Why training and advocacy holds the key to successful adoption

The smallest group are the stakeholders. These executives and leaders with limited availability will receive an executive summary and cloud fluency training.

Next are the engineers building and operating the organization’s cloud platform as part of the CCoE . Depending on their existing experience, they may need deep dives and hands-on workshops on cloud topics such as architecture, security, and networking. Often, their training will need to be fast-tracked before the rest of the organization so they can productively work on the cloud platform as soon as possible.

The third group from the bottom are the business users, product owners, portfolio leads, and some project managers. While developers can get enthusiastic about technology, the business users need to be convinced of the value to them and the customer. They need confidence in the CCoE, platform, and cloud strategy and will want to see which risks have been identified and mitigated.

Advocacy is equally important for this group. Besides training and knowledge transfer, they need to see what is possible in the cloud with the right approach and be inspired to open up to new ways of working. Training for business users focuses on topics such as financial operations, total cost of ownership (TCO) comparisons, risk and compliance management, and the benefits and challenges of different architecture options.

Next are the platform users. The developers and application teams frequently interacting with the cloud platform, often in a technical capacity. A common baseline includes cloud fluency, platform user training, migrations, and architectural best practices. However, this group typically has the most variety in intermediate and advanced training as there are different career paths and specializations to consider.

The largest knowledge gap of traditional application teams that needs to be addressed is infrastructure, which will be “left-shifted” and added to their scope under a modern cloud strategy. While the Application Enablement team will support them, this should be temporary; the technical teams need to gain this experience to become self-sufficient and ensure scalability.

Lastly, at the top, we have the broader organization. They will generally not interact directly with the cloud platform but should still be involved in the organization’s cloud strategy. Training will cover the organization’s cloud strategy and sufficient cloud fluency to understand high-level discussions about cloud projects. Ten per cent milestone The journey of cloud fluency occurs when a certain percentage of staff within an organization — roughly ten per cent according to many social studies — incorporates cloud language into their daily vocabulary. This minority of cloud-fluent staff becomes a catalyst for change, the organization’s use of the cloud, and for teams to migrate their applications.

The timing of cloud training in relation to other cloud strategy initiatives is critical. For example, achieving 10% fluency should roughly align with the first usable version of the cloud platform. Train teams too early before the cloud platform is available, and they will be out of practice and lose knowledge. Train too late, and they will become frustrated when they try to use the platform without sufficient knowledge. Either way, this can lead to stagnation and, ultimately, failure of the cloud adoption journey.

It is also important to consider the training frequency to ensure that employees are not overwhelmed with new knowledge or delayed in acquiring the next round due to course schedules. The ideal pace differs per person, so instructor-led sessions must be balanced with self-paced courses.

organizational cloud fluency can be celebrated when most of the staff have attended cloud fluency training. This will often be coupled with growing interest in deep-dive courses from staff that have not yet interacted directly with the cloud.

Learning needs assessment

Course contents are typically divided into three levels that align with CSP certification tracks.

Foundational

This level is designed for employees who are new to cloud computing and require an introduction to the basics of cloud computing. The courses at this level will provide a solid foundation, including an overview of the different types of cloud services, their benefits and drawbacks, and how to use them.

Intermediate or professional

This level is designed for employees with some cloud computing experience and requires a deeper understanding of the technology. The courses at this level will cover more advanced topics such as cloud architecture, data migration, security, and governance.

Advanced or speciality

This level is designed for employees who are experts in cloud computing and require training on specific and often niche topics. The courses at this level will focus on implementing and managing complex architectures and challenges, including containerization, serverless computing, and AI/ML in the cloud.

At the start of the program, the organization should assess the current cloud competency level of all team members participating in the program. This is done through tests in collaboration with each Cloud Service Provider (CSP) that the organization wishes to support in their cloud strategy. These tests are typically self-assessment and fairly high-level. As such, they should be augmented with the necessary organizational context. Besides the general test, short 10-question exams should be created for each cloud career path. These can determine for each candidate if they should start with foundational, intermediate, or advanced training content.

Incentives and careers

There are different ways to incentivize staff to participate actively in learning. For many, the opportunity to learn and grow might be incentive enough, and some form of financial incentive, such as a bonus linked to learning KPIs, can be used to reward that mindset. For others, incentives of a competitive nature can be highly effective. For example, recognition or awards for achieving the most (relevant) certifications.

In addition to direct incentives, integrating cloud competencies into the organization’s career framework will provide staff with a clear path for career growth and promotion. This integration requires a multi-staged design. Each stage reflects a particular seniority level, and appropriate cloud capabilities need to be considered within each stage.

Besides technical capabilities, soft skills like mentorship are just as important to consider here.

Many existing roles, such as application developers, will be expected to have some degree of interaction with the cloud, and new roles will be created in the organization that are specific to the cloud. The following is an example of a cloud engineer role. This example has four levels of seniority, each with expectations on training, certification, and primary responsibility. These expectations should be expanded upon with the organization’s own cultural, business, and technical requirements for the role, and each level would typically be associated with an appropriate organizational title.