
In the data tracking, Sam has found that they are getting significant value from their hybrid cloud deployments, so she can start to reinvest into other areas. She also has been tracking that they are only about 20% of the way there in their transformation effort. The amount of work and value seemed so much greater, which indicates to Sam the importance of measuring value instead of simply counting “things” on the platform.
She considers the next stage of her approach. Should she:
a). Call it a day and coast until the overall IT organization is about 40% of the way there. She sees that the platform and surrounding approaches, like a Center of Excellence (COE), can basically run themselves for the next while. She’s earned the reprieve.
b). Start actively looking for a new position. She’s got some good street cred, but maybe it’s time for something different.
c). Find the next big piece to solve that will help them get more value and more of the landscape into hybrid cloud. Sam knows the first part was the easy part and she’s ready for the next piece.
Hopefully we realize by now that for Sam, the only real choice is option C.
Where does our CIO Hybrid Cloud team go next on our own journey? Stay tuned, because in the coming weeks we’re going to bring you stories from the hybrid cloud. We’ll have some of the technical subject matter expertise from across the platforms and business applications go deeper into the “hybrid cloud how-tos”, or as I like to call it: out of the how-tos and into our survival handbook to help make you successful in your own journey.
Matt Lyteson is Vice President of CIO Hybrid Cloud Platforms at IBM based in RTP, North Carolina. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
