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Cloud Platforms & Enablement

Digital execution happens on the cloud and how the cloud is operationalized and consumed in digital is drastically different than non-digital focused IT infrastructure. Digital execution requires a platform approach that looks to effectively stitch together many cloud services, digital processes and highly automated management technology into a cohesive tool that enables digital solutions to be engineered at scale.

 

Cloud enablement is part of a DevOps/Cloud/Agile triad required for digital effectiveness. The platforms are treated as products that evolve with corporate initiatives and business objectives. Mature platforms will flex to new business needs while maintaining consistency, enabling velocity at scale and minimizing rework.

  Score: 100-80  

Section Scoring

100 - 80 PTS

You have a mature, product-centric approach to cloud and an API-driven cloud foundation established that ensures shared elements of cloud and general cloud consumption are secure, compliant, and operable at the scale and velocity that digital demands. Platform product teams build and enable consumption of cloud-native platforms on the API-driven cloud foundation for custom digital applications, analytics, automation and machine learning. Digital product teams can control their cloud platforms and can easily and quickly leverage common cloud foundations. This allows teams to build and deliver digital products at scale. The result is many teams executing against digital strategy without IT technology or process barriers.

Digital Execution Ready

100 - 80 PTS

You define or build cloud foundations that value flexibility to enable business growth/profit focus. Existing infrastructure is still focused on migrating applications to the cloud to reduce cost of ownership rather than support new technology and digital product. Rationalization may be necessary to manage for consistency.

Digital in Process

80-60 PTS

The cloud platform supports service delivery and core application migration. This approach hampers digital product delivery. The cloud enablement platform is run like a cost center and uses tickets and delivery SLAs rather than a core enabler for business and digital product outcomes.

Digital Gaps

60-0 PTS

Questions & Answers

The question-and-answer section outlines why the questions are important, how they are weighted, and what best practice looks like.

Do your digital products leverage existing cloud infrastructure and services? 

Why we ask this: 

Digitally ready IT product organizations must first look to cloud for leapfrogging capabilities and building new products quickly, reliably and at scale. A typical IT Infrastructure team operates on a services mentality (i.e., ticketing system) rather than measuring the ability to enable access to new/leapfrog technologies or capabilities.

How we weighed this question:

This question specifically looks at whether digital product managers and teams are able to build new product and adopt new technology using existing IT infrastructure and processes.

What best looks like:

Digital product teams’ cloud usage moves at pace and scale to enable more innovation and experimentation. Cloud platforms enable access and services for incubation, iteration and scale in weeks rather than typical months or years.

Next Steps:

  • Use the cloud enablement framework to determine how to operationalize cloud infrastructure management to business-aligned priorities rather than service tickets.

  • Identify the next steps to federate design for and build on a centralized cloud enablement platform. 

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Resources

For more detail, check out BreakFree’s point of view on Cloud Platforms and Enablement.

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