Get your head in the cloud
Will Forrest
Senior Partner, Chicago
One of the most surprising developments for me in 2022 was how quickly many CEOs have changed their outlook on cloud computing, essentially going from “I’ll do it because that’s what my CIO recommends” to “I want to be all in.”
At the same time, as tech companies eliminate programs and jobs, there is a surge of top tech talent becoming available. This is creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies to jump ahead in terms of acquiring key cloud talent.
The big question, then, is how are companies going to harness this surge of talent and executive interest in cloud? Up until now, many corporate forays into the cloud have been limited to simply moving applications from their own servers to the cloud (often referred to as “lift and shift”) or building test and development environments to try out new programs.
The coming year is the time, instead, to focus on building out strong cloud foundations that allow companies to take advantage of the most important benefits that cloud provides (such as scaling applications or automatically adding capacity to meet surges in demand). Companies will need to focus on developing the right application patterns (code base that can be applied to multiple applications or use cases) and on putting in place strong cloud economics capabilities, called FinOps. Recent research has shown that companies tend to not really focus on cloud costs until they break $100 million, which is not just a tremendous waste but also a wasted opportunity to generate value.