Fast Track Your Journey to the Cloud

Cloud Transformation Starts with Understanding Company Culture


When organizations start the conversation about moving to the Cloud – there are usually several planning sessions.

Why?

Companies truly believe that planning upfront can make transformation better. And they are correct. We all know that plans help us see the goalpost ahead – and march down the field to score. So why do so many Cloud migrations struggle? Cloud strategy is much easier on paper than it is in real life. Most organizations have cultural challenges which will cause projects to stall, leading to perceptions of failure. Easy Solution?

Utilize your Project Managers

Project management is often chalked up to simply ensuring cost, schedule and resources are aligned. But when looking at new technology, project managers can become the company culture SME – providing critical insight into the company’s culture that can make or break your delivery. Project managers are cross-functional leaders.They are able to move around political alliances to help teams deliver objectives. Most project managers do not have any formal power, they leverage relationships to ‘get things done.’ Often viewed as a trusted partner, project managers hear and know things that are never reported via status reports or team meetings. Plainly stated, they are the gatekeepers of information within a company.

Fast-track to the Cloud

You should expect push-back from teams. Adopting new technology poses risks; the learning curve can be faster and higher than anticipated. Everyone has a reason to avoid change. Cloud technology can be intimidating to newbies and veterans alike. With this in mind, expect that organizational culture must change when moving to the Cloud, and utilize the skillset of project managers outside of the standard PMBOK recommended project manager duties.

Key Takeaways

  1. Listen to Project Managers – they can provide you critical insight into challenges your organization faces from a culture perspective.
  2. Over-communicate – ensure that you are able to speak with project managers about culture frequently.
  3. Share the new goal – ensure the project managers are working for you to gain buy-in from team members.
  4. Avoid old status – make sure that your communication channels get you status as it happens; there is no point in getting stale data.

What Now?

Have no fear!  The move to Cloud technology is well worth the journey. The end result, however, is a direct result of leadership and the ability to clearly define the vision. Using Project Managers to help align company culture can be a valuable bonus to drive change by gaining team buy-in, streamlining stakeholder communication and getting real-time project status feedback.

Want to learn about how to use Cloud platforms to help your organization innovate and deliver for your customers? We want to hear from you: info@thenextstep.agency.

Eric Walker, CEOEric Walker, CEO & Founder, The Next Step Agency
Business guy who teaches creative entrepreneurs how to shake off uncertainty and make strategic decisions that transform their ideas into thriving businesses.