Mission CTO Jonathan LaCour on the Future of Cloud Strategy

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the three co-authors (David Linthicum, Chief Cloud Strategy Officer, Cathleen Domes, Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Thomas, U.S. Banking Sector Leader, all with Deloitte Consulting LLP) of the 2022 U.S. Future of Cloud Survey Report from Deloitte discuss the gap that many customers are facing in the cloud expectations and reality. In this blog article, we ask Mission Chief Technology Officer Jonathan LaCour the same questions. Continue reading for his insights on the future of cloud strategy and how working with Mission can remove friction in making your business cloud expectations a reality. 

‍According to the 2022 U.S. Future of Cloud Survey Report from Deloitte, there’s a 14.5 percentage point gap on average between organizations’ stated cloud priorities and how well they say they’re achieving them. Are organizations aware that the gap exists? Are they feeling the disconnect?
‍‍LaCour: In larger enterprises, cloud strategy can become fragmented across business units rather than being unified. While early wins will be more fruitful by enabling adoption at differing paces throughout the business, over time, those differences will rise to the surface, leading to the disconnect described in the survey.

‍Why do you think the gap exists?
‍‍LaCour: Cloud transformation doesn't just require a transformation of infrastructure and workloads. It requires transforming the business itself to re-orient around cloud best practices. Such a transformation is fundamentally challenging and requires strong leadership and prioritization. Mission regularly works with customers to drive the changes necessary for success in the cloud to remove friction and resolve conflicting priorities.

‍So, are organizations moving too fast into the cloud?
‍‍LaCour: Speed isn't the issue. Strategy is. Without an adequate plan for cloud transformation, any pace will feel "too fast" at times. With proper preparation, organizational alignment, and strategic planning, execution can move at the pace of the cloud itself.

‍Speed of adoption is obviously still important, but do companies need to slow down to get cloud adoption right?
‍‍LaCour: I fundamentally agree with David (Linthicum) – too many businesses over-index on technology and tools. We see it all the time. Kubernetes adoption is an excellent example. How many workloads are actually a good fit for Kubernetes? How many businesses will have the core team and talent to actually operationalize Kubernetes? There are far too many cases where such a large technology decision is driven by trends vs. business needs.

Another example is multicloud. There is often an unexplored assumption that a multicloud strategy is appropriate, and often for easily debunked reasons like avoiding "lock-in" and for pricing leverage. The reality is that a multicloud strategy has large downstream consequences on architecture, operations, cost efficiency, and more. There are vanishingly few cases where business need truly necessitates a multicloud approach.

‍What advice do you give cloud decision-makers?
‍‍LaCour: Before embarking on a cloud transformation, have clear, transparent, and hard conversations around your business objectives. Consult with experts and partners to validate your decisions. Challenge your assumptions.

But strategic alignment does not guarantee success. Execution is still king. I concur with Chris (Thomas) – active tracking and monitoring are key. Track and monitor progress along the way, and tie every decision to your hard-won strategic plan and goals.

‍‍Mission accelerates enterprise cloud transformation by delivering a differentiated suite of agile cloud managed services. As an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, Mission’s always-on services enable businesses to scale and outpace competitors by leveraging the most transformative technology platform and enterprise software ecosystem in history. Contact us today to learn more about how Mission can help your business accelerate cloud transformation.